Blake, Hughes and Kees Poetry Response

     

              All three of the poems incorporate somebody's child. Langston Hughes " Mother to Son" is narrating a woman telling her son that her life wasn't a "crystal stair" (Hughes 1018), which i interpret to mean beautiful and rich. She tells him that life has been a struggle for her. She says, " It's had tacks in it, and splinters, and boards torn up" (Hughes 1018) meaning that her life had flaws, pain and obstacles. She doesn't give up and she keeps on "climbing" ( Hughes 1019) her stair of life and she wants her son to do the same. No matter what to keep on going and never stop. For the child in William Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper" the  mother is not alive. After she passes away his father put him to work as a Chimney Sweeper and one of his friend dreams of all of the chimney sweepers being " locked up in coffins of black" ( Blake 706) which I believe translates to trapped and the coffin which connects to death means their lives are a standstill. But an angel comes and says ,"' if he'd be a good boy, He'd have God for his father, and never want joy." I believe this gives the dreamer Tom and the rest of the chimney sweepers hope that things will be better, all they have to do is be good and go on with their duties. A reoccurring theme i saw in both Hughes and Blake's poem was  hope, hope for the children. Weldon Kees poem " For my Daughter" is kind of a dark poem, he talks about his daughter having to go through troubles in her life and he knows that it is inevitable. At the end of the poem, " I have no daughter. I desire none" can give me or the reader hope ( reoccurring theme) that he actually has no daughter and desires not to have one because of all the troubles and darkness she would have to face that he would not be able to protect her from. So both hope and children are themes that pop up in all three of the poems.