“Mother” Introduction

• Read the full text of “Mother”

“Mother” Summary

“Mother” Themes

• 

  The Sacrifices of Immigrant Parents

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-10
  • Lines 17-24
  • Lines 28-39
  • Lines 43-45
  • Lines 49-58
  • Lines 59-69
• 

  Legacy and Responsibility

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-58

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Mother”

• Lines 1-3

  I know now, ...
  ... war and exodus.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 4-6

  On the living ...
  ... passion in life?’

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 7-10

  She smiles—that eternal ...
  ... meet the sky.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 11-16

  Gardening is the ...
  ... amongst lotus-dotted ponds.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 17-20

  ‘Teaching was my ...
  ... past made whole.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 21-24

  ‘A literacy teacher,’ ...
  ... of improved literacy.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 25-29

  I continue to ...
  ... bloodshed in Saigon.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 30-34

  I picture her ...
  ... and lychee tea;

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 34-38

  that familiar ...
  ... her classroom window;

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 38-42

  and all of ...
  ... down to me—

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 43-48

  I knew the ...
  ... thought of you.’

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 49-53

  She smiles and ...
  ... pork, Asian vegetables

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 54-58

  and help pay ...
  ... labours of factories.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 59-61

  I know now, ...
  ... refugee boat’s thrum,

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 61-64

  the faces ...
  ... the missile storm.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 65-69

  The homeland was ...
  ... me, growing inside.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

“Mother” Symbols

• 

  Yellow

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 9-10: “Her neck tilts like a sunflower / too heavy to meet the sky.”
  • Lines 30-31: “I picture her driving a yellow scooter / on the road to school,”
  • Lines 47-48: “‘Mother, this week I taught my students Wordsworth / saw thousands of daffodils and thought of you.’”

“Mother” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where enjambment appears in the poem:

  • Lines 9-10: “sunflower / too”
  • Lines 12-13: “shadows / stirring”
  • Lines 13-14: “trees / rows”
  • Lines 14-15: “fences / a”
  • Lines 15-16: “sleeping / amongst”
  • Lines 18-19: “do / jigsaw-puzzle”
  • Lines 19-20: “memory / lock”
  • Lines 22-23: “excitement / the”
  • Lines 23-24: “school / with”
  • Lines 26-27: “on / as”
  • Lines 28-29: “wonder / about”
  • Lines 30-31: “scooter / on”
  • Lines 31-32: “freedom / of”
  • Lines 32-33: “past / street”
  • Lines 33-34: “aromas / of”
  • Lines 34-35: “familiar / crescendo”
  • Lines 36-37: “ploughing / the”
  • Lines 37-38: “one / picturesque”
  • Lines 38-39: “which / was”
  • Lines 40-41: “and / I”
  • Lines 41-42: “wonder / that”
  • Lines 43-44: “providing / for”
  • Lines 44-45: “outweighed / university-degree”
  • Lines 49-50: “halcyon-time / in”
  • Lines 50-51: “floral / pyjamas”
  • Lines 51-52: “together / using”
  • Lines 52-53: “hour / to”
  • Lines 53-54: “vegetables / and”
  • Lines 54-55: “tuition / so”
  • Lines 56-57: “tongue / and”
  • Lines 57-58: “confined / to”
  • Lines 59-60: “wonder / what”
  • Lines 60-61: “there / among”
  • Lines 61-62: “faces / of”
  • Lines 62-63: “flames / incandescent”
  • Lines 63-64: “animate / in”
  • Lines 65-66: “cerulean / depths”
  • Lines 66-67: “womb / boats”
  • Lines 67-68: “crumbled / and”
  • Lines 68-69: “fled / with”

• Imagery

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where imagery appears in the poem:

  • Lines 4-5: “On the living room carpet we sit / I pluck her grey hairs and ask:”
  • Lines 7-10: “She smiles—that eternal smile / a question suspended in mid-air. / Her neck tilts like a sunflower / too heavy to meet the sky.”
  • Lines 12-16: “shadows / stirring beneath star fruit trees / rows of cherry tomatoes growing over fences / a call to supper while sleeping / amongst lotus-dotted ponds.”
  • Lines 25-27: “I continue to pluck her grey hairs / our conversation lingers on / as the soft daylight illuminates us.”
  • Lines 30-38: “I picture her driving a yellow scooter / on the road to school, the freedom / of her hair, a glimmering smile; spiriting past / street markets, the soothing aromas / of Pho and lychee tea; that familiar / crescendo of rickshaws, bicycles and scooters; / landscapes of water buffalo, ploughing / the flooded paddies from cloud to cloud; each one / picturesque from her classroom window”
  • Line 40: “More grey hairs fall,”
  • Line 48: “saw thousands of daffodils”
  • Lines 50-52: “she stitched floral / pyjamas, tablecloths, bedsheets together / using a sewing machine”
  • Line 53: “rice, pork, Asian vegetables”
  • Lines 60-69: “there / among the refugee boat’s thrum, the faces / of Saigon watching—eyeballs ribboned with flames / incandescent, a disorder of diaspora animate / in the missile storm. / The homeland was a mist, the cerulean / depths of sea stirred on the horizon like some agitated womb / boats wet as one long vowel, as the city crumbled / and my mother among them fled / with nothing but me, growing inside.”

• Simile

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where simile appears in the poem:

  • Lines 9-10: “Her neck tilts like a sunflower / too heavy to meet the sky.”
  • Lines 65-66: “the cerulean / depths of sea stirred on the horizon like some agitated womb”
  • Line 67: “boats wet as one long vowel”

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where metaphor appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “my mother dreamed of a paradise”
  • Lines 7-8: “that eternal smile / a question suspended in mid-air.”
  • Lines 19-20: “jigsaw-puzzle pieces of memory / lock together, my past made whole.”
  • Lines 31-32: “the freedom / of her hair”
  • Line 40: “the past realigns itself”

• Allusion

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where allusion appears in the poem:

  • Lines 2-3: “my mother dreamed of a paradise / one unbound by war and exodus.”
  • Line 29: “before the bloodshed in Saigon”
  • Lines 47-48: “‘Mother, this week I taught my students Wordsworth / saw thousands of daffodils and thought of you.’”

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where consonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “know now,” “did in,” “childhood wonder”
  • Line 2: “my mother dreamed,” “paradise”
  • Line 3: “unbound”
  • Line 13: “stirring,” “star fruit trees”
  • Line 14: “rows,” “growing”
  • Line 19: “puzzle,” “pieces”
  • Line 25: “pluck”
  • Line 26: “lingers”
  • Line 27: “daylight illuminates”
  • Line 28: “know,” “now,” “childhood,” “wonder”
  • Line 29: “bloodshed,” “Saigon”
  • Line 31: “freedom”
  • Line 32: “glimmering smile”
  • Line 33: “markets,” “aromas”
  • Line 34: “familiar”
  • Line 36: “landscapes,” “buffalo, ploughing”
  • Line 37: “flooded paddies from cloud,” “cloud”
  • Line 38: “picturesque,” “classroom,” “all”
  • Line 39: “will,” “longer,” “call”
  • Line 40: “fall,” “realigns”
  • Line 41: “know,” “now,” “childhood,” “wonder”
  • Line 42: “legacy,” “down”
  • Line 43: “responsibilities”
  • Line 48: “daffodils”
  • Line 49: “smiles,” “halcyon”
  • Line 50: “childhood,” “floral”
  • Line 51: “tablecloths”
  • Line 52: “less”
  • Line 54: “help”
  • Line 55: “learn,” “spell,” “correctly”
  • Line 56: “English”
  • Line 58: “labours”
  • Line 59: “know,” “now,” “wonder”
  • Line 60: “been,” “mother”
  • Line 61: “among,” “refugee,” “thrum,” “faces”
  • Line 62: “ribboned,” “flames”
  • Line 63: “incandescent,” “disorder,” “diaspora,” “animate”
  • Line 64: “storm”
  • Line 65: “homeland,” “mist”
  • Line 66: “some,” “womb”
  • Line 67: “crumbled”
  • Line 68: “my mother among them”
  • Line 69: “me”

• Sibilance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where sibilance appears in the poem:

  • Line 7: “smiles,” “smile”
  • Line 8: “question,” “suspended”
  • Line 9: “tilts,” “sunflower”
  • Line 10: “sky”
  • Line 13: “stirring,” “star”
  • Line 14: “fences”
  • Line 15: “supper,” “sleeping”
  • Line 16: “amongst,” “lotus”
  • Line 30: “scooter”
  • Line 31: “school”
  • Line 32: “smile; spiriting past”
  • Line 33: “street markets,” “soothing”
  • Line 35: “bicycles,” “scooters”
  • Line 36: “landscapes”
  • Line 38: “picturesque,” “classroom”
  • Line 39: “city”
  • Line 49: “smiles,” “halcyon”
  • Line 50: “stitched”
  • Line 51: “tablecloths,” “bedsheets”
  • Line 52: “sewing,” “less”
  • Line 55: “so,” “spell ‘persistent’”
  • Line 56: “speak”
  • Line 61: “faces”
  • Line 62: “Saigon”
  • Line 63: “incandescent,” “disorder,” “diaspora”
  • Line 64: “missile”
  • Line 65: “mist,” “cerulean”
  • Line 66: “depths,” “sea,” “stirred,” “some”
  • Line 67: “boats,” “city”
  • Line 69: “inside”

• Repetition

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where repetition appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “I know now, as I did in my childhood wonder”
  • Line 5: “I pluck her grey hairs”
  • Line 7: “She smiles—that eternal smile”
  • Line 25: “I continue to pluck her grey hairs”
  • Line 28: “I know now, as I did in my childhood wonder”
  • Line 37: “cloud to cloud”
  • Line 40: “More grey hairs fall”
  • Line 41: “I know now, as I did in my childhood wonder”
  • Line 59: “I know now, as I did in my childhood wonder”

• Asyndeton

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

  • Line 12: “My mind’s eye turns to childhood, to shadows”
  • Lines 20-22: “lock together, my past made whole. / ‘A literacy teacher,’ I exclaim, / she smiles, remembering with excitement”
  • Lines 30-32: “I picture her driving a yellow scooter / on the road to school, the freedom / of her hair, a glimmering smile”
  • Lines 50-51: “she stitched floral / pyjamas, tablecloths, bedsheets together”
  • Line 53: “to afford rice, pork, Asian vegetables”

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where alliteration appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “know now”
  • Line 2: “my mother”
  • Line 12: “My mind’s”
  • Line 13: “stirring,” “star”
  • Line 15: “supper,” “sleeping”
  • Line 19: “puzzle pieces”
  • Line 20: “past”
  • Line 28: “know now”
  • Line 29: “before,” “bloodshed”
  • Line 30: “scooter”
  • Line 31: “school”
  • Line 32: “her hair,” “smile,” “spiriting”
  • Line 33: “street,” “soothing”
  • Line 35: “bicycles,” “scooters”
  • Line 36: “buffalo,” “ploughing”
  • Line 37: “paddies”
  • Line 38: “picturesque”
  • Line 41: “know now”
  • Line 59: “know now”
  • Line 63: “disorder,” “diaspora”
  • Line 65: “cerulean”
  • Line 66: “sea stirred,” “some,” “womb”
  • Line 67: “wet,” “city”
  • Line 68: “my mother”
  • Line 69: “me”

“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.

• Wonder
• Exodus
• Mind's eye
• The bloodshed in Saigon
• Pho
• Rickshaws
• Picturesque
• Wordsworth
• Halcyon
• Incandescent
• Diaspora
• Animate
• The homeland
• Cerulean

• (Location in poem: Line 1: “I know now, as I did in my childhood wonder”; Line 28: “I know now, as I did in my childhood wonder”; Line 41: “I know now, as I did in my childhood wonder”; Line 59: “I know now, as I did in my childhood wonder”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Mother”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Mother” Speaker

“Mother” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Mother”

More “Mother” Resources

• External Resources

  • Poems for Mothers — A list of poems celebrating mothers (rounded up by the Poetry Foundation in honor of Mother's Day).

  • An Interview with the Poet — Read an interview with Vuong Pham for Another Lost Shark. 

  • Poems on Immigration — A collection of poems about and by immigrants.

  • Refugee Poetics — An article by Jill Magi for Poetry magazine that discusses "A Refugee Poetics."