The language of the poem

• The Old Mother uses very simple language. It is ordinary polite English (not colloquial) with few words more than one syllablesyllable: The unit of sound that form a word - eg 'tiger' has two syllables ti-ger, and 'alligator' has four syllables al-li-gat-or. in length. This suggests that the woman has had a simple, straightforward life and that the things that occupy her now are basic: "I must scrub and bake and sweep".
• However, the young women have nothing to do but worry about the colour of their ribbons. The contrast [contrast: A description of all the differences between two things (in this case, two texts). ] between the idleness of the young - who are more suited to physical work - and the old woman, is harsh.
• The young "sigh" or complain (line 8) if the wind merely disarranges their hair, but the old woman does not complain - at least, not explicitly. Do you feel that the final line is a veiled complaint?
• The title indicates that the woman is a Mother, but it is not clear whether "the young" whose idleness she describes are her children or not. It is possible that the word "Mother" is merely an affectionate name for an old woman, and that she has no children - or that her children have grown up and left her alone. If so, is she perhaps reminded of her own daughters when she sees the young women?

Sound

There is some effective use of repetitionrepetition: A word or phrase that is used again and again so that it forms a pattern of sound or meaning, often for emphasis or to make a particular point. in the poem:

• The "I must scrub and bake and sweep" in line 3 is echoed by the "I must work" in line 9, reinforcing the repetitive, unending nature of her work.
• Line 10 mirrors line 2, giving a feeling of finality and enclosure to the poem.

The strong regular rhythmrhythm: The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry. emphasises the physical side of the woman's work: the beat falls on "rise", "dawn", "kneel", "blow" in line 1, for example, as if hammering out her tough routine.

There is a lot of alliteration [alliteration: Words strung together with repeated (often initial) consonants, eg 'Max made many men mad'. ] and assonance [assonance: Words that sound the same through the use of similar vowels or consonants, eg 'hot' and 'slop' or 'fold' and 'filled'. ] in the poem. For example:

• The repeated b and k and p sounds in scrub and bake and sweep (line 3) emphasise how hard and physical the woman's work is
• The long l sounds in lie long (line 5) help to convey the laziness of the young women.
• We can hear the girls sighing in the assonance of line 8 - sigh if the wind but lift a tress - while the soft rhyme in lines 7 and 8 - idleness / tress emphasises the gentle way in which they spend their days.

Imagery

Picture courtesy of Antonio Pizzileo

• Each morning she blows at "the seed of the fire" (line 2) until it "flickers and glows", and she can get on with the rest of her work. The seed metaphormetaphor: An expression used to describe and/or compare a subject/action/person by the way it feels or what it resembles - eg 'sea of troubles', and 'drowning in debt' are metaphors. suggests that the fire is alive and growing.
• However, when "the seed of the fire" is repeated at the end of the poem (line 10), it refers to the 'fire' within herself. She is dying, so her own seed is not glowing/growing, but becoming feeble and cold. (And what about her own seeds - her own children?)
• The Old Mother's day is dictated by the stars - she starts work at dawn and doesn't stop "Till stars are beginning to blink and peep". The burning stars echo the "seed of the fire", glowing in the dark sky like coals in the hearth.