![]() It features ‘a mother singing softly to a child restless and angry in the darkness’, and the way this sound suggests the idea of home to the poet. The third poem in this short sequence is only three lines long, and is titled simply ‘Home’. This short poem’s description of a mother’s love being like moonlight ‘turning harsh things to beauty’ makes it well worth reading:Ĭarl Sandburg, ‘ Poems Done on a Late Night Car’. The image of the ‘shining stream’ returns later in the poem as ‘broken water’, suggesting that Ridge’s memory of her mother from her childhood is impressionistic and unclear. The moon, the mirror, the shining stream: Ridge homes in on images of reflection in her poem, seeing a mother as someone who gives an ethereal beauty to the children’s image of themselves, not simply returning but magnifying it. She’s not read much now, but she was a pioneer of what some call ‘Anarchist poetry’, though her style might be co-opted more broadly under the banner of modernism. ![]() Lola Ridge (1873-1941) was born in Ireland but lived much of her adult life in the United States. If Kipling were charged with some crime or misdemeanour, his mother would still love him if he suffered some tragic misfortune such as being drowned, his mother would mourn him and if he committed a sin so terrible that he was damned in body and soul, he knows that his mother would pray for his salvation. Because of the less-than-happy ending of that book, Kipling probably added ‘Mother o’ Mine’ to the beginning of the book as a way of saying sorry to his mother for having displeased her she’d have preferred the happy ending.Ī mother provides unconditional love for her children, and Kipling’s ‘Mother o’ Mine’ pays tribute to this fact. So begins this poem which was published as a dedication to Kipling’s 1892 book The Light That Failed. Rock me to sleep, mother, – rock me to sleep! With your light lashes just sweeping my face, Womanhood’s years have been only a dream.Ĭlasped to your heart in a loving embrace, Sing, then, and unto my soul it shall seem Mother, dear mother, the years have been long Here is the final stanza of the longer poem: Elizabeth Akers Allen wrote ‘Rock Me to Sleep’ while in Europe in the 1850s, but her home was in the United States, in New England. The request to be rocked to sleep, bordering on a desperate command, comes at us again and again, mimicking the soothing repetition that it yearns for in the desired movement back and forth, the rocking to sleep. I learnt love-lore that is not troublesome …Įlizabeth Akers Allen, ‘ Rock Me to Sleep’.Įlizabeth Chase Akers Allen (1832-1911) was an American author and poet whose 1859 poem, ‘Rock Me to Sleep, Mother’ (the ‘mother’ word is sometimes omitted) is still relatively well-known, thanks to the opening lines: ‘Backward, turn backward, O time, in thy flight / Make me a child again, just for to-night’. ![]() To my first Love, my Mother, on whose knee To her whose heart is my heart’s quiet home, ![]() ![]() It is so welcoming.Sonnets are full of love, and this my tome The Mum Poet Club is amazing for any women who fancy giving poetry a go as a way to express all the ups and lows of motherhood. The Mum Poet Club is a brilliant, community-building, creative force for good. The Mum Poet Club will next be performing at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. We host open mic nights, poetry performances and workshops. In May 2021 we published Songs of Love and Strength, our first full length anthology of poetry about motherhood as part of Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week. We are proud to publish our groundbreaking and beautiful Mum Poet Club zine and have worked with guest editors including Hollie McNish, Liz Berry and Laura Dockrill to bring readers beautiful, moving and always exceptional poetry that explores motherhood in all its guises. Everyone is welcome and you don’t need any previous experience to join our free and friendly writing community. We support and connect parents who write, or would like to try writing poetry through our Mum Poet Club encouraging mums to write as a way to express, process and share experiences. The Mum Poem Press is a poetry publishing venture focusing on work that explores all aspects of motherhood. ![]()
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