A Woman So Well
by Cynthia E.  Jones

May, 2004

My mother, what can I say to make you know on this mother's day how you have effected my life along the way and taught me to be a woman so well...........

My thoughts of Mother's Day cause me to take pause and reflect on my Mom. The quote above is from a poem I wrote for her a few years ago. My mind wondered on thinking of all Mothers of the world. With a literary notion, I discovered that women writers have been Mothers to each and every one of us.

While visiting The Literature Network, I found quite a few links with informative pages of our Ladies in Literature.  A few to mention are, Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen, Emily Bronte and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Emily Dickenson is one of my very favorites.  Perhaps paralleling or similar characteristics between us have created such an admiration.  Never really being recognized for her work until after her death and maybe never achieving full gratification in life, she may hold the mark to what all writers can aspire to...never give up hope and keep writing!

Emily Dickenson's beautiful poem "We never know how high we are";

We never know how high we are
Till we are called to rise;
And then, if we are true to plan,
Our statures touch the skies.

The heroism we recite
Would be a daily thing,
Did not ourselves the cubits warp
For fear to be king.

Virginia Woolf, another "Mother in Literature" with "A Room of One's Own" and of course Dr. Maya Angelou poet and author of "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" and "Phenomenal Woman". When Maya speaks, I have this feeling that God himself has sent this angel to get our attention. Her gift to us can open our hearts and fill our minds with positives. She inspires me while she reminds me that like me, she is human and with the same weaknesses. She impresses onto me that strength is here inside me and I have to reach for it. Her words give me courage as a citizen, mother, woman and writer.

My Mom may not be a published author, writer or poet, but she was the first to introduce me to books and the love of words. She encouraged me to have faith in God and in myself to achieve my dreams and do what ever makes me happy. It is with her nurturing and teaching that I find the woman within me today. It is her light that gives me the desire to learn and look deeper for answers. It is that light that leads me to find the list of Women in Literature that I present to you today.

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom and every Mom!