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Grace Nichols was born in Georgetown, in the Caribbean country of Guyana and moved to the UK in the 1970s. Her poetry is inspired by her Caribbean heritage, folk tales, tradition and her move between cultures.
We have written a GCSE poem analysis of Praise Song for My Mother by Grace Nichols, among our range of poem analyses including Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
What is the Poem About?
This Grace Nichols poem is clearly a tribute to her mother in the form of a praise song.
A praise song is a traditional African form in several traditions, increasingly made relevant to the Western world in recent decades, used to list and explore the attributes of a person. There is an easily grasped relationship behind this one, which really invites a reader to consider their own relationship with their mother and to consider the passing of responsibility and tradition from one generation to the next, as well as the special bond between a mother and her child.
A similar bond of parenthood is explored in another of the GCSE poems you may be asked to analyse, Nettles by Vernon Scannell.
Praise Song for My Mother by Grace Nichols
You were
water to me
deep and bold and fathoming
You were
moon's eye to me
pull and grained and mantling
You were
sunrise to me
rise and warm and streaming
You were
the fishes red gill to me
the flame tree's spread to me
the crab's leg/the fried plantain smell
replenishing replenishing
Go to your wide futures, you said
Overview
The poem is written in the past tense, prompting a question. When written, was the poet’s mother passed away? Is this a tribute to a dead relative, or simply so distant a memory that she speaks of what her mother was rather than what her mother is?
This can be interpreted in many ways, but the choice to use past tense is clearly deliberate. Either way, the poem is an exploration of memory and descriptive power. It speaks with a positive view of the mother figure within, suggesting that the use of past tense is either to reminisce about a childhood or as a tribute to a loved one who has died.
We can learn more about the poem from Nichols' own analysis:
Form and Structure
The structure is very interesting in that it is totally free and doesn't fit into any of the poetic rhythms and structures we have come to know.
The poem has five brief stanzas of uneven length, the first three regulars, the fourth extended and the fifth very brief. That final verse has just one line and serves more as a message, and a triumphant rallying call that her mother passed on, empowering in its very nature: "Go to your wide futures, you said".
The lines themselves are not metrically regular, making this really a piece of free verse. The poem is strongly repetitive but also has a strong shape on the page and when spoken aloud. There is a real sense of growth as the lines increase in length, then contract again, and that abrupt ending could be seen as a full stop, a way to punctuate the message she is trying to get across.
Language
The poem is a collection of metaphors, each depicting the subject from a different point of view. ‘Water’ is the easiest place to start – life-giving, flowing, liquid and expressive. The fact that water is essential to life means this is a deliberate simile used by the writer to explain the reliance on a mother's love.
It prompts the poet to describe her mother with three words which help to continue the metaphor ‘deep and bold and fathoming’. To call a person ‘deep’ may now have the sense of complexity or seriousness, but here it summons up deep sea water, ‘bold’ the braveness of waves. ‘Fathoming’ as a term is slightly ambiguous but it also helps to continue the theme of the deep sea within the language.
The way the poet stretches the sense of this word is itself repeated. ‘Mantling’ must be an action related to a ‘mantle’ or cloak, but how? Did the mother wrap herself around her daughter in protection? Did she clothe her daughter with her own resources, her own wealth, her own skills? Nichols is very ambiguous with her language here again. The fact that this is addressed to her mother means that perhaps we do not need to know what is meant, exactly.
To be ‘rise’ is another of these tests. The poet’s mother was, we are told, the rise that brought as much to her daughter as the sun rising in the morning, yet the exact manner of what that gift was and how it was brought is hidden from us, both by the inability of language to really express it and by the shield of privacy that the poet holds. The language is unclear but favourable. To describe someone as "warm" certainly suggests that there is a great deal of affection there.
The next images will all have very personal connotations, and perhaps that is the point.
The poem describes a generic feeling of awe, love and gratitude to a parent while keeping a level of mystery. The ‘fish's red gill’ seems to me to be another image of vitality, since the oxygen-rich gills quickly fade in colour once a fish has been taken out of the water. The ‘flame tree’s spread’ implies a degree of shelter and comfort, although an exotic one, and the ‘crab’s-leg’ a favourite, well-loved family treat.
I would interpret the "/" marking as an indication of quick movement and brevity when reading the poem, and of one idea breaking in on another, and the image – or flavour – of fried plantain overtaking the poet’s imagination and taking priority! Even tastier than crab, more precious, fried plantain!
And all of this is the mother’s habit of ‘replenishing’ – filling up her daughter – filling her up so full that even the word is repeated. Replenishing is one of the gifts that parents can give their children, ensuring there is enough for them and that they are satisfied.
Yet finally the mother’s greatest gift is the freedom she gives her daughter to leave and live her own life. The ‘wide futures’ might well be outside traditional African or Caribbean heritage, yet however far the poet has travelled, and however far she has ended up from her mother, she has remained able to talk to her directly, privately, colourfully, humorously, and with love.
This final line, and its brevity, give the impact and punch that the poet intended. It is a beautiful and impactful sign-off: "Go to your wide futures" is an empowering and inspirational phrase. The choice to pluralise "future" and instead include "futures" adds even more intrigue. Of course, a person can build more than one future for themselves, but perhaps this is a reference to the brothers and sisters that the mother figure was also addressed.
Themes and Further Analysis
There are a number of themes that can be pointed out in your analysis. These can go a long way to show that you have understood the poem and its meanings.
Throughout your coursework, the ability to point out themes and imagery, such as the theme of the sea within this poem, and also within Kamikaze by Beatrice Garland.
The theme of nature is clear within Praise Song for My Mother. From discussing the sunrise to trees, to natural food like plantains and crabs. Even words like "streaming" have natural connotations.
Another theme that can be picked out from Praise Song for My Mother is the theme of protection and providing for the family, subtly included through "the flame tree's spread to me" suggesting shelter, and terms like "replenishing replenishing" connoting the mother's continual protection for her child or children. There is ambiguity in the poem, but this is deliberate, leaving you to consider your own relationship with your mother.
Free verse - Poetry without a regular fixed pattern of metre or rhyme
Metre - The pattern of stress, beat, rhythm or emphasis that is created by words in a sentence or line.
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For More GCSE poem analyses: Nettles, The Yellow Palm, My Last Duchess, and Medusa
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This poem is written in free verse . Why does this seem appropriate for this poem