Mother to Son

In the poem “Mother to Son” there are two different types of figurative language. The first one is a metaphor. This metaphor is “life ain’t been no crystal stair, they use this to show that in the mother’s point of view her life hasn’t been easy. She wasn’t one of the rich children that had their life handed to them. She had to work to get where she is now, and she wants her son to know that. The next figurative language is an anaphora. This is because she says that metaphor twice. She says that line again to make her main point that life hasn’t been easy and handed to her like other people. The mood of this poem makes us feel sympathetic, this is because the mother explains to her son that she has had to work to get where she is now in life and she is explaining to him also that he will have to work his butt off too. The mother’s tone of voice is hopeful. She is hoping that her son will take this and move forward and take the advice that she had given to him.