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Gwendolyn Brooks 1917-By Dawn WallaceStudent, University of North Carolina at Pembroke Gwendolyn Brooks is often considered one of the greatest American poets in history. She achieved success at a very young age and won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry with her second work, Annie Allen, while she was in her early thirties. Perhaps her success and fame stems from the overwhelming sense of reality she portrays in her poems. Gwendolyn was raised in the south side of Chicago where she encountered many different people and experienced many different situations. With encouragement from her parents and family members, Gwendolyn began writing about these "urban" experiences at the early age of seven. According to Kennedy and Gioia Online, at the age of thirteen, Brooks had her first poem published in American Childhood, which was a well known magazine of that time. At the age of seventeen, Gwendolyn submitted much of her work to "Lights and Shadows," the poetry column of the Chicago Defender, in which she would later publish more than seventy-five poems. Throughout her adolescence, Gwendolyn proved to have extraordinary talent and a continual passion for writing. Marrying Henry Blakely in 1939 proved to be a turning point in Brooks' literary career. Because her and Henry shared a common interest of writing and poetry, they were able to critique each other's works and share common ideas and themes. They attended numerous writers' workshops together, thereby enhancing their writing skills and techniques. Their children, Henry Jr. and Nora, also provided inspiration for Gwendolyn's writing. In her poem "Children of the Poor," Gwendolyn comments on the everyday incidents that she encountered as a mother. According to Harry Shaw, this poem shows that to her motherhood "was no careless, capricious jaunt but a challenge worthy of serious reflecting, pondering." Brooks also wrote about her children in the poem "Life for My Child is Simple and Is Good." In this poem she discusses her son, Henry Jr. Many of Brooks' poems dramatically reflect her own life struggles and those of African Americans. For example, in her poem "Bean Eaters," Gwendolyn depicts an elderly couple who "eats beans mostly." Although Brooks discusses the existence of an elderly couple, she is actually reflecting back on her childhood where she and her brother frequently ate beans for dinner due to a lack of money during the Depression. In this work, Brooks notes that although "dinner is a casual affair," it holds special memories of the past. Again, Brooks is referring to her special childhood memories of her and her brother at the dining room table. Gwendolyn Brooks' first volume of poetry, entitled A Street in Bronzeville, depicts life in poor and urban African American communities. In one of the poems in the collection, "The Ballad of Chocolate Mabbie," Brooks discusses the life of a young black girl who has such dark skin that she is rejected by the boy she loves for "a lemon-hued lynx." During Gwendolyn's childhood, she often felt societal pressure for being African American. She often felt out of place even as an adult and therefore expressed her personal feelings of being rejected in "The Ballad of Chocolate Mabbie." According to George Kent, Brooks became aware of the need for "positive images of the young" during the Fisk Conference in 1967. "All I know is then young people started talking about blacks loving, respecting, and helping one another, that was enough for me," said Brooks. Since then, Gwendolyn has dedicated her life to serving as a positive role model for the African American Community and producing works to which African American children can relate. For Gwendolyn Brooks, writing appears to be more than a mere paycheck.
Her works seem to express her own personal life triumphs and tribulations,
acting more as a personal diary or journal. Because of her overwhelming
contributions to the literary arena as well as her contributions to minority
populations (women and African Americans), Brooks has received numerous
honors including the Lifetime Achievement Award, honorary doctorates, and
induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
BibliographyBrooks, Gwendolyn. The Bean Eaters. Chicago: The Harpers, 1960.This primary source by Brooks contains famous poems from
A combination of both primary and secondary sources, this relatively new book mainly focuses on specific life events that inspired Brooks' poems. The book specifically addresses awards and honors that Brooks has received as well as critiques and samples of her works.Shaw, Harry. Gwendolyn Brooks. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1980. A combination of both primary and secondary sources, this book contains biographical information, a chronology, a summary of Brook's life, and critiques and evaluations of her most famous works. Although this source proved to be a valuable source of information, because it was published in 1980, it omits a plethora of Gwendolyn's awards, achievements, and literary contributions.
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