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.