Welcome to Cycle 4, Spring 2011 Semester

Our first assignment is a writing assessment.

Read Langston Hughes' poem "Mother to Son" and write an essay of at least a page and a half explaining what you think the poem is about, and how you relate to it. What is the true meaning of the poem, and how is its message true in real life?


Mother to Son

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now --
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.