What Shall He Tell That Son?

Carl Sandburg


A father sees a son nearing manhood.
What shall he tell that son?
Life is hard; be steel; be a rock.'
And this stand him for the storms
and serve him for humdrum and monotony
and guide him amid sudden betrayals
and tighten him for slack moments.
'Life is a soft loam; be gentle; go easy.'
And this too might serve him.
Brutes have been gentled where lashes failed.
The growth of a frail flower in a path up
has sometimes shattered and split a rock.
A tough will counts. So does desire.
So does a rich soft wanting.
Without rich wanting nothing arrives.
Tell him too much money has killed men 
And left them dead years before burial:
The quest of lucre beyond a few easy needs
Has twisted good enough men
Sometimes into dry thwarted worms.
Tell him time as a stuff can be wasted.
Tell him to be a fool every so often
and to have no shame over having been a fool
yet learning something out of every folly
hoping to repeat none of the cheap follies
thus arriving at intimate understanding
of a world numbering many fools.

Tell him to be alone often and get at himself
and above all tell himself no lies about himself
whatever the white lies and protective fronts
he may use amongst other people.
Tell him solitude is creative if he is strong
and the final decisions are made in silent rooms.
Tell him to be different from other people
if it comes natural and easy being different.
Let him have lazy days seeking his deeper motives.
Let him seek deep for where he is a born natural.
    Then he may understand Shakespeare
    and the Wright brothers, Pasteur,Pavlov,
    Michael Faraday and free imaginations
Bringing changes into a world resenting change.
    He will be lonely enough
    to have  time for the work 
    he knows as his own.
        -From 'The People, Yes' Carl Sandburg

Langston Hughes'
Mother to Son

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now --
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

Poems are nothing but big Metaphors. Each line telling a different part of the story. The story could be about anything love, affection, life or it could be more than one theme combined to tell a much more bigger story. The theme of the poems " Mother to Son " and " What shall He tell that Son " is guidance.
The poem" Mother to Son is a metaphor itself. This is an example of an extended metaphor. Langston Hughes starts the poem off with the line "Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. " When I think of a crystal stair I think of smooth glass, windex clean dirt free, the mother is saying that her life is the complete opposite of that. The mother gives her son reasoning of why she considered her life like that for example "It's had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up,"and why her son shouldnt give up in life because he hasnt been through anything compared to her.
Carl Sandburg poem " What shall He tell that Son "each line has its own meaning but is still significant to the line below or above it. The line "Life is hard; be steel; be a rock", when I read this line I think of a father telling his son what life is like an how his son should react when he finally finds that out. Another line "'Life is a soft loam; be gentle; go easy.'" I see a father again telling his son another side to life, and if he just goes with the flow he wil get somewhere in life. Both of the lines have their own meaning but they are very parallel to one another.
Being a Parent is a life time job, even when the child is grown and has a family of Their own. Both poems paint pictures of an example of a great parent. They are not telling their child how to live life but giving them ideas of what life can be like.
snnixon3@aol.com
© Seneya Nixon 2010

To a Son

What Shall He Tell That Son?

Langston Hughes' Mother to Son

Langston Hughes'
Mother to Son