An Analysis of the Ballad of the Harp Weaver Just take a second to read the first eight lines very carefully. Imagine yourself as a small child with your mother or father sitting on their lap while they hold you. It's a beautiful feeling that brings warmth and security to any child or adult who needs to recapture the essence of their childhood. From the first four lines we understand that the boy's mother is trying to rub his skin to warm him. This is what "rubbing" means, heating by rubbing. But how many times have you found yourself not feeling sleepy enough to go to sleep and asked your mom or dad to read you a bedtime story? In this section we find the relationship between mother and child, the very emblem of the maternal union. Their bonding occurs in a form that most children can remember from the early part of their lives. The act of telling stories is a wonderful part of growing up. Before the invention of reading and writing, people struggled to survive against nature, animals and other humans. This poem is a good example of this basic need to survive by using all the resources available to keep oneself alive. To survive, people have developed skills that have transformed into cultural and educational models. This idea is present when we read the part about the harshness of that winter and the mother and son who burned their furniture to stay warm. The boy's mother is teaching him that wood from furniture can be used to light a fire. This is an important lesson a parent can pass down to ensure the survival of their offspring. It teaches a lesson that a child would otherwise not know and that can be used again and again to help future generations. In order for a culture to continue into the future, the people... at the center of the card... on their path of agony letting us know that it is Christmas. The boy cannot calm down from his mother's singing and cries himself to sleep. It's so heartbreaking to have to put up with any mother. I believe this is the culmination of the poem. The mother knows that she can no longer go on with rhymes and songs alone. In fact, not even his love can no longer ease the torment of his children. But we are left to wonder what it can do. Use the only thing left, the harp. The boy speaks of a light falling on her, but its source is unknown. Is it God's light or divine intervention that is helping her understand what she needs to do? Or is it simply that light that appears in our heads out of nowhere when we've exhausted all our options? We begin to understand that the harp is his last resort. The poem doesn't mention that she played the harp before, so why now?