A line by line analysis and notes on this poem. This will help you understand what the poem means in simple terms.

1. Chinua Achebe
Nigerian. 1930-2013
His first novel Things Fall
Apart, often considered
his best, is the most
widely read book in
modern African literature.
Quote:
When suffering knocks at
your door and you say
there is no seat for him,
he tells you not to worry
because he has brought
his own stool
Chinua Achebe (1930 – 2013) is one of Nigeria
and Africa’s most recognised and decorated
writers. He is more renown for his novels and
essays. He came to limelight as a poet with the
publication of her book, Beware Soul Brother and
other poems (1971), published in America as
Christmas in Biafra and other poems (1971). The
volume was joint-winner of the Commonwealth
Poetry Prize in 1972. Chinua Achebe continues
to be an inspiration to several people around the
world

2. REFUGEE MOTHER AND CHILD
BY
CHINUA ACHEBE

3. Am I my
brother’s
keeper

4. 1. No Madonna and Child could touch
2. that picture of a mother’s tenderness
3. for a son she soon would have to forget.
4. The air was heavy with odours
1. of diarrhoea of unwashed children
2. with washed-out ribs and dried-up
3. bottoms struggling in laboured
4. steps behind blown empty bellies. Most
1. mothers there had long ceased
2. to care but not this one; she held
3. a ghost smile between her teeth
4. and in her eyes the ghost of a mother’s
5. pride as she combed the rust-coloured
6. hair left on his skull and then –

5. 15.singing in her eyes – began carefully
16.to part it… In another life this
17.would have been a little daily
18.act of no consequence before his
19.breakfast and school; now she
15.did it like putting flowers
16.on a tiny grave.

6. stanza
one
1 - 2
The speaker opens with a beautiful
image. ‘Madonna’ (the mother of
Jesus) elevates the subject to a
religious icon. ‘Tenderness’ shows
the depth of feeling she has for her
child.
3
We are brought sharply to the
realisation that the child’s death is
imminent. Also, if the mother hopes
to survive she cannot dwell on her
grief, showing that her situation is
als terrible.
4
The poem introduces the earthy and
repulsive description of ‘odours’.1. No Madonna and Child could touch
2. that picture of a mother’s tenderness
3. for a son she soon would have to forget.
4. The air was heavy with odours

7. The speaker uses awful imagery to
drive home the reality of their
desperate situation. It seems they
are starving.
The enjambement of ending the
stanza on ‘Most’ shows how their
suffering is inescapable and
unending.
The children have kwashiorkor.
5. of diarrhoea of unwashed children
6. with washed-out ribs and dried-up
7. bottoms struggling in laboured
8. steps behind blown empty bellies. Most
stanza
two

8. The speaker contrasts this mother
with the others showing that she
still cares even though others have
given up.
Repetition of the word ‘ghost’
forces us to think of death. The fact
that it is used to describe the
mother shows us that she is dying,
emotionally, because of being
unable to save her child.
skull: reminder of death.
9. mothers there had long ceased
10. to care but not this one; she held
11. a ghost smile between her teeth
12. and in her eyes the ghost of a mother’s
13. pride as she combed the rust-coloured
14. hair left on his skull and then –
stanza
three

9. metaphor: she has elevated the
action of brushing her child’s hair to
an artform
16 - 19
These lines remind us of the life he
should have been living.
20 - 21
The action becomes extremely
significant and sad and brings to
mind the unavoidable death of her
child.
15. singing in her eyes – began carefully
16. to part it… In another life this
17. would have been a little daily
18. act of no consequence before his
19. breakfast and school; now she
15. did it like putting flowers
16. on a tiny grave.
stanza
four
&
five

10. Questions
1. Discuss how the poet establishes the subjects of the
poem as extremely special. (3)
2. What shows us that the child is on the verge of death? (1)
3. Line 4 is a departure from the tone of the rest of the
stanza. What is the effect of including this line in the first
stanza? (2)
4. Describe the physical condition of the children in your own
words. (2)
5. Why do you think the mothers no longer care about their
children? (1)

11. 6. What does the speaker mean by the words, “singing in
her eyes”?
7. The mother’s actions would be interpreted vastly
differently under normal circumstances. Discuss. (3)
8. What atmosphere is created by the choice of diction in the
3rd stanza?

12. Refugee Mother and Child Analysis
Stanza 1
Refugee Mother and Child is written in a very free-form kind of style. The phrasing
and grammar of each line makes it feel as though this work is only a work of
poetry because of the spacing — you would write, for instance, that “No Madonna
and Child could touch that picture of a mother’s tenderness for a son she would
soon have to forget;” It is a complete sentence. And yet, it flows extremely well as
a poem. The language itself is what is poetic. Use of the Madonna and Child
imagery — referencing the popular imagery of the Virgin Mary holding her Son in
her arms — immediately contrasts a beautiful image with a horrible one. To say
that the beautiful image cannot touch the terrible one can be telling of a number of
things. Perhaps it means that religion is of no comfort, or perhaps it means that
the most beautiful image in the world cannot compare to a mother’s love.
There is an interesting spacing aspect of this poem that it presented in this verse
— the beginning of the next verse is placed here instead, in the form of “the air
was heavy with odours.” Alone, this is barely a complete thought, though it does
fill in a few imagery-based details on our setting.