Gwendolyn Brooks’ Poetical Legacy Essay

Introduction

Gwendolyn Brooks is an outstanding figure in poetry and literature of the 20th century. She was the first Black woman who received the Pulitzer Prize for her book Annie Allen in 1950 (Somers, 2019). Her poetical style is rich and titillating – according to critics, Gwendolyn Brooks’ poems inherited the traits of simplicity and intentional naivety (Leaf, 2022). These are seen as powerful approaches to transforming reality into distilled poetic impressions. In other respects, her poems are direct and calming simultaneously. She approaches the reader with eloquent appeals, unobtrusive, though expressive. Brooks shares her impressions of life and thoughtful reflections on the nature of existence elements, such as struggle, lust for life, alluring desires of youth, and life choices. This paper aims to provide a comparative interpretation of “We Real Cool,” (1960), “Sadie and Maud,” (1945), and “Speech to the Young” (1991) poems by Gwendolyn Brooks.

We Real Cool

“We Real Cool” poem tells about the charms of youth and childhood that give a person a sense of omnipotence and hints at the possible consequences of a too-accelerated pace of life at this age. This is a short poem that uses short phrases to accentuate the meanings. Here it is: “We real cool/ We Left school/ We Lurk late/ We Strike straight/ We Sing sin/ We Thin gin/ We Jazz June/ We Die soon” (Leaf, 2022, p. 60). The short sentences add to the distinctiveness of the poem, making its elements more expressive.

Another aspect emphasized by the short phrases is mood. Brooks delivers the most subtle feelings and experiences of teenagers through short verb forms. She immerses the reader into the early and bright Chicago evening with phrases like “We real cool,” “We lurk late,” “We Thin gin,” and “We Jazz June” (Leaf, 2022, p. 60). These gentle turns are balanced by more aggressive ones that sum up the mood: “We left school,” “We strike straight,” “We sing sin,” and “We die soon” (Leaf, 2022, p. 60). Interestingly, the contrast described is performed in a lulling rhythm that resembles the rocking of a swing, and bewitches, putting the reader in a trance. Identical and masculine rhymes enhance the impression and make it more expressive and clearer, masculine.

There is a hidden threat in the poem, which is conveyed through metonymy and metaphor. The metonymic expression “We strike straight” and “We die soon” hint at the general aggressive intentions of young people who are ready to take risks to experience the taste of life (Leaf, 2022, p. 60). These intentions are contrasted with the more peaceful, metaphorical phrase “We Jazz June” which speaks of the creative tendencies of youth (Leaf, 2022, p. 60). In other words, the author uses a wealth of images to enhance the impression of the original, restrained, but frankly emotional world of youth.

Another poetic tool used by Gwendolyn Brooks is anaphora or repetition. Repeating “we” at the beginning of each phase, she brings readers’ attention to the heroes of the poem – the new generation. Critics mention that Brooks must be condemning the “boys’” dangerous intentions: “Their ‘coolness’ of alienation responds by dropping out, drinking, debauching, dying. It is this wasteful aggression against the self, this fragile wall of bravado that the poet mourns” (Leaf, 2022, p. 61). Another critic’s opinion is that Brooks, being a socially aware person, must be maternally concerned about the fate of young African Americans: “Despite presentation in the voice of the gang, this is a maternal poem, gently scolding yet deeply grieving for the hopelessness of the boys” (Leaf, 2022, p. 61). This ‘maternal’ or ‘condemning’ attitude is not necessarily true – Gwendolyn Brooks was a sensible, but free-spirited writer and poet, and could have been sharing her mere adoration with the young people.

Sadie and Maud

In this poem, the author uses metonymies and metaphors to tell the readers the story of Sadie and Maud. While “Maud went to college,” Sadie “stayed at home” and “bore two babies/ Under her maiden name,” and “Maud and Ma and Papa/ Nearly died of shame” (AllPoetry, n.d., para. 3). However, at the end of the day, Maud “is living all alone/ In this old house” (AllPoetry, n.d., para. 3). The metonymies “under her maiden name,” “said her last so-long,” are used to hide the pain of the heroines, and to attract the reader’s attention to this pain (AllPoetry, n.d., para. 3). In the metaphors “Sadie scraped life/ With a fine-toothed comb,” “(Sadie left as heritage/ Her fine-toothed comb)” the comb stands for Sadie’s ability to make things right (AllPoetry, n.d., para. 3). She is also called “one of the liveliest chicks/ In all the land” which is another positive comparison (AllPoetry, n.d., para. 3). Hence, unlike metonymies, metaphors are applied to deliver positive images and feelings.

The poem uses feminine rhyme with indirect similarity of the last words in the lines and dactyl meter where the first syllables are stressed. Such a combination creates an anxious, restless mood in the reader, and makes them feel the instability of life and the doom of the heroines. Equally important, it is the dissonance between rhyme and meter that allows conveying the feminine character of Sadie and Maud who are both objects of a large, ruthless, and often blind ‘male’ world.

“Sadie and Maud” has common features with the “We Real Cool” poem. The two poems speak of life choices, young people are the focus of attention, and the ending of the two poems has morals regarding the consequences of life choices. Unlike “We Real Cool,” “Sadie and Maud” is a poem about girls, not boys – the gender division was characteristic of the time of writing of the two poems. No less interestingly, “Sadie and Maud” has more dramatic rhythmic dynamics and a more feminine, unstable mood. This poem is also more mature and has a deeper perspective, it raises philosophical questions about the meaning of life.

Speech to the Young

The full name of the poem is “Speech to the Young: Speech to the Progress-Toward (Among them Nora and Henry III).” Nora and Henry III were Gwendolyn Brook’s two children, and they must have been in their 50s in 1991 when the poem was written (Somers, 2019). The author uses the masculine rhyme in combination with the dactyl meter to deliver a harmonious and finished mood. Here, like in “We Real Cool” the use of consonance and assonance is more visible. For example, in the first lines, the author uses consonance rhyme: “say to the down-keepers, / the sun-slappers, / the self-soilers, / the harmony-hushers” (Brooks, 2022, para 1). In the second part of the poem, the feminine rhyme and assonance are used, making the ending unstable “Live not for battles won. / Live not for the-end-of-the-song. / Live in the along” (Brooks, 2022, para. 2). The middle part of the poem uses the ABBA or chiasmus rhyme scheme.

The consonance rhyme is felt more calming and reassuring, while the assonance rhyme leaves some space for self-doubt and reflection. Gwendolyn Brooks uses dactyl, like in “Sadie and Maud” to deliver the confident, purposeful mood of the poem. The author does not urge to follow her words, she asserts the ultimate truth: “Even if you are not ready for day / it cannot always be night / You will be right. / For that is the hard home-run” (Brooks, 2022, para. 2). Hence, poetic techniques successfully convey the author’s idea through rhythm and rhyme.

“Speech to the Young” focuses on the similar topic of inner persistence present in “We Real Cool,” and “Sadie and Maud.” The first line calls to question the ‘authorities’ of the harmony hushers, and the last line is asking the readers to “Live in the along” that is in the present moment. In “Wee Real Cool” a similar message of inner freedom is delivered by using the tool of anaphora and titillating images. In “Sadie and Maud” the metaphors help deliver a reassuring message.

Author’s Perspective

To better understand the poems, some facts about the author’s life should be considered. Importantly, Gwendolyn lived in urbanized Chicago her entire life, and urban African American citizens were her creative focus. She was not overly politicized but was still concerned with the issues of social justice, which is explicitly demonstrated in all three poems. “We Real Cool” describes the world of younger urban males, and “Sadie and Maud” study the life perspectives of younger urban females, while “Speech to the Young” written in the more liberal 1990s is aimed at all categories of youngsters. Interestingly, Gwendolyn generally tends to use a free verse or complicated verse constructions, playing with the rhymes and meters (Gwendolyn Brooks, 2022). The free verse or vers libre style most closely resembles natural speech, which could be seen as a good choice by Brooks whose best-characterizing poetic trait is simplicity.

The author wrote two widely read books of poems about youth living in Chicago Street in Bronzeville (1945, “Sadie and Maud”), and The Bean Eaters (1960, “We Real Cool”) (Somers, 2019). Her later In the Mecca (1968) about a woman who lost a child and is searching for it, was nominated for the National Book Award (Somers, 2019). Hence the three poems discussed above present the central topics in Gwendolyn Brooks’ legacy.

Conclusion

Thus, a comparative interpretation of “We Real Cool,” (1960) “Sadie and Maud,” (1945), and “Speech to the Young” (1991) poems by Gwendolyn Brooks was provided. The three works use poetic tools extensively – “We Real Cool” applies anaphora and specific rhythm to share the feelings of youth capable of anything. In “Sadie and Maud” the author applies contradictory feminine rhyme and dactyl meter to deliver the feeling of anxiety and uncertainty. In “Speech to the Young,” the masculine rhyme and dactyl meter creates a life-asserting perception. The three poems are focused on the issues of important life choices, personal freedom, and striving for happiness. Regardless of the excellent mood of the poems, they have a common goal – to depict the beauty of a full life or to encourage striving for this beauty. Moods of delight – in “We Real Cool,” uncertainty and sadness – in “Sadie and Maud,” and despair and new hope – in “Speech to the Young” are equivalent to the mystery of life, which the author proves in her works.

References

AllPoetry (n.d.). AllPoetry Foundation. Web.

Brooks, G. (2022). Speech to the young: Speech to the progress-toward (Among them Nora and Henry III). Web.

Gwendolyn Brooks (2022). Poetry Foundation. Web.

Leaf, G. (2022). Before and after: The interior renaissance of Gwendolyn Brooks. Midwest Journal of Undergraduate Research, 13, 56-72.

Sommers, J. (2019). Biography of Gwendolyn Brooks, the people’s poet. Web.