1. Mother to Son
By Langston Hughes

2. Objectives Language Objectives
I can recognize metaphors in poetry and discuss.
I can analyze the function of metaphors and discuss.
Content Objectives
I can draw conclusions about the poem’s message based on the poem’s content.
I can understand the poetic application of a metaphor.

3. What is a metaphor? what is a symbol?
A metaphor directly compares two unlike things.
Unlike a simile, a metaphor does NOT use like or as.
A metaphor uses a symbol in the comparison. A symbol stands for something else. Usually that something is concrete.
Authors use metaphors to give information about a subject the reader may not know much about by comparing it to something he/she may be familiar with.

4. metaphor “Life IS a box of chocolates.”
“You never know what you are going to get!”
Life
Symbol-A Box of Chocolate
You don’t know what kinds of struggles or joys you will receive in life.
You didn’t know what flavor you would receive.
The box of chocolates is unpredictable and the candies are unexpected.
Life is unpredictable and unexpected.

5. Vocabulary
uncovered
empty
covered
full

6. Graphic ORganizer
smooth
clear

7. “Mother to Son” by langston hughes
Listen to the poem being read aloud with the dialect of a southern speaker.
The speaker is a mother who has had a difficult life.
She is speaking to her son as she gives him advice about life.

8. Let’s go back to the graphic organizer
smooth
clear
A perfect life without any struggles.
tacks
splinters
Boards torn up
bare
A difficult life with many struggles.

9. Draw a Conclusion
Draw A Conclusion: In the last 7 lines, what message is the mother trying to give her son?
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.
The Message
Even though life can be difficult, don’t give up. You have to be strong and move forward with determination.