Mother to Son Langston Hughes Poetry Analysis - Printable & Digital
- PDF
- Google Apps™
- Easel Activity
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Hook your students on poetry this year by introducing them to Langston Hughes, one of America's best-loved poets! In this engaging middle school poetry unit, students will analyze six Langston Hughes poems: "Madam and the Rent Man," "Dreams," "Harlem (Dream Deferred)," "Harlem Night Song," "Mother tPrice $8.00Original Price $10.00Save $2.00
Description
Make metaphors come alive with these "Mother to Son" poem activities! This poetry analysis resource includes a graphic organizer to walk students through the rich figurative language in Hughes' highly relatable poem and help them analyze extended metaphor, character, and theme. It also includes a one-page biography of Langston Hughes and comprehension questions about the poem, the informational text, and connections between the poem and the poet's life.
(If you teach poetry in middle school, don't miss the rest of my bestselling Langston Hughes Poem Activities Bundle!)
This resource includes the following digital versions:
- Google Slides (link in PDF)
- Easel Activity (link in My Purchases)
My middle school students always love reading and discussing the levels of meaning in this fascinating poem, making it my favorite way to celebrate Mother's Day with secondary students! Of course, it's also great as part of a figurative language or poetry unit, giving students valuable practice digging deep into metaphors and free verse poetry.
Page one is a graphic organizer in the shape of a staircase, unpacking metaphors the speaker uses to explain her challenging life. Students are asked to decide what each individual metaphor describes about life.
Page two can be used before or after the graphic organizer; it contains higher-level, open-ended reading response questions that are great for class discussion or an individual classwork or homework assignment.
Page three is a character and theme activity in which students use specific details from the poem to infer the speaker's character; then they use these inferences to make the leap into the poem's theme. I love teaching students this simple strategy that makes drawing large-scale conclusions much less intimidating!
Page four is a biography of Langston Hughes - perfect as background for the poem and for making connections between the metaphors and life advice in "Mother to Son" and real events in the poet's life.
Page five contains reading comprehension questions about the poet biography, as well as questions challenging students to analyze the poem and the biography together, making inferences and drawing conclusions about why Hughes wrote from the perspective of a mother, the lessons he learned in his own life, and more.
This is a super low-prep poetry lesson! All you need to provide is a copy of the poem (I can't include it because I don't own the copyright), so this resource would make an excellent poetry sub plan.
Love Langston Hughes' poetry? Don't miss these resources:
"I, Too, Sing America" Poem Activities
Langston Hughes Paired Texts - Dream Poems
"Harlem Night Song" Poem Activities
"Madam and the Rent Man" Poem Activities
Need more middle school poetry? Don't miss these!
Langston Hughes Poetry Analysis Bundle
