\To a Son

To a Son


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 arock.'
And this might 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 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  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 understandShakespeare
    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 youg 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.


Metaphor is the comparison of two UNLIKE things. In "What Shall He Tell That Son?" by Carl Sandburg he says 'Life is hard; be steel; be a rock.' meaning that life is hard and will not be easy. He shows how life can be easy and simple by saying "'Life is a soft loam; be gentle; go easy.' but it can also go wrong if dealt with the wrong way. Money can bring about trouble and failure so he said to his son
"Tell him too much money has killed men
And left them dead years before lucre beyond a few easy needs
Has twisted good enough men Sometimes into dry thwarted worms."

Langston Hughes' "Mother to Son" has a very distinguished way of using metaphors. He first starts with "Life for me ain't been no crystal stair." meaning that he his life hasn't been an easy clear path. He then extends the poem by using different metaphors to describe the obstacles he had to face


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