Mother, A Cradle to Hold Me

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2006

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

Song

The speaker mentions copying every word of their mother, particularly her song: “I rehearsed you / The way you had of singing / On a breeze, / While a sob lay / At the root of your song” (Lines 44-48). The speaker watching their mother singing suggests a level of intimacy and vulnerability shared between the two. Within the singing, the mother expresses an array of emotions, as music, particularly in the African-American community, is a means of processing the most joyful and also the darkest of times, including weddings, funerals, prison or slave work in the fields, etc. At a young age, the speaker is starting to witness the complexity of adult emotions, even if they may not yet understand their depth. Songs can carry the weight of ancestors, of generations passing on stories. When a mother sings to her child, she is carrying on the legacy that the speaker can then share with their own child someday.

Perch

As the speaker reflects on their teenage years, they depict their attitude toward their mother as haughty, as if looking down on her from the “high perch / Of teenage wisdom” (Lines 63-64). This high perch represents the imbalance in the mother-child relationship and the shift from the child seeing their mother as their entire world to seeing her as someone slow, clueless, and lacking. The speaker states, “I spoke sharply of you, often / Because you were slow to understand” (Lines 65-66). Teenage rebellion is a universal theme, with teenagers wanting to break free from the fantasies of childhood but not quite mature enough to handle the realities of adulthood. Adolescence is a transitional phase, as in the next line when the speaker acknowledges that as they aged, they were “stunned to find / How much knowledge [their mother] had gleaned” (Lines 68-69). Did the mother actually gain more knowledge in that time, or did the maturing young adult finally realize how much knowledge their mother had the entire time and they were just too high and mighty to see it?

Broken Doll

Connecting back to the idea of adolescence, the broken doll is the symbol the speaker uses to describe themselves during a time they were intolerable: “Let me thank you / That my selfishness, ignorance, and mockery / Did not bring you to / Discard me like a broken doll / Which had lost its favor” (Lines 75-79). The speaker acknowledges how easy it could have been for their mother to toss them aside during those challenging moments that seemed to become less forgivable over time. Instead, the speaker is glad that their mother “still [found] something in [them] / To cherish, to admire, and to love” (Lines 81-82). A doll has the features of a young person but ultimately is an object that can be tossed when it no longer serves its function. The speaker mentions that this particular doll is broken and not worthy of repair. Because of the mother’s unconditional love, she saw past her child’s superficial brokenness to their core self, which still needed her love and support to function, even if they expressed otherwise from their “high perch” (Line 63).