Ma. Joelle E.

Valladolid
ABM 12 – Accountability

USAPANG INA at ANAK

POETRY ANALYSIS

The poem ‘Usapang Ina at Anak’ is written by Merlinda Bobbis, a

contemporary Philippine-Australian writer and academic. Usapang Ina at Anak
means a conversation between a mother and her daughter. The poem is about
a mother’s sacrifices and her selfless love to her family.
The first part of the poem shows the willingness of mothers to give up
their own time and happiness for her daughter’s future and husband’s well-
being. The starting point of the poem was written in a unique way where it
started with the perspective of the daughter, voicing out her thoughts to her
mother. She stated that her mother’s entire life was only spent by waking up in
the morning only to stay at the 4 corners of their house every single day. The
mother responded that she dedicates her entire life to make sure that her
daughter will grow healthy and full of love as well as her husband. These
statements represent most mothers who can only stay at their homes and do
household chores in order to take care of her family. Even though they can no
longer see themselves; and spends all their time working inside the house, not
being able to explore outside, it is their sacrifice they willingly chose for their
family.
The second part of the poem indicates the compassion and tender-
hearted mothers who can do everything for their family. To the perspective of
the daughter, she voiced out to her mother that she looks tired and she can see
all the exhaustion in her eyes. She thought that she couldn’t open her mind to
other new things and ides, because she always stays at home; due to a lot of
responsibilities. Her mother then reminded her again that education starts at
home and she is still her first teacher. The genuine and concerned tone in this
part is apparent and the poet utilized personification as the poetic device for
the statement.
The third part of the poem indicates the strong and stoic personality of
mothers who hide their hardships to their children and still continue to do
their responsibilities. From the perspective of the daughter, she stated that her
mother is becoming silent most of the times probably due to exhaustion, not
because she doesn’t care or she’s mad. She still loves them unconditionally
even though she’s tired from her responsibilities.
 The author’s family background influenced the way she wrote the poem.
The message behind the poem was from her childhood experiences with her
mom and the same experiences of other Filipino mothers. In my opinion, the
child portrayed in the poem was the author itself and her mother because of
the conversations being shared. One condition in the author’s country that
influenced her life is the slight patriarch system of the country where gender-
roles were apparent and women are only limited to stay in the house and do
chores. Another condition is, due to poverty, people don’t get a lot of
opportunities to work. This hinders them to move forward from their
hardships.
In conclusion, the poem is all about every mother's sacrifices and selfless
love to her family. Despite of being tired with all the hard chores inside the
house and forgetting about herself, a mom is always a mom who is willing to
give everything she can, in order to support and raise her family. She is, after
all, the ilaw ng tahanan.