Gwendolyn Brooks The Mother Essay

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“the mother,” by Gwendolyn Brooks is a poem concerning abortion. Within this poem there is a consistent argument; does the speaker regret having an abortion or not. The poem does not choose one way or the other if it supports abortion or not. Brooks chose to write this poem to portray some of the emotions and thoughts that go through some “mother’s” heads when they terminate a pregnancy. For the speaker it seems to be especially difficult. She explains that yes, there are some things she is happy she will never have to go through with the aborted fetuses, but for the most part what she is missing out on by terminating them. The speaker clearly feels responsible for the killing of her children. The content, structure, and use of descriptive words in the poem all support the idea that the…show more content…
In the first stanza its formatted to be rhyming couplets. This gives the poem a childish feel to it, like something read by Dr. Seuss. Although, Dr. Seuss never wrote poems about abortions, he did write poems that consistently rhymed. It’s a childish feel by rhyming words like “hair” and “air.” In lines eleven through sixteen the childish couplets disappear. The cute couplets disappear as the poem takes a grim turn while she speaks about her terminated children. At this point in the poem the lines are getting choppy, and not neat like they had been previously. It gives the reader a feel that the speaker is breaking down while telling the poem. She is breaking down and the sloppy lines without rhymes proves so. After the poem loses focus and the speaker breaks down it turns back into rhyming couplets. Unlike before the couplets are not childish and easy feeling. They now seem dim and harsh. An example of the end rhyme that is dim and harsh is lines 29 and 30 by using the words, “died” and “cried.” When the speaker changes from childish to losing it, to then grim this shows regret within her decision. Many of the words Brooks chose during this poem also hints at regret
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