Following literary devices have been used in the poem Of Mothers, Among Other Things:

1. Metaphor: It is a literary device which represents direct comparison between two things, without the use of as or like. In the poem, we find ample of examples of metaphor. e.g. the poet uses the phrase “twisted blackbone tree” for the old age of his mother and “silk & whitepetal” for her youth. Next he calls the rays of sun as needles. Crying cradles symbolise children. In the next stanza, the poet compares his mother with the eagle (because of her sacrificial nature.
2. Enjambment: It is the  continuation of a sentence or clause across a line break. In the poem, we find the continuation of lines in the stanzas.
3. Alliteration: It is the repetition of  initial consonant sounds in two or more neighbouring words or syllables. e.g. “twisted blackbone tree”, “my mother”, “crying cradles”, “the tree tasseled”, “her hands”, “I see her four still sensible fingers slowly flex”.
4. Symbolism: The poem Of Mother, Among Other Things” is symbolic in nature. In this poem, the poet compares different stages of his mother to different things in order to show her youth, middle age and old age.

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Yes, the poem is a tribute to the self-sacrificing nature of poet’s mother in particular and all the mothers in general. Using ample of images, the poet describes the three phases of his mother’s life – youth, middle age and old age.

In every phase, poet’s mother sacrificed herself. First, she sacrificed her youth, then her foot and finally her finger. Her motherhood was so bold that even worst kind of troubles and hardships could not stop her. She become physically weak but her spirit always remained high.

The last two lines depict this well. In spite of her old age, she struggles to do all the household work. Hence the poem is a tribute to the sacrificing nature of his mother.

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AK Ramanujan uses a number of images to depict the sacrificial nature of his mother. Let us discuss them:

1. Twisted Blackbone Tree: The poet compares his mother with an old blackbone tree with twisted stem because his mother is also old, bent and in unable to stand properly. She become so because of the hardships which she faced throughout her life.
2. Run back from rain to crying cradles: This image depicts the loving nature of poet’s mother. Rain here symbolises hardships. So, poet’s mother would face the hardships boldly for her children.
3. Rags of the tree: This image symbolises the poet’s mother who is weak and full of misery because problems and troubles were surrounding her all the time and took away her joy and enthusiasm.
4. Hands are a wet eagle’s two black-pink crinkled feet: Here the poet is comparing the hands of his mother with the black-pink claws of eagle (which are so because the eagle put its life in danger to feed its chicks). Like the eagle, poet’s mother put her life in all kinds of dangers for her young ones.
5. One talon crippled in a garden mouse trap: Here the poet is calling his mother’s foot as talon (claw) as he considers his mother as struggling as eagle. According to the poet, she crippled one of her feet by stepping over a mouse trap.
6. Loose feather of a one time wing: Here again, the poet is comparing his mother with the old eagle which spent its life feeding its young ones. According to him, his mother has also grown old and is weak now.
7. Four fingers flexing slowly: Here the poet is again telling that his mother’s spirit has always remained bold though she is quite weak now. She would use to pick up a grain of rice (which is difficult for her, yet she does so) with her four fingers. It look like she lost one of her fingers.

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