Name: ______________________________
Figurative Language Poem 1
Mother to Son
By Langston Hughes
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.
Review Questions
Directions: Respond to these questions on the back or a separate sheet of paper. Answer the
questions completely.
1. Describe the type of life that the speaker has lived. How do you know this? Use evidence
from the text to support your response.
2. What advice is the mother giving to her son? Put it into your own words.
3. What figurative language technique is primarily used in this poem? Explain how it is being
used.
4. What character traits are revealed about the speaker? List two and use evidence from the text
to support your response.
5. When the speaker says that she is “climbin’,” to what is she referring? In other words, based
on the figurative language used in this poem, what does “climbin’” mean? Explain your answer.
6. When the speaker tells her son not to “set down on the steps” to what is she referring? Based
on the context of this poem, what might it mean to “set down”? Explain your answer.