Gwendolyn Brooks Essay Research Paper Gwendolyn BrooksOn

Gwendolyn Brooks Essay, Research Paper

Gwendolyn Brooks

On June 7, 1917, Keziah Corine Wims and David Anderson Brooks gave birth to one of the most gifted African-American poets of the 20th century. They named her Gwendolyn Brooks. Although she was born in Topeka, Kansas, Brooks grew up in Chicago where her mother worked as a schoolteacher and her father worked as a janitor. He quit going to school for financial reasons and while quitting went away his dream of becoming a doctor. David Brooks was still a proud man. Being a janitor wasn?t, and still isn?t considered a highly skilled job, but Brooks was still proud of her father?s self-sacrifice. Brooks? wrote a poem directly titled In Honor of David Anderson Brooks, My Father. In this poem she writes of how much she misses him and the things he did for his family. Lines such as ?A dryness is upon the house/ My father loved and tended/ Beyond his firm and sculptured door/ His light and lease have ended? show how much she cared for her father.

Growing up in the south side of Chicago gave Brooks an insight to the social poverty that existed in this world. The people around her may have been poor, but they still had pride in their existence. The poem The Bean Eaters is a reflection of her surroundings. The first two stanzas open the poem with: ?They eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair/ Dinner is a casual affair/ Plain chipware on a plain and creaking wood/ Tin flatware/ Two who are Mostly Good/ Two who have lived their day/ But keep putting on their clothes/ And putting things away.? Although they don?t have much other than ?tin flatware,? the couple still faces each day as if it is a brand new beginning.

As she was growing up, members of her own race spurned her because she lacked social and athletic abilities, and to add to these factors, she was also light skinned. This rejection effected her deeply and she retreated with poetry. In the poem, Still Do I Keep My Look, My Identity?? Brooks writes lines such as, ?Each body has an art, its precious prescribed/ Pose, that even in passion?s droll contortions, waltzes/ Or push of a pain- or when grief has stabbed/ Or hatred hacked- is its, and nothing else?s.? These lines are talking about how everybody has beauty within them, and it seems as if other people don?t see Gwendolyn?s beauty. Also, these lines talk about how everyone is beautiful, and no matter how beautiful the body is, it will still feel pain and hatred.

Being an African-American in the 30?s and 40?s also didn?t help Brooks? social and economic situation. People of color during that time were often treated with ignorance and bigotry. Gwendolyn?s counterattack to these beliefs is shown in the poem Of De Witt Williams on his way to Lincoln Cemetery. She writes, ?He was born in Alabama/ He was bred in Illinois/ He was nothing but a/ Plain black boy/ Swing low swing low sweet sweet chariot/ Nothing but a plain black boy.? Her poem is saying although this man has traveled and has seen the country, he is still considered by many to be just a ?plain black boy.? They don?t know anything about him, nor do they care to know anything about him, simply because he is a ?plain black boy.?

During the 40?s to the 50?s, women across America were torn between choosing a simple domestic life or having a career. Brooks? take on this controversial topic is apparent in the poem Sadie and Maud. With lines such as: ?Maud went to college/ Sadie stayed at home/ Sadie scraped life/ With a fine-tooth comb/ ? Sadie bore two babies/ Under her maiden name/ Maud and Ma and Papa/ Nearly died of shame/ ? Maud, who went to college/ Is a thin brown mouse/ She is living all alone/ In this old house.? Sadie is possibly symbolizing Brooks, for Brooks did bear two children and after she had children, she became a housewife and mother. Her take on the family vs. career choice is shown in this poem. She appears to be saying: although you may be staying home, it doesn?t mean you won?t have a fulfilling life. On the other hand, just because you have a career won?t necessarily make you a happy person.

Gwendolyn married in 1939 to Henry L. Blakeley. She had two children with him named Henry Jr. and Nora. She became a housewife and a mother but instead of directing all her energy toward domestic needs, she wrote her poetry while her children slept or while they were in school.1939 was also the start of World War II. Brooks wrote a poem entitled Memorial to Ed Bland and the poem begins with an opening that reads, ?? killed in Germany March 20, 1945; volunteered for special dangerous mission? wanted to see action.? The poem is about a young man who wants to see the world, and believes that he is invincible, which was probably the attitude that many young American males had pre-World War II. They believed they were invincible, but that was not the reality for many young men.

The post World War II era was prosperous for many Americans, especially returning soldiers. The attitude sweeping through America was one of ?If you can survive the war, you can survive anything.? It was almost as if Americans felt immortal. Brooks? attacked this notion with her poem We Real Cool. In this poem, she writes, ?The Pool Players/ Seven at the Golden Shovel/ We real cool. We/ Left school. We/ Strike straight. We/ Sing sin. We/ Thin gin. We/ Jazz June. We/ Die Soon.? The ?Pool Players? symbolizes the average man, but with the