A legacy created by poetry
Introduction
Poetry is often thought of as distinct pieces of literature that invokes emotion, whether the poetry is relatable or outlandish. Gwendolyn Brooks is known for conveying deep emotion through her portrayal of the simple lives of those in her community. Even with the publication of her first book being in 1945, a wide variety of audiences are still able to find it relatable. Brooks’s depiction of the struggles of African Americans in an urban society is what lead her book, A Street in Bronzeville, to not only be a success, but also a lasting timepiece with a legacy.
About the Author
Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas on June 7, 1917. Her family moved to Chicago quickly after her birth and by the time she was thirteen, she had already published her first poem. With Brooks writing poetry at an early age it was no surprise that she had published seventy-five poems by the age of sixteen. Her work had a variety of styles that she would alternate between free-verse, sonnets, and ballads with the occasional musical rhythm that she drew inspiration from. “She would later say of this time in her life, “I felt that I had to write. Even if I had never been published, I knew that I would go on writing,”(“Gwendolyn Brookes Biography”).
She would go on to attended Wilson Junior College, graduate in 1936, and had begun working as a secretary to support herself while trying to create a carrier from her poetry. Her first book to be published was a collection of poetry titled A Street in Bronzeville. The book was very successful and paved the way for her second book, Annie Allen. Brooks then became the first black woman to have won a Pulitzer Prize in 1950 for her work of Annie Allen.
In the 1960s Brooks taught creative writing at a variety of universities in Chicago and the surrounding area, including Columbia University. She continued with her literary career and progressed with integrating politics into her poems. “Brooks once told interviewer George Stavros: “I want to write poems that will be non-compromising. I don’t want to stop a concern with words doing good jobs”(“Gwendolyn Brooks”). Brooks had a fulfilling life and an influential career that sadly came to an end in December of 2000 where she passed away from cancer in her home in Chicago at the age of eighty-three.
About the Book
In 1945 at just twenty-eight years old Brooks had published her first book A Street in Bronzeville. Her collection of poems was based on Black America and included a variation of poetry styles and themes revolving around the urban life of African Americans. Brooks gained respect from her first book as most of her themes were considered to be universal and therefore relatable to her audience.
Her collection of poems was based on the people who lived on the south side of Chicago, portraying their lives through the segregated urban city and the effect of their community. Although, based on realistic characterization, A Street in Bronzeville uses fictionalized characters to develop the simpleness of ordinary people. The book itself is a representation of “the life of urban streets”(“A Street in Bronzeville”) as Brooks doesn’t shy away from the harsh visuals of Chicago and how they are integrated with the residents who live there. This can be seen in the settings of various poems where they take place in alleyways, street corners, and tiny kitchenette buildings.
The main theme that runs through her poems is loneliness. In The Mother, the speaker is tormented by her abortions and speaks to her unborn children, in the ballad of chocolate Mabbie a young girl with a schoolyard crush is left disappointed when the boy is leaving with a white girl, and in the preacher: ruminates behind sermon, a preacher surmises that for how powerful God is he must be lonely. These are just a few of the poems in A Street in Bronzeville that capture the running theme of solitude that the rest of her other poems also present. By Brooks’ portraying her characters with different lives and both internal and external struggles of sadness she is depicting a realistic view of those who lived in the poor segregated district in Chicago.
The Legacy
It is understandably unbelievable that Brooks’ first book has made a sounding impact. Typically the first book is always treasured by the authors, but their works, later on, gain more notoriety. As to why her first book is still an influential piece of literature has something to do with her unrestrained depiction of oppression and the effects it has. With her character presentation of the harsh lifestyle in the Chicago Southside “she also does not idealize her characters.”(“A Street in Bronzeville”). This distinction is the key element to the book’s influence. By her true to life presentation, she connects to a wider audience with a relatable feel in how cruel life can be. Through her poems, she is trying to raise awareness of the social concerns presented by Black Americans and how the oppression they face in their lives is both physically and psychologically damaging. “She has been remarkably consistent in identifying the root cause of intraracial problems within the Black community as white racism and its pervasive socio-economic effects”(“Overview: A Street in Bronzeville”). Brooks’ visual and literary visualization of the oppression that is part of the lives of simple Black Americans in the urban side of Chicago is what has lead A Street in Bronzeville to have an everlasting legacy.
Works Cited
“A Street in Bronzeville.” Oxford Reference, www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100536850.
“Gwendolyn Brooks.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 24 Aug. 2020, www.biography.com/writer/gwendolyn-brooks.
“Gwendolyn Brooks.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/gwendolyn-brooks.
“Overview: A Street in Bronzeville.” Gale Online Encyclopedia, Gale, 2020. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1430005087/LitRC?u=lincclin_ecc&sid=LitRC&xid=c4fbbe09. Accessed 12 Dec. 2020.