Mother, A Cradle to Hold Me

Angelou’s poem begins with a first-person speaker reflecting on their lifelong experiences with their mother, the “you” being addressed throughout the poem. The speaker remains unnamed, but readers can assume Angelou intended some autobiographical influence, given her documented history with her mother.

The first stanza has the speaker announce that they were “created in you” (Line 2), meaning the mother. These first lines, ultimately, discuss the speaker’s birth from their mother. This intimacy is mutual, as the speaker asserts that their mother was likewise created for them. The verse reflects the symbiotic relationship of mother and child in the first weeks and months of life, where the mother's arms seem "molded" (Line 7) to comfort the baby. The speaker goes on to describe their early days using visual imagery and a metaphor to compare their mother’s arms to a cradle “to hold [them], to rock [them]” (Line 7). The speaker continues with olfactory, or scent, imagery to describe the mother’s natural scent as the air they breathed, giving the reader the impression of a new baby who knows little of the world, but can recognize their mother's smell. The mother's "perfumed" (Line 10) air is as essential as oxygen for the baby.

In stanza two, the speaker uses apostrophe, or direct address, to their mother, discussing how unaware the speaker was that their mother had “a large life” (Line 13) while the speaker had a life of only their mother. These several lines suggest the narrow world of a baby who often only sees their parent(s), compared to the layers of people in an adult’s life, such as co-workers, neighbors, etc.

In stanza three, the speaker recalls the separation anxiety their younger self experienced when their mother had to go away. During these fearful moments, the mother expressed a hopeful tone: “smiled at [their] fears, saying / [they] could not stay in [her] lap forever” (Lines 21-22). Despite the mother’s playfulness, the speaker continued to be afraid to leave their mother’s lap. The mother eventually had to leave their child, and the speaker acknowledges that even though the mother’s return was prompt, they were still uneasy. At this point, the repetition of the phrase “You left again, but again returned” (Lines 32-33) occurs, showing that the more the mother followed this pattern of leaving and returning, the more the speaker “gained confidence” (Line 36).

In stanza four, the speaker again brings back this idea of a competition or comparison, as in stanza two.  Here, the mother and child seem to be in competition over who is watching the other more. The speaker admits that their mother thinks she is watching her child, but the speaker knows they are watching their mother more: “recording every moment” (Line 41). The speaker particularly focuses on their mother’s singing: “While a sob lay / at the root of [her] song” (Lines 47-48), suggesting more complex emotional layers to the mother than the rest of the poem depicts.

In stanza five, the speaker visually describes various types of physical affection, from the light caressing their mother’s face (Line 50), to the way their mother used touch to connect with her child. The speaker seems to suggest that their mother’s way of taking their hand or arm led to their sense of well-being: “I was blessed with a sense of health, / Of strength, and very good fortune” (Lines 53-54).

In stanza six, the speaker fondly remembers their mother’s joyful personality, describing it as “nougats of glee” (Line 57) with the repeated “g” resembling the sounds of a baby’s gurgle. Similarly, the image of candy—"nougat" (Line 57) and "Sweets" (Line 58)—remind the reader of the best of childhood, filled with candy and laughter. The speaker's tone reaches its peak of positivity.

Stanza seven brings the gleeful tone down several notches as the speaker recalls their turbulent teenage years. The speaker mentions their condescending attitude toward their mother using the visual image of a “high perch” (Line 63) to show the status elevation the speaker felt at the time, even though they continued to love their mother. As the speaker aged, they are "stunned" (Line 68) to realize that their mother knew more than the speaker gave her credit for at the time. Once again, the theme of competition returns, with the daughter who knows everything while the mother "knew nothing" (Line 60), and a mother who seems "slow to understand" (Line 66), but who quickly gleans quite a bit.

Stanza eight shows the speaker directly addressing their mother once again and admitting that they “have learned nearly nothing” (Line 72), a stark contrast to knowing everything in the previous stanza. The speaker says, “On this day / When mothers are being honored” (Lines 73-74), suggesting the date is Mother’s Day. In this context, they want to thank their mother for continuing to love them even when they were selfish. In fact, the speaker uses a simile to compare themselves to a “broken doll” (Line 78) that their mother did not “discard” (Line 78). The speaker goes on to thank their mother for finding the good in them during the troubled times. As the speaker ages from the beginning of the poem to the end, it becomes clear that they gain insight about the way they treated their mother and how their mother’s love remained consistent.

The final stanza is short and to the point, wrapping up the poem in simple terms, with words a reader might find inside a Mother’s Day card: “I thank you, Mother / I love you” (Lines 83-84).