"Praise Song for My Mother," written by Guyanese poet Grace Nichols, celebrates the nourishing power of a mother's love. The speaker compares her mother to various aspects of nature in order to illustrate her mother's broad influence on her life, ultimately suggesting that her love and support were essential to the speaker's development into the person she is now. "Praise Song to My Mother" was published in Nichols's first poetry collection, I is a Long-Memoried Woman, in 1983. Nichols wrote the poem not long after her own mother's death.

• Read the full text of “Praise Song for My Mother”

• “Praise Song for My Mother” Summary

• “Praise Song for My Mother” Themes

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    The Nourishing Power of Motherhood

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-15

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Praise Song for My Mother”

  • Lines 1-3

    You were ...
    ... bold and fathoming

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 4-9

    You were ...
    ... warm and streaming

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 10-15

    You were ...
    ... futures, you said

    

    

    

    

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• “Praise Song for My Mother” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “were / water”
    • Line 3: “deep and bold and fathoming”
    • Line 5: “moon's,” “me”
    • Line 6: “and grained and mantling”
    • Line 8: “me”
    • Line 9: “warm,” “streaming”
    • Line 11: “fishes red gill”
    • Line 12: “flame tree's spread”
    • Line 13: “crab's leg,” “fried plantain smell”
    • Line 14: “replenishing replenishing”
    • Line 15: “futures”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “You were”
    • Line 2: “to me”
    • Line 3: “and,” “and”
    • Line 4: “You were”
    • Line 5: “to me”
    • Line 6: “and,” “and”
    • Line 7: “You were”
    • Line 8: “to me”
    • Line 9: “and,” “and”
    • Line 10: “You were”
    • Line 11: “the,” “to me”
    • Line 12: “the,” “to me”
    • Line 13: “the,” “the”
    • Line 14: “replenishing replenishing”

  • Polysyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where polysyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “deep and bold and fathoming”
    • Line 6: “pull and grained and mantling”
    • Line 9: “rise and warm and streaming”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2
    • Lines 4-5
    • Lines 7-8
    • Lines 10-14

• “Praise Song for My Mother” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Fathoming
  • Moon's eye
  • Grained
  • Mantling
  • Gill
  • Flame tree’s spread
  • Plantain
  • Replenishing
  • (Location in poem: Line 3: “deep and bold and fathoming”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Praise Song for My Mother”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Praise Song for My Mother” Speaker

• “Praise Song for My Mother” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Praise Song for My Mother”

• More “Praise Song for My Mother” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Listen to the Poem Out Loud — A recording of Grace Nichols reading "Praise Song for My Mother."

    • Learn More About the Poet — A brief biography and additional poems by Nichols via the Poetry Archive. 

    • An Introduction to Praise Songs — Read more about the African tradition of praise songs.

    • Nichols on Her Relationship to Poetry — An interview in which Nichols discusses her writing process, influences, and love for children's poetry. 

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Grace Nichols

    • Hurricane Hits England

    • Island Man

    • Like an Heiress

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