Question

Stating the Central Idea

The courage that my mother had

Went with her, and is with her still:

Rock from New England quarried;

Now granite in a granite hill.

The golden brooch my mother wore

She left behind for me to wear;

I have no thing I treasure more:

Yet, it is something I could spare.

Oh, if instead she'd left to me

The thing she took into the grave! -

That courage like a rock, which she

Has no more need of, and I have.

—“The Courage That My Mother Had,”
Edna St. Vincent Milla

Reread the poem. Look at the details in each stanza and write one to two sentences explaining the central idea of the poem.

Answer 1

The daughter wished she could have her mother's courage more than anything else her mother had. The brooch was a nice treasure, but she admired her mother's courage more than any object.

Explanation: Sample Response from e d g e n u i t y

Answer 2

Sample response: The daughter wished she could have her mother's courage more than anything else her mother had. The brooch was a nice treasure, but she admired her mother's courage more than any object.