Ballad of a Mother's Heart

The love of parents for their children is a strong trait among Filipinos, and, as is true in
the Orient, generally the son is particularly dear to his mother. The poem which follows
relates how forgiving and how great the love of a mother is for her son although he has
hurt her very much.

The night was dark, for the moon was young

And the stars were asleep and rare;
The clouds were thick, yet Youth went out
To see his Maiden fair.

'Dear One,' he pleaded as he knelt

Before her feet, in tears,
'My love is true; why have you kept
Me waiting all these years?'

The maiden looked at him unmoved,

It seemed, and whispered low:
'Persistent Youth, you have to prove
By deeds your love is true.'

'There's not a thing I would not do

For you, Beloved,' said he.
'Then go,' said she, 'to your mother dears
And bring her heart to me.'

Without another word, Youth left

And went to his mother dear,
And opened her breast and took her heart.
He did not shed a tear!

Then back to his Maiden fair he ran,

Unmindful of the rain;
Bus his feet slipped and down he fell
And load he groaned with pain.

Still in his hand he held the prize

That would win his Maiden's hand;
And he thought of his mother dear
So kind, so sweet, so fond.

And then he heard a voice, not from

His lips but all apart:
'Get up,' it said; 'were you hurt, Child?'
It was his mother's heart.
Poem Summary

Line 1

“The Sonnet-Ballad,” begins with an address to the speaker’s mother. Given that in this
particular case the title of the poem gives us very little specific information about the
poem’s subject, it is difficult with so general an opening line to discern much about who
the speaker might be. There is, however, a decent amount of compelling information in
the poem that might serve to draw a reader in. For instance, the address to a parent offers
the idea that the speaker is might be a child, or, at the very least, is someone’s son or
daughter. This is immediately complicated though by the addition of a question which —
although childlike in its simplicity — one would expect, because of its seriousness, to
come from an adult. This seriousness is increased as well by the repetition of the word
“mother” which gives the line a sense of pleading, and not simply asking.

This first line is an excellent example of how contrasting ideas or implications can be
used to offer complexity in a poem and not necessarily confusion. In this case there is the
contrast of the serious, pleading question about happiness with the implied idea of a
child. Though this seems contradictory, as one moves through the poem and finds it to be
about a woman who has lost her lover to war, the subject of childhood could be seen to
strengthen the poem is several ways. First, it heightens the sense of loss in death by
subtly offering its opposite: youth or childhood. Second, one might find the idea of
childhood bringing in the feeling of vulnerability, which the speaker clearly feels later in
the poem.

Line 2

With this second line the vagueness of the situation is removed as the speaker offers
specific information about the situation. Her lover has been taken off to war. Notice how
this line establishes a particular tone with its use of carefully chosen language. The lover
did not “leave for,” or “go to” war, but he was “taken” by an anonymous “They.” This
adds a sense of tragedy to the poem as it implies that the lovers had no real control in the
matter. Also, it is not just the lover that departs, but the “lover’s tallness.” This change,
however slight, could be seen to add human detail to our still general image of the lover.
The noun provides a reader with something to begin picturing, but also implies the idea
of strength. This again could be seen to add force to the already tragic experience of his
being taken by establishing that he was strong, not small and weak, and yet he could not
stop them from taking him.

Lines 3-4

Here, in lines three and four, the poem becomes more involved regarding both form and
content. As to form, these lines are the ending of the first of the three, four-line sections
of the sonnet. Notice how the end rhymes (ABAB) fit together here and solidify this as a
section of the formal structure. Line 3 ends with “guess,” which of course rhymes with
line l’s “happiness,” and line 4, ending with the word “for” completes the rhyme with line
2’s “war.” This rhyme scheme will now begin again with line 5. Regarding its subject,
the poem now shifts focus from the departed lover to the one left behind. She is left
“lamenting,” but also wondering what good her heart might be if left empty. While this is
a powerful question for the speaker to ask, and it expresses a good amount of longing and
distress, Brooks goes further to invent a word combination that sharpens the effect even
more. With her choice of referring to the heart as a “heart-cup” she not only accentuates
the possibility of the heart being “empty” by making it easier for a reader to picture, but
also offers the heart as a simple, clear object that one might use every day, and more
importantly, might not be able to use from this point forward.

Line 5

This line is quite simple and direct, but it offers the idea that the parting is somehow
permanent, which one might not necessarily think to be the case. In other words, this
simple line could be seen to erase any of the expected hope in such a situation. The poem
then carries on in an attempt to explain or justify this lack of hope.

Lines 6-8

Here begins what could be seen as the explanation of why it is the speaker of the poem is
so sure her lover will not return from the war. It is still left fairly vague in this section,
which completes the second of the three, four-line sections. But it is worthy of notice to
see what Brooks has done by choosing several words in particular. First, the choice of
“grandly” as an adverb modifying the man’s walk in line 7. This establishes the
possibility of a certain honor or code that the man might have regarding his action. That
he would walk “grandly” off to war, even in a situation where he is being taken there
could be seen to imply a certain resignation on his part to do his duty. Second, Brooks’s
choice at the end of line 8 to liken the man’s possible death to a kind of infidelity. With
this one word, “untrue,” Brooks introduces the compelling and unexpected simile of
death being another woman to whom the speaker’s lover is drawn.

Lines 9-10

Brooks decides to repeat the phrase that claims the potential death to be both an infidelity
and a result of destiny. The phrase itself is powerful and sounds strong, both reason
enough for the repetition. But it might also be seen as another form of pleading that
Brooks uses in the first and last lines of the poem. The repetition also emphasizes this
potentially neglected word “have.” Such a simple, ordinary verb, it is possible that stated
once it might not be more than a passive reference to a future action in the story. Stated
twice though it makes stronger this idea that the lover who has gone to war is not in
control of his own destiny. He has to be untrue, or in the terms of the original situation,
he has to die.

The addition of the word “Coquettish” in line 10 then extends the simile of death as
another woman, and increases the tragedy of such betrayal by claiming that She — death
— in the end doesn’t even really have an interest in this particular man. Thus his being
tempted is nothing but a deception.

Lines 11-12

In the next several lines this string of adjectives is extended in a continued effort to offer
a unique and powerful image of how the speaker’s lover’s imminent death appears to her.
It is also an attempt to explain why her lover might not be able to resist. It is the
“strange / possessive arms and beauty (of a sort)” that cause the man to give in. This
whole phenomenon is still left a bit vague, but the implication is that there is something
about death, its confident, beautiful nature that makes “a hard man hesitate,” and long for
it. This beauty possibly not the traditional beauty one might think of, as Brooks adds the
parenthetical “of a sort” after it, it still has great power. How exactly it might cause a man
to be drawn to it is left to the reader.

If one recalls the use of certain words earlier in the poem, “grandly” for instance, one
might see this seduction as the lover’s attraction to pride or honor. Often people confront
great odds out of sheer bravery and dedication. But Brooks leaves it more mysterious
than this with the use of this word “beauty.” The idea that there is something beautiful
and possessive about death, that would draw one to it, adds great weight and complexity
to the poem as it approaches its end.

Lines 13-14

In this, the poem’s final couplet, there is the climax of the action and then the return to
the question that began the poem. The speaker of the poem describes her lover finally
giving in to death by stating the “yes.” Again the ambiguity or lack of certainty is shown
with the use of the word “stammer,” as this implies the hesitation. It could also be seen as
nervousness or fear at the point of death. Nonetheless, the speaker imagines her “hard
man” finally answering the call of the other woman, who in this case is meant to be
death. Then there is the final act of closure when the poem repeats as part of its couplet
the first line of the poem. This could be seen to affect the poem in several ways. First,
regarding the formal elements of the poem, it closes it up neatly and transforms the poem
into almost a circle that could start again its song. The last line also though reintroduces
the vulnerable pleading — again possibly child-like given the address to the mother —
and sadness of the lover being in such a state. Lastly, it leaves the reader with a question
that is as essential as it is unanswered. The poem then leaves the reader to think of the
speaker of the poem asking such a question, but also possibly lets the question echo in
their own mind after the poem is finished.