A Mother’s Plea
The poem “The Mother” written by Gwendolyn Brooks in 1945, is a poem that focuses on the immeasurable losses a woman experiences after having an abortion. The poems free verse style has a mournful tone that captures the vast emotions a mother goes through trying to cope with the choices she has made. The author writes each stanza of the poem using a different style, and point of view, with subtle metaphors to express the speaker’s deep struggle as she copes with her abortions. The poem begins with, “Abortions will not let you forget” (Brooks 1), the first line of the poem uses personification to capture your attention. The title of the poem has the reader’s mindset centered around motherhood, but the author’s expertise with the opening line, immediately shifts your view to the actual theme of the poem. In this first line the speaker is telling you directly, you will never forget having an abortion. Brooks utilizes the speaker of the poem, to convey that this mother is pleading for forgiveness from the children she chose not to have.
The first stanza of the poem the speaker starts out using the word “you”. By using second person point of view the speaker appears to speak directly to the reader. “You remember the children you got that you did not get” (Brooks 2), here the speaker uses the term “children” to refer to her aborted children, which also gives them an identity. Brooks uses throughout the poem the word “children” instead of “fetuses” which gives the speaker the image of motherhood and a person compared to inanimate object. These are the children she has lost. The speaker goes on throughout this stanza to express to the reader all the things “you” will never get to experience with your children because of the decision to have an abortion. “You will never leave them, controlling your luscious sigh, / Return for a snack of them, with gobbling mother-eye” (Brooks 9-10), here the author uses metaphors about food, “snack of them” and “gobbling mother-eye” to illustrate the speakers yearning for motherhood that will never be. This is the only time in the poem other than the title that Brooks will use the word “mother”, all else will be implied that the reader is a mother to
"The Mother," by Gwendolyn Brooks, is a sorrowful, distressing poem about a mother who has experienced numerous abortions. While reading the poem, you can feel the pain, heartache, distress and grief she is feeling. She is both remorseful and regretful; nevertheless, she explains that she had no other alternative. It is a sentimental and heart wrenching poem where she talks about not being able to experience or do things with the children that she aborted -- things that people who have children often take for granted. Perhaps this poem is a reflection of what many women in society are feeling.
Poets have the power to present their perspectives of the human experience through their poetic voice. Gwen Harwood, Judith Wright, and Bruce Dawe, all Australian poets have all expressed common ideas expressed by their unique poetic voice.They also speak for those who have no voice, such as the soldiers in Bruce Dawe’s poem Homecoming and in Gwen Harwood's poem Mother Who Gave Me Life where she gives a voice to the Mothers. A key theme resinating through all of these poets poems would be their common ideas on society and the role of a mother.
The poem Mother, Any Distance Greater Than a Single Span, written by Simon Armitage, is about a child and his relationship with his mother. Throughout the poem, we see their connection naturally develop and change. As the child gets older and becomes more independent he wants to leave the ‘birds nest’, yet the mother doesn’t want to fully let go. Armitage successfully uses the language features of symbolism, metaphor, and rhyme to influence me into feeling love, sadness, and hope towards the mother throughout the poem.
A mother hero is a person who gives everything in the benefit of others, in addition, mother heroes are people who do not care about the sacrifices they have made. First a hero is a person who, instead feeling compassion puts action serving others. For example, a pregnant mother who is diagnosed with a terminal illness and who must have an abortion to live will give life to birth her child whom this shows sacrifice. There are also mothers who will starve in order to feed their children. Another example is a single mother who will work several jobs to provide her children with an excellent education. In addition, she still has time to prepare a meal and read her children a bedtime story. There is another type of mother heroes, those who sacrifice
When I think about my children I could not imagine life without them. When I picture their faces, a few emotions come to mind, such as, love and happiness. The thought of not having them never crossed my mind. Some women are forced to make the difficult decision, not to bring their children into the world. No matter why they make this choice one can probably agree that it has to be emotional for them. In her poem “The Mother,” Gwendolyn Brooks writes in free verse so the reader is able to notice the speaker’s emotions change. Her rhyming patterns show that she cares for, mourns for, and desires for her aborted children.
In “The Mother,” Brooks reflects on an abortion. Somewhat melancholic, the poem catalogues things that are missing when a baby isn’t born. No kisses, no games, no laughs. However, what Brooks asserts is that abortion does not mean an absence of love. In fact, she ends the poem with, “Believe me, I loved you all./ Believe me, I knew you, though faintly, and I loved, I loved you/ All” (Brooks “The Mother” 31-33). Society has this perception that abortion directly correlates to a mother’s lack of love for the unborn child. In this poem, Brooks argues that that is not the case. In this instance, the
“If I should have a daughter, instead of mom, she's going to call me point B...” (Kay). For most women, motherhood is an achievement that allows mothers to build strong connections with their children. “If I Should Have A Daughter” explains the importance of experiencing life with an open heart and appreciating everything life gives and takes away from you. Sarah Kay describes how she would guide her children throughout life in this manner. Sarah Kay uses rhetorical and literary devices such as ethos, pathos, metaphors and personification to enhance her explanation of motherhood and the complexity of mother-daughter relationships in her poem, “If I Should Have A Daughter”.
The main character, Kate Keller portrays herself as a nurturing mother and tends to be idealistic about her son’s disappearance. Generally speaking, Kate belives her son, Larry is still alive despite the world’s views on his death. She thinks, “Everybody was [just in] a hurry to bury him”, but in truth she know her son is alive somwhere in the world. In other words, Kate’s love for her son as a mother cannot accept Larry’s death and she also expects everone to envisage Larry’s return. Following this further, Kate gets enraged when she hears her other son’s desire to marry Larry’s ex-girlfriend. To Kate, accepting the marriage means that Larry will never come back and for this reason, she opposes the marriage and tries to get rid of Ann. In
The role of mothers and their sacrifice has been a valued part of society for millennia. Although women now hold a much more advantageous place in society as members of the workforce, women are still encouraged to pursue more domestic goals as wives and mothers as well. It would be difficult to find an unmarried middle-aged woman who hasn’t been asked when she will finally snag a husband or a young couple that hasn’t fended off nosey relatives wondering when they’ll decide to expand their family. However, while society views child birth and motherhood as one of the greatest miracles of life, this sentimental perception has been challenged by many women and writers throughout history, including William Blake. Throughout his works Blake
The speaker of this poem is a mother. The author made a great choice for this poem. A loving mother has lost her child. This poem is written in first person. The mother is telling her story, and how she had to lose her child.
There is perhaps no greater joy in life than finding one’s soul mate. Once found, there is possibly no greater torment than being forced to live without them. This is the conflict that Paul faces from the moment he falls in love with Agnes. His devotion to the church and ultimately God are thrown into the cross hairs with the only possible outcome being one of agonizing humiliation. Grazia Deledda’s The Mother presents the classic dilemma of having to choose between what is morally right and being true to one’s own heart. Paul’s inability to choose one over the other consumes his life and everyone in it.
The poem “Metaphors”, by Sylvia Plath, is a poem about a woman who is newly pregnant and resents the pregnancy. For once she becomes pregnant she became less of a person and more of a transport for something more important. Plath shows the feeling of this woman through metaphors, and allusions that all hint at the inner pain this woman is feeling when she is pregnant. The very structure of this poem clues its readers onto what it’s about.
The poem “My Mother’s Face” by Brenda Serotte depicts the difficulty of a mother and daughter with a close bond trying to cope with a difficult situation of becoming an adult. “My Mother’s face” talks about the women’s state of affairs, the words used in the poem indicate that the mother is going through a difficult situation and the speaker can feel it through her close observation and on her own accord. The poem basically highlights the human aging process and the difficulty for a mother to realize the fact that her beloved daughter doesn’t need her anymore. The daughter sees the mother’s reflection and passes it for her own, feeling empathetic to the sorrow being shown on her mother's face. The daughter now realizes that with time,
The norm refers to a state in which affairs are standard, typical, usual, expected and unexceptional among others. In his book, the Steppenwolf, Hermann Hesse explores some of the issues relating to deviation from the norm like how an individual is affected. In addition, the play “Mother Courage and her Children” also presents various matters relating to the norm, its significance, and how the environment is altered in case of a deviation. Furthermore, Bertolt Brecht vividly examines how an individual has a difficult time to adapt to the changes in the norm naturally. The paper will talk abiut the significance of the norms in these two masterpieces, the effects of what is considered normal to the characters, and what they lose or gain when they stray from the norm.
Being a mother is one of the best gifts from a life. A mother gives her children unconditional love without expecting anything in return. Being a mother means more than having given birth to a child. It is an invisible connection between mother and child; it is a blessing, a relationship that never ends and the love that never dies. However, for some women, motherhood might be challenging in ways they did not expect, forcing them to choose between having an abortion and keeping the child. The debate over abortion is an ardent and polarizing issue as there are those who believe that all humans including those unborn should have a right to life, and on the other side of the spectrum are those who believe it should a woman's right to choose whether she wants an abortion or not. This topic relates to Gwendolyn Brooks's poem, "The Mother", where the author describes the painful thoughts, heartbreak, and awful feelings that a woman experiences after having an abortion. Brooks lays out a helpful framework for understanding the difficult situation of facing unplanned pregnancy. In "The Mother", a woman recollects her inner conflicts as she laments over the guilt of having had an abortion and the future she never gave her would be child. Brooks's poem provides insight into the research which reveals how abortion affects women morally, psychologically, and religiously.