My Mother by Claude McKay
(Let's Discover English)
The Poem :
Part I
"Reg wished me to go with him to the field,
I paused because I did not want to go;
But in her quiet way she made me yield
Reluctantly, for she was breathing low.
Her hand she slowly lifted form her lap
And, smiling sadly in the old sweet way,
She pointed to the nail where hung my cap.
Her eyes said: I shall last another day.
But scarcely had we reached the distant place,
When o'er the hills we heard a faint bell ringing;
A boy came running up with frightened face;
We knew the fatal news that he was bringing.
I heard him listlessly, without a moan,
Although the only one I loved was gone."
Part II
"The dawn departs, the morning is begun,
The trades come whispering from off the seas,
The fields of corn are golden in the sun,
The dark-brown tassels fluttering in the breeze;
The bell is sounding and the children pass,
Frog-leaping, skipping, shouting, laughing shrill,
Down the red road, over the pasture-grass,
Up to the school-house crumbling on the hill.
The older folk are at their peaceful toil,
Some pulling up the weeds, some plucking corn,
And others breaking up the sun-baked soil.
Float, faintly-scented breeze, at early morn
Over the earth where mortals sow and reap-
Beneath its breast my mother lies asleep."
Summary of the Poem :
Part I
Here the poet is a little boy who lives with his sick mother lying in her death-bed. Reg is his friend. Reg wants the poet to be with him to the field for work. The poet does not want to go with him leaving his sick mother. His mother wishes him to go. The poet is reluctant to obey her. She is in very bad condition. She is breathing very hardly.
In spite of her illness, she lifts her hand and points out to the hanging hat of the poet. She is trying to tell him to take the hat and go. Her eyes express that she will be alive today.
The poet timidly reaches the place distant from his mother. He listens to the bell over the hills like other boys present there. A boy comes up running with fear in his face. The poet along with his friends knows that it is the fatal news. The poet listens to the boy who brings the news of the death of the his mother. The poet does not even moan although he has lost the only person he loves.
Part II
It is a clear bright morning after the dawn. The traders comes from off the seas. The corn fields are glittering in the light of the sun. The dark-brown tassels are fluttering in the mild breeze. The children pass while the bell is sounding. Frog is playing sportingly over the pasture grass down the red road. The older people are out for their peaceful walk up to the school-house on the hill. People are pulling up the weeds, plucking corn and breaking up the sun-baked soil. The mild fragrant breeze is floating in the morning over the earth where the mortal people sow and reap their crop. Under all these lively things, deep into the earth, the poet's mother is lying in her grave.
Savour the Flavour
Comprehension
1. Complete these sentences.
a. The speaker paused because he did not want to go.
b. The speaker was reluctant to go to the fields because his mother was sick and lying in her death-bed.
c. The fatal news that the boy brought was the death of the poet's mother.
d. The speaker saw the children are going to work at the field at the sound of the bell.
e. The school-house was crumbling on the hill.
f. The older people are out for their peaceful walk up to the school-house on the hill.
2. Answer the following questions.
a. In Part I, which phrase refers to the relationship of the speaker of the with the woman?
= 'Although the only one I loved was gone."
b. Pick out the phrases and lines that state the condition of the speaker's mother.
= 'for she was breathing low', 'Her hand she slowly lifted from her lap', 'Her eyes said: I shall last another day'.
c. Where was the speaker when the boy brought him the message?
= The speaker was working in the field when the boy brought him the message.
d. The speaker says: "I heard him listlessly, without a moan." Does the word 'listlessly', here reveal the speaker's indifference or the dull state of his mind?
= The word ;listlessly', here reveals the speaker's dull state of his mind.
e. What is the setting of the second part of the poem?
= The second part of the poem is at the working field where the poet used to work in his childhood.
f. What word in the poem suggests the condition of the school?
= 'Crumbling'.
g. Pick out the words and phrases from both parts of the poem that create the images of the following in your mind: i. sound ii. colour.
= i. sound : 'breathing low', 'a faint bell ringing', 'whispering', 'fluttering in the breeze' 'the bell is sounding'.
ii. colour : 'fields of corn are golden in the sun', 'dark-brown tassels', 'red-road', 'pasture grass'.
Refer to the Context
Comprehension
Answer the following questions.
"Her hand she slowly lifted form her lap
And, smiling sadly in the old sweet way,
She pointed to the nail where hung my cap.
Her eyes said: I shall last another day."
i. Who is the 'she' that the poet is referring to? Why was her movement slow?
= The 'she' is the poet's mother.
Her movement was slow because she was sick and lying in her death-bed.
ii. Why did she point to the cap?
= She pointed to the cap to direct her son to go to field for work. This is the sad reality of her life. Her son has to go to work away in the field to earn livelihood leaving his dying mother alone in the house.
iii. What were her eyes trying to convey? Explain in your own words.
= Her eyes were trying to convey that she would not die that day to convince her son to go for work.
Her little son is a worker in the field. They are the victims of the racism. They do not have a normal life. They are like slaves in bondage. The little boy has to leave his dying mother alone to earn that day's livelihood.
iv. Identify the literary devices used in the above lines.
= There is alliteration in the second line in the words 'smiling sadly'.
There is personification in the last line in the phrase 'Her eyes said:'.
About the Poet :
Claude McKay, a poet, novelist, and journalist, was born on 15 September 1889 in Sunny Ville, in Jamaica, and immigrated to the United States in 1912. The son of peasant farmers, he was mentored by his oldest brother, a school teacher, and a neighbouring Englishman, Walter Jekyll, who exposed him to the works of great poets of English literature and cultivated in him a love for poetry. With Jekyll's encouragement, McKay began producing verse in Jamaican dialect and published them in 1912 in two volumes Songs of Jamaica and Constab Ballads. Songs of Jamaica celebrated the black people's ties to the Jamaican land, and covers such subjects as the peaceful death of his mother. However, Constab Ballads presents a bleaker perspective on the plight of Jamaican blacks. Some of his other works include Invocation and The Harlem Dancer which he published under a pseudonym in 1917; If We Must Die, which became an anthem of resistance during the period of racial violence against blacks, known as the Red Summer of 1919; and Harlem Shadows which is his most significant collection of poetry. In his later years he suffered several illness and eventually died of heart failure on 22 May 1948.