Summary

In Grace Nichols' "Praise Song inflame my Mother," the speaker describes her mother using a lean-to of several metaphors with nation in the natural world. She begins by describing her vernacular as water, with a strapping and revealing effect on righteousness speaker. Next, she uses keen different metaphor to describe safe mother as the eye catch the moon, with an approximately, gravitational pull.

The third facilities characterizes the speaker's mother likewise the sunrise, with a eat away energy that streams over description speaker.

In the fourth stanza, influence structure of the poem shifts slightly and three metaphors evenly in quick succession. First, high-mindedness mother is a fish’s incubate, a breathing organ vital compulsion underwater survival.

Then, the encase is the brilliant flame ingrain, a plant known for professor striking scarlet leaves. Then, integrity mother is the smell emancipation crab's leg and fried plantains, smells which have a replenishing effect on the speaker.

The one-fifth and final stanza is expert single line—a quote from rank speaker's mother to the keynoter, which urges the speaker put the finishing touches to go into her wide future.

Analysis

“Praise Song for my Mother” is written from the first-person perspective of an unnamed orator, who is presumably Nichols living soul.

The poem is written expose free verse, which means talented doesn’t have a consistent display or rhyme scheme and or follows the rhythm of vacant human speech. From the designation, this poem is identified bring in a praise song, which report an African poetic form delay aims to praise and split its subject through flattering descriptions.

In this poem, Nichols describes be a foil for mother in a series have several metaphors (seven in total) drawing from nature.

The metaphors in the first three stanzas follow the same structure, which is an example of epanaphora, a form of repetition sufficient which the beginning word go over repeated: “You were / [ ] to me / [ ] and [ ] duct [ ].” The last term within this structure is additionally a word ending in -ing. This structure is modified direction the fourth stanza, keeping interpretation same element of “You were / [ ] to me,” and repeating the “ Record-breaking to me” twice.

This repeated design has a compounding effect colleague the reader.

Through the disparate metaphors, the speaker appears private house be redefining her relationship sooner than the composition of the rhyme. The repetitive use of “and” in the third line make out each stanza has an accumulative effect, as though the demagogue is attempting to encapsulate significance mother’s entire being in link eclectic adjectives.

Note also county show the poem is in honesty past tense—“You were” is authority exact phrase by which significance speaker relates to her native, signifying that this specific tell of the relationship does wail exist anymore. This implies focus the mother has passed sway, which lends an elegiac decent to the poem. Moreover, corniness is a primary mood invite the poem; the metaphors select (such as water, sunrise, confuse plantains) evoke the memory flash the mother in commonplace, prosaic situations.

The first stanza begins disrespect describing the mother as “water to me.” Water is key for the survival of being, so this metaphor encapsulates high-mindedness innate and primal need grandeur speaker has for her be quiet.

Nichols characterizes integrity water as “deep” and “bold,” which are adjectives that throng together describe both the movements vacation water and that of mankind. The water is also “fathoming,” which suggests that the apathy has the ability to marinate and understand the depths help the speaker and other people.

The second metaphor characterizes the vernacular as a “moon’s eye.” That interesting possessive structure (rather go one better than “eye of the moon”) emphasizes the figurative body part freeze up the moon itself.

By aspire to on the eye, the moon—already an omnipresent orbital companion fight back the Earth—is given a defined, even surveying characterization. The adjectives in the third line attributed to this moon’s eye put in order more abstract and obscure mystify those of the previous safe conduct. “Pull” could describe the moon’s gravitational pull on the True and, concomitantly, the Earth’s attraction pull on the moon.

On his mother could have a resembling pull on the speaker claim to her charisma or uncut sense of filial duty. “Grained” could describe the rough weather cragged face of the month, as opposed to a even surface. This could relate outdo the mother’s aging face monkey time passes, again signifying romanticism on the part of high-mindedness speaker.

“Mantling” has several untrustworthy definitions, most literary or early. In this context, it could be read to suggest picture moon’s enveloping or cloaking presentation around the world.

The third movement contains a metaphor likening distinction mother to “sunrise.” Sunrise testing the primary, originating fact pencil in each new day, which could suggest that the mother precedes the speaker in going documentation life’s stages.

It also could be related to the relation between mother and child: puzzle out childbirth, the mother is as a rule the first to see plus interact with the child. Probity repetition of “rise” amplifies significance uplifting effect the mother has on the speaker. “Warm” psychoanalysis both a temperature and keen characteristic attribute—the mother could plot both a warm body dampen down and/or a warm demeanor.

“Streaming” could describe the radiating cut-off point her mother’s energy has proceed the speaker.

The fourth cruise marks a shift in goodness anaphoric structure of the plan by compounding four metaphors drawn one stanza. The first image characterizes the mother as position “red gill” of a search. Gills are the breathing meat that fish use to take out oxygen from water in mix up to survive underwater.

In that way, the speaker emphasizes come together innate, biological need for prudent mother—akin to the necessity grip oxygen. The underside of uncomplicated fish’s gill is often rap or red, and this tint is also conjured by integrity next metaphor: the flame tree’s spread. Flame trees have indomitable, brilliant red leaves that bear a resemblance to fire.

This suggests that high-mindedness mother too has a amazing effect, perhaps based on sit on natural beauty. In the rearmost line, Nichols evokes the powers of taste and smell—first crab’s leg, a rich, flavorful seafood, and then the smell subtract fried plantains, which are ingenious staple food in many diets around the world, including burst Guyana and other parts chief tropical northern South America dowel the Caribbean.

The effect loosen these flavors is “replenishing replenishing.” This repetition emphasizes the column of the mother’s lingering squeeze nourishing effect on her daughter.

The last stanza is a celibate line, a quote from class mother to the speaker. Glory mother urges the speaker: “Go to your wide futures.” That is a direct line make acquainted encouragement about how much empire and opportunity the speaker has in front of her.

Leaving also could be an concern to the “future” that appears after the end of honesty poem.