- Poet
- Gabriela Mistral (Chile), translated from Spanish by Doris Dana
- Syllabus theme
- Life
- Form
- Lyric poem in three eight-line stanzas, each beginning and ending with a refrain
- Speaker
- A mother talking about her little daughter
- Key idea
- A mother's loving fear of losing her child as the child grows up
About the poet
Gabriela Mistral (1889–1957) is the pen name of Lucila Godoy Alcayaga, who was born in Vicuña, Chile. She began writing poetry while working as a village schoolteacher, and she taught for many years before her poetry made her famous. She later played an important part in education in Chile and Mexico, served as a Chilean consul in several European cities, and taught Spanish literature in the United States.
In 1945 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Latin American writer to receive it. Her poetry is known for its deep feeling about love, loss, children and motherhood. Her collection Ternura ("Tenderness") is dominated by the theme of childhood, and she wrote many gentle, song-like poems for and about children. "Fear" belongs to this tender, motherly side of her work.
The English version studied for O/L is a translation by Doris Dana, the American writer who was Mistral's companion and translator.
Background
Mistral spent her early life among poor country people, and she worked all her life for children's education. Her poems often give a voice to ordinary women, especially mothers. "Fear" is a mother's private worry, spoken simply, as if she is talking to herself or to a friend.
Because the poem is a translation, examiners will not expect you to comment on the original Spanish sounds or rhymes. Focus on the ideas, the images, the repetition and the structure, which come through clearly in English.
"Fear" is prescribed under the syllabus theme Life, together with "The Earthen Goblet", "Father and Son" and "The Clown's Wife". Like "Father and Son", it explores the relationship between a parent and a child who will one day leave.
Setting
The poem is set in a humble country home. The details tell us the family is poor and lives close to nature:
- "my straw bed": the mother sleeps on a simple bed of straw, and her daughter sleeps beside her.
- "the eaves": the edge of the roof of their cottage, where swallows build nests.
- "the meadow": the open field where the little girl plays freely.
This simple world is contrasted with the grand, distant world of princesses, golden slippers and thrones.
Synopsis (what happens in the poem)
A mother says she does not want "them" to change her little girl. In three stanzas she imagines three transformations, each one taking the child further away from her:
- A swallow. The girl would fly away into the sky and nest in the eaves, and the mother could no longer comb her hair.
- A princess. In tiny golden slippers she could not play in the meadow, and she would no longer sleep at her mother's side.
- A queen. She would sit on a throne where her mother could not even visit her, and at night the mother could never rock her to sleep.
Each stanza ends by repeating the mother's wish: she does not want her little girl to be changed.
Line-by-line analysis
Stanza 1: the swallow
Lines 1–2I don't want them to turn
my little girl into a swallow.
The poem opens with a direct, personal statement in the first person. "My little girl" is tender and possessive. The word "them" is never explained: it could mean other people, society, fate, or simply time and growing up. This mystery makes the mother's fear feel real but hard to fight. The swallow is a metaphor for a child who grows up and flies away, free and independent.
Lines 3–6She would fly far away into the sky
and never fly again to my straw bed,
or she would nest in the eaves
where I could not comb her hair.
The mother imagines the consequences. "Far away into the sky" suggests great distance, and "never … again" sounds final and painful. The "straw bed" shows the family's poverty, but it is also the warm place where mother and child are together. Even if the swallow stays near, nesting in the eaves of the house, it is out of reach: the mother "could not comb her hair". Combing a child's hair is a small, everyday act of love and care, and losing it is what she fears most.
Lines 7–8I don't want them to turn
my little girl into a swallow.
The opening lines are repeated as a refrain. This creates an envelope structure (the stanza begins and ends the same way) and makes the mother's wish sound like a worried prayer or a lullaby.
Stanza 2: the princess
Lines 9–12I don't want them to make
my little girl a princess.
In tiny golden slippers
how could she play on the meadow?
The second transformation is social, not natural: becoming a princess stands for wealth, status and success. Many parents would be happy for a child to rise in the world, but this mother sees only loss. The "tiny golden slippers" are beautiful but impractical: they would stop the child from running freely on the meadow. The rhetorical question stresses that riches and status would take away the child's natural, happy freedom. Golden slippers are contrasted with the humble meadow and straw bed.
Lines 13–16And when night came, no longer
would she sleep at my side.
I don't want them to make
my little girl a princess.
The mother's deepest fear is physical separation: at night her daughter would no longer sleep beside her. "No longer" again stresses loss. The refrain closes the stanza.
Stanza 3: the queen
Lines 17–18And even less do I want them
one day to make her queen.
"And even less" marks a climax: each transformation is worse than the one before (swallow → princess → queen). This build-up is called gradation. "One day" reminds us that this is the future she fears.
Lines 19–22They would put her on a throne
where I could not go to see her.
And when nighttime came
I could never rock her …
A queen on a throne is the highest and most distant position of all. The mother, a poor woman, would not even be allowed to visit. "Never" is stronger than the earlier "no longer". The ellipsis (…) after "rock her" suggests her voice breaks off with emotion, as if the thought is too painful to finish. Rocking a child to sleep links to the lullaby feeling of the poem.
Lines 23–24I don't want them to make
my little girl a queen!
The refrain returns for the last time, now ending with an exclamation mark instead of a full stop. The mother's quiet worry has grown into a cry of fear.
Themes
- A mother's love. The poem is full of small acts of care: combing hair, sleeping side by side, rocking to sleep.
- Fear of separation and loss. Every stanza imagines the child moving further away, physically and socially.
- Growing up and independence. The swallow suggests the natural process of a child growing up and leaving home, which every parent must face.
- Possessive love. The original LitHelp notes point out that the fear is partly selfish: the mother wants to keep the child for herself, even if flying, wealth or power might be good for the child.
- Simplicity against wealth and status. The humble straw bed and meadow are valued above golden slippers and thrones. The poem suggests that riches and high position can separate people who love each other.
- Fear for the child. As the original notes also say, the mother fears the "obligations and pitfalls" that life will bring her daughter.
Literary techniques
| Technique | Example | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Refrain / repetition | "I don't want them to turn / make my little girl …" | Stresses the mother's anxiety; gives a lullaby-like rhythm |
| Envelope structure | Each stanza begins and ends with the same two lines | The mother's thoughts keep returning to her fear |
| Metaphor | Daughter turned "into a swallow" | Growing up and flying away from home |
| Gradation / climax | swallow → princess → "even less … queen" | Each loss is greater than the last |
| Contrast | "straw bed", "meadow" vs "golden slippers", "throne" | Simple, loving life against wealth and status |
| Imagery | "comb her hair", "sleep at my side", "rock her" | Tender visual and touch images of everyday care |
| Rhetorical question | "how could she play on the meadow?" | Shows wealth would take away freedom and joy |
| Ellipsis | "I could never rock her …" | The mother's emotion breaks off her words |
| Exclamation | "my little girl a queen!" | The fear rises to a climax |
| Ambiguity | "them" | An unknown force (society, fate, time) makes the fear harder to fight |
| First-person lyric voice | "I don't want …" | Personal, sincere and emotional |
Tone and mood
The tone is tender, anxious and pleading. It begins as a quiet worry and rises to an emotional cry in the last line. The mood is gentle and sad, like a lullaby sung by a mother who knows, deep down, that her child will one day leave.
Context questions (Part I, Section A)
Each extract carries 5 marks: (a) text and author, 1; (b) speaker, person spoken to, or situation, 2; (c) inference or response, 2.
"She would fly far away into the sky
and never fly again to my straw bed,
or she would nest in the eaves
where I could not comb her hair."
- From which poem is this extract taken? Who wrote it? 1
- Who is the speaker? Who is "she"? 2
- What does the image "comb her hair" suggest about the speaker's feelings? 2
Show model answer
(a) "Fear" by Gabriela Mistral (translated by Doris Dana).
(b) The speaker is a mother. "She" is her little daughter, whom she imagines being turned into a swallow.
(c) Combing a child's hair is a small, everyday act of love and care. It shows the mother's tenderness and closeness to her daughter, and her fear of losing that intimacy if the child flies away.
"In tiny golden slippers
how could she play on the meadow?"
- Name the poem and the poet. 1
- What is the speaker afraid will happen to her daughter in this stanza? 2
- Identify the literary device in the second line and explain its effect. 2
Show model answer
(a) "Fear" by Gabriela Mistral.
(b) She is afraid that "they" will make her little girl a princess, so that the girl will no longer play freely or sleep at her mother's side.
(c) A rhetorical question. It shows that wealth and status (golden slippers) would take away the child's natural freedom and happiness. It also contrasts the riches of royalty with the simple meadow.
"And even less do I want them
one day to make her queen."
- From which poem is this extract taken? Who wrote it? 1
- What two transformations has the speaker already mentioned before these lines? 2
- What is the effect of the words "even less"? 2
Show model answer
(a) "Fear" by Gabriela Mistral.
(b) She has said she does not want her daughter to be turned into a swallow or made a princess.
(c) "Even less" shows that the mother's fear is growing. Becoming a queen is the worst possibility, because it would take the child furthest from her. The words build the poem to a climax (gradation).
"And when nighttime came
I could never rock her …
I don't want them to make
my little girl a queen!"
- Name the poem and the poet. 1
- Why could the speaker "never rock her"? 2
- Comment on the punctuation in these lines. 2
Show model answer
(a) "Fear" by Gabriela Mistral.
(b) Because, as a queen, her daughter would be put on a throne where the poor mother could not even go to see her.
(c) The ellipsis (…) suggests the mother's voice breaks off with emotion, as if the thought is too painful to finish. The final exclamation mark shows that her quiet worry has become a strong cry of fear.
Essay questions (Part II, Poetry)
Content 7 · Organisation 4 · Language 4. Answer the question directly, support each point with a short quotation, and finish with a clear conclusion.
"In 'Fear', a mother's love is both tender and possessive." Discuss. 15
Show model answer
Gabriela Mistral's "Fear" is spoken by a mother who is worried that "they" will change her little girl into a swallow, a princess and finally a queen. Through these imagined transformations the poem reveals a mother's love that is deeply tender but also possessive.
The tenderness of her love is clear in the small, everyday acts of care that she fears losing. She worries that as a swallow her daughter would nest "where I could not comb her hair", and that as a princess she would "no longer … sleep at my side". As a queen, the child would be so far away that "I could never rock her". Combing hair, sleeping side by side and rocking a child to sleep are intimate images of physical closeness and gentle care. The repeated phrase "my little girl" adds to this warmth, and the refrain, which returns in every stanza, gives the poem the soft rhythm of a lullaby.
However, the mother's love is also possessive. Flying like a swallow could stand for a child growing up and becoming free, and becoming a princess or a queen would mean wealth, honour and success. Many parents would wish for these things, yet this mother says "I don't want" them, because they would take her daughter away from her. Her fear grows from stanza to stanza: "And even less do I want them / one day to make her queen." The final line ends with an exclamation mark, showing how strongly she wants to keep her child for herself. As the original LitHelp notes observe, her fear is "in part, a selfish fear".
At the same time, her possessiveness comes from love rather than cruelty. She also fears for her daughter: golden slippers would stop her playing on the meadow, and a throne would cut her off from simple, natural happiness. Her rhetorical question, "how could she play on the meadow?", shows she believes riches and power could make her child less happy.
In conclusion, "Fear" shows a love that is tender in its gentle images of care, and possessive in its refusal to let the child go. This mixture makes the poem moving and true to life, because most parents feel both the wish to protect their children and the pain of knowing that one day those children will leave.
Discuss how Gabriela Mistral uses repetition, contrast and imagery to express the mother's feelings in "Fear". 15
Show answer plan
- Introduction: a short lyric about a mother's fear of losing her daughter; three techniques carry the feeling.
- Repetition: the refrain "I don't want them to …" opens and closes each stanza (envelope structure). It shows her anxiety and gives a lullaby rhythm; the final exclamation mark adds intensity.
- Gradation: swallow → princess → "even less … queen"; the fear grows.
- Contrast: "straw bed", "meadow" vs "golden slippers", "throne". She values simple closeness over wealth and status.
- Imagery: "comb her hair", "sleep at my side", "rock her" are tender images of care; flight and the throne are images of distance.
- Conclusion: simple techniques create a sincere, moving picture of maternal love and fear.
- Thinking the daughter really becomes a swallow, princess or queen. These are imagined fears about the future.
- Ignoring "them". Mention that it is never explained, and suggest what it might mean (society, fate, time).
- Writing only about love. The question often wants you to show the fear and the possessiveness too.
- Commenting on rhyme or sound as if the English were the original. The poem is a translation, so focus on ideas, images and structure.