Gwendolyn+Brooks

=Gwendolyn Brooks =



Biography of Gwendolyn Brooks
 

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Gwendolyn Brooks entered into the world on June 7, 1917 in Topeka, Kansas. She was the first child born to her parents. Shortly after her birth, the family relocated to Chicago, where Brooks considers her hometown. Her family was not considered a "rich" family, but they did have a very great family relationship. Brooks attended four different schools, with the first one being an all white school. The last school she attended was a pre-college, which prepared her for her for her later career. Brooks poem ever written was called "Eventide." It was published in a childrens magazine in 1930, at the age of 13. In 1934 Brooks was a member of the staff of the Chicago Defender and had published almost one hundred of her poems. In 1938 she married Henry Blakely and moved to a small apartment. She had her first child, a boy named Henry Jr., in 1940. 11 years later her daughter was born, and they named her Nora. ======

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 In 1945 Brooks published her first book of poetry, A Street in Bronzeville. This brought much fame to her. She was selected one of Mademoiselle magazine's "Ten Young Women of the Year." Brooks won her first Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1950 Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize. One of the highlights of her life was when President John Kennedy invited her to read at a Library of Congress poetry festival in 1962. 23 years later, she was promoted to the poetry consoltant to the Library of Congress. In 1994 she recieved one of the highest awards ever given. She was selected into the National Endowment for the Humanities as the 1994 Jefferson Lecturer. In 1963 she decided to start teaching at a community school in Chicago. Although, she later went on to teach at much bigger colleges, on of which was the University of Wisconsion. ======

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 In 1967, she attended a black writing confrence, and decided that that was her passion, and she wanted to become "more involved." After this, some people thought that her work became written in an angrier tone. Although, she said that that had always been there, and there were only subtle changes in her work. Two events that she attended exemplify her role in the black community. She attended a ceremony in which she wrote the ode for the "Chicago Picasso." Weeks later, she wrote a poem for another ceremony called "The Wall." These events exemplify Brooks ability both to bridge the divisions and to utilize silent protest. ======

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 Along with all of her poetry and short stories, she also wrote books such as Maud Martha. Her poetry talks about many situations, not all that occur in her everyday life. Unlike her complicated and distinct poetry, her books are very simple and to the point. She has said that many of her characters are "easy to remember" because they are everyday people, surviving everyday situations. That is the reason so many people can relate to her stories, because they have everyday goals such as surviving. It is very basic. ======

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 Her poetry is quite different on the otherhand. She always takes an "observors" point of view. Brooks is very convincing in her poetry, and you will almost always choose her side, no matter what the topic. Her style of writing is a mixture of many people, it just depends on what stage of her life one is talking about. In her earlier years Emily Dickinson and Paul Laurence Dunbar are two of her most admired writers. Then the Harlem Rennisance has a large effect on her writings during her middle life. But her overall style is that of the a Chicago writer, unlike anybody else. ======

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At the age of 83, Brooks passed away, leaving this world with so many awards and accomplishments. ======


 http://www.poemhunter.com/gwendolyn-brooks/biography/

A Poem by Gwendolyn Brooks
 “The Bean Eaters” 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 on putting on their clothes And putting things away.

And remembering. . . Remembering, with twinklings and twinges, As they lean over the beans in their rented back room that is full of beads and receipts and dolls and cloths, tobacco crumbs, vases and fringes.

<span style="color: rgb(0, 255, 147);">The Bean Eaters by Gwendolyn Brooks is a thirteen line sonnet. It is an American sonnet that incorporates some of the English and Italian sonnets. It has two rimmed quatrains resembling the English sonnet and it uses octaves and sestet which resembles an Italian sonnet. The rhyme scheme of this poem is AABA CDCD XFXXF. Sonnets are usually fourteen lines long, but this sonnet is only thirteen. In the first quatrain, Brooks describes the old couple and their dinning experiences. The couple is described having yellow skin. This most likely means that they are undernourished. The couple eats their beans on a wooden table with informal dinner ware, representing that the couple is poor. The second quatrain describes the couple being good. They do not break any rules or have bad terms with one another. The old couple is the only people that are mentioned in this poem. This mostly likely means that everyone else has died. They are very strong, like the “energizer bunny,” they keep on going. In the cinquain, the narrator tells what the couple remembers. They keep all their things in the rented room. The room holds dolls, which most likely means that they had children, doll clothes, tobacco, suggesting, vases suggesting that they smoke, fringes suggesting that the furniture and decorations are bordered with them, and beads. The husband is so poor that he can not afford to buy his wife fancy things such as diamonds. Instead, he buys her bead, beautiful, colorful beads. Life in this poem may seem tedious but as the poem goes on, life begins to become peaceful, filled with love, compassion, and passion.

http://american-poetry.suite101.com?article.cfm/brooks_the_bean_eaters

“Sonnet-Ballad” Oh mother, mother, where is happiness? They took my lover's tallness off to war, Left me lamenting. Now I cannot guess What I can use an empty heart-cup for. He won't be coming back here any more. Some day the war will end, but, oh, I knew When he went walking grandly out that door That my sweet love would have to be untrue. Would have to be untrue. Would have to court Coquettish death, whose impudent and strange Possessive arms and beauty (of a sort) Can make a hard man hesitate--and change. And he will be the one to stammer, "Yes." Oh mother, mother, where is happiness?

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“Sonnet-Ballad” by Gwendolyn Brooks is a sonnet in the form of a song. This poem is about a woman who is in love with a soldier going off to war. She goes to her mother for comfort asking where all the happiness has gone. She knows that he might not come back. When he doesn’t come back, she knows that she has to court him to his funeral. She loses all sense of happiness in her life. This is a fourteen line sonnet with a rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEFEFGG. It uses metaphors and personification. “Lover’s tallness” is a metaphor for husband or boyfriend. “Empty heart-cup” simply means that her heart is broken. Brooks personifies death by saying “court Coquettish death, whose impudent and strange/possessive arms and beauty/can make a hard man hesitate.” Death cannot be courted nor does it have arms.