Every mother wants to see her child succeed in life. She spends her parenthood encouraging her offspring to follow in her footsteps, take risks, and not be afraid. In the poem, "Mother to Son", Langston Hughes demonstrates the love and concern a mother has for her son by the wisdom she imparts on him through the example of her own life, a climb up a staircase. Hughes does this by using stylistic devices such as figurative language, diction, and rhythm. The advice given in the poem is graphic and stirring: life is hard, full of stumbling blocks, but one must keep climbing, one cannot turn back or sit down, because one will catch a break, a turn, a landing, and keep going.

The metaphor in this poem relates life to a staircase. "Well, son, I'll tell you:/ life ain't been no crystal stair."(Lines 1-2). The mother, who...