Praise Song for my Mother by Grace Nichols Analysis Essay

What are the poets feelings about family and how does she convey these ideas?Grace Nichols writes Praise Song for my fix as ode, or letter, as a celebration of her draw. Having moved from Guyana to the UK, the ode is in a Caribbean style, praising her stick for all that she has done. Nichols writes about what family is, and what it means to her, and the poem seems to be positive, in adoration of her mother, but there are as well other standpoints that say the poem could have a deeper, negative meaning.Nichols conveys the powerful, protective love that she receives from her mother in the poem in a variety of ways. She writes that she was water to her, deep and bold and fathoming. As water is a necessity to live, she creates the image that her mother was a necessity to her life, and that she couldnt live without her. She uses legion(predicate) of these metaphors, using the term You were to convey the different roles her mother played in her life, that although she was just a woman , she was to her, the moons eye and the sunrise.The use of the past tense in you were shows that her mother may have passed away, and that this is not only a celebration of her mother, but in like manner a celebration of her mothers life, and that the poem is a divide of mourning of her mother. However, this can also be interpreted as the memories of her childhood, when she lived in Guyana with her family, create verbally in the past tense, to convey her feelings in the past. The accompaniment that this poem is written in 14 lines, as a sonnet, shows the ode of love from Nichols to her mother, and the loving bond in family.Nichols could also be trying to convey the message that family is about growing, and allowing the children to develop and learn. Although this at first sight, a poem of positivity, and praise for her mother, there could be a more negative, possibly sarcastic side to the poem. The phrase you were water to me initially seems positive, but when paired with deep and bold and fathoming, makes the reader think that there was feasible too much water, and that Nichols mother was possibly overprotective or that she enveloped Nichols in her care. The words deep and bold make you think of the ocean, and possibly that she was drowning in it. In addition, Nichols writes go to your wide futures, you state. This initially strikes the reader as a message of hope from Nichols mother, that she wanted her children to go out into the world and grow. The fact that futures is plural, shows that there is essentially a world of oppurtunities available, rather than a controlled, decided future.However, this may have been written as a sarcastic you said, display that Nichols mother expected too much of them, and that life is actually much harder than going out to your wide futures. This resentment may be a yield of Nichols mother cosmos overprotective, and not allowing her to learn on her own, and being overprotective. It may also mean that her mother may ha ve essentially abandoned her, and remaining her to her own actions after she left to England. However, given the circumstances, it is most likely written as possibly a memory of the last thing her mother said to her, before passing away, or before their relationship became too distant. In this way, there are many differing interpretations for this message.Nichols seems to be conveying the message that family is a sort of nutrition, or nourishment. She uses lot of metaphorical language such as You were water and you were sunrise to make family seem like a very positive factor. She also writes the fried plantain smell replenishing replenishing, with the repetition of replenishing making the reader focus on the word. The lack of punctuation in the phrase, and also the lack of punctuation end-to-end the whole poem possible harks back to Nichols less educated childhood.The words replenishing, water and sunrise creates the image of the mother fulfilling all the bare necessities for the Nichols, and shows the different roles that Nichols mother played in her life. The poem itself is very orderly for the first three stanzas, with same sized lines, but the fourth stanza is one line longer, this line being longer still, and then the fifth stanza being one line only. This poem could possibly portray a ladder or staircase, symbolising the steps to maturity date and success. As the poem is about Nichols mother, this could be creating the image that her mother was the aid to her success. This is all the picture of how family is a sort of nutrition and aid to life.Overall, Grace Nichols provides many different standpoints on the importance of family in Praise Song for my Mother. Although it is written as a positive poem of celebration of her mother, there could also be more negative standpoints and alternative views, highlighting possible sarcasm in the poem. In conclusion, Nichols seems to generally have very positive views on family and uses lots of metaphorical langua ge to create the image that her mother was everything to her. She also uses literary techniques to showcase her memories of childhood, and the importance of family in her upbringing.