The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver

Motherhood is a central theme in “The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver.” The poem is a son’s recollection of his mother, enshrining her memory and the effort she put forth to do what she could for her son. The boy's father is no longer alive, therefore, the boy and the mother only have each other, and they are isolated from participating in society because of their poverty. Because the mother has no one else to talk to except her son, she works through her guilt and shame in her conversations with her son. She is the only one responsible for his well-being, yet she does not have the means to make him proper clothing or a meal. Therefore, this makes her feel desperate and helpless because she does not have the means to fulfill her role as a mother. She breaks down emotionally in front of her son due to the weight of the impossible responsibility to nurture and provide amidst poverty.

In the fourth stanza, the mother expresses that the "sight" (Line 16) of her son "[m]akes [her] blood crawl" (Line 17). They are both starving, and she cannot bear to see how thin her son is becoming from the lack of nourishment.