“Mother, A Cradle to Hold Me” is a free-verse poem, meaning it has no set rhyme or meter. The poem has 84 lines that are structured into nine stanzas of varying length. In this case, free verse makes the poem's message accessible to a wide audience, following informal and conversational speech patterns. This choice of form works to convey the intimacy between a mother and daughter, as the speaker evokes memories and reminisces about their evolving relationship through the years.

The use of alliteration, or the repetition of initial consonant sounds, adds to the rhythm and meaning of the poem. Some examples include “condescendingly of course” (Line 62), which adds to the coarse tone of the teenage speaker towards their mother, as well as “I spoke sharply of you, often / Because you were slow to understand” (Lines 65-66) with the “s” sounds adding a softer contrast to the “c” sounds above, almost a whisper because of the shame the older speaker feels as they reflect back on that time.