Praise song for my mother is as said in the title, a praise song from Grace Nichols to her mother. It is a free verse poem with 5 stanzas, 3 tercets, and pentane. The writer comes from Guyana in Africa where it is very much the tradition to write praise songs and handing them down for generations. They usually have a lot of metaphors and have a mix of an old and new language. The poem expands on how much her mother meant to her. The overall message of the poem is expressing love for how her mother took care of her by protecting, understanding, caring.
In the poem, the language use is very important to understand the full meaning. For example in the first stanza. You can see that without using many words she has created a very powerful description. Not often does someone get described as “water” but if you look at the qualities of it she explains that she is deep and bold and fathoming. Notice the way that she says deep AND bold AND fathoming. This usage of “and” makes the words feel heavier and sink deeper into our minds. By saying that her mother was deep and bold and fathoming she is talking about the mentality of her mother. She is a very thoughtful and opinionated person who is also quite wise. For the relationship between her and her mother, it would mean that she looks u to her mother as a deep and intuitive person.
The final stanza: this is the longest stanza and possibly the most meaningful. The writer paints some powerful images of nature in our minds. The daughter looks up to her mother as a source of life with the fishes red gill being a fish’s way of breathing so we get the impression that her mother brings life to her. The flame tree is a deep red and beautiful tree, she is associating her mother with passion and beauty. She compares her mother to a replenishing crab leg meaning that she Is a great source of nourishment that never runs out. The poem finishes with the mother telling her children to go and have successful lives of their own. She has told her children what they need to know to go and follow their chosen path in life.
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To conclude, Nichols gives the feeling that her mother was everything to her and uses metaphors to explain this. She was supportive, kind, and wise. Both she and her mother have a very positive view of their family.
