Gwendolyn+Brooks

__Biography :__ Mrs. Gwendolyn Brooks was born on June 17, 1917 in Topeka Kansas. She was the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize. She graduated from Wilson Junior College in 1936. She later went to South Side Community Arts Center in 1943 and she wrote about conflict between individual African Americans and the African American Community. She then became a teacher for writing and literature at numerous Chicago Schools. In 1949 she won the Eunice Tietjen Prize for her beautiful poetry. Mrs, Brooks wrote similar things to to Mr. Langston Hughes. They both talked about the struggle for African Americans at that time. Some of her selections are "//Maud Martha//" (1953), "//Bronzeville Boys and Girls//" (1956), and "//Selected Poems//" (1963). Mrs. Gwendolyn Brooks passed away on December 3, 2000.

__**Poem 1: "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

__**Reaction:**__ Knowing that Mrs. Brooks talked about the struggle for African Americans I think this poem is about an African American couple who have had some hard times but they are good people who try to stay posotive and they treasure what they have and they are proud of who they are.

__**Literary Devices:**__ This poem used imagry because you can just invision their back room with all the things across the floor, and you can visualize their dinner plate and on their table. ​

__**Rhyme Scheme:**__ A,A,B,A B,C,D,C E,F,G,E

__**Historical Context:**__ This relates to how the African Americans had to deal with how they were treated back during this time. About how they were descriminated against and given what was left over but they still delt with it and treasured everything they did have.

**__Theme__:** The theme was not to give up and to keep trying through hard times.

__**​Poem 2: "We Real Cool"**__ We real cool. We Left school. We

Lurk Late. We Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We Think gin. We

Jazz June. We Die soon.

__**Reaction:**__ I relates to how people grow up because like when you in elementary school you think your all cool and when your in middle school you think its cool to ditch school, but its not. Then as you age in your later teens you stay up late and then in your 20's you are more on the straight road and know where your going because your in college. Then as your middle aged your singing sin and repenting for all you did wrong when you were younger and then you think gin about what your gonna do with the rest of his life. Then as you get very elderly you do what you enjoy and maybe thats music, like Jazz and then you eventuallly die.

__**Literary Devices:**__ This poem has rhyme in like for example "sin" and "gin" Also, Alliteration for example "Jazz June "

__** Rhyme Scheme: **__ A,A A,A A,A A,B __**Historical Context:**__ This is about people and how they live their life and this poem was banned for a long time because people thought it was racists.

__**Theme:**__ The theme is that everyone goes throught the stages of life and eventually everoyone dies.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__** The Crazy Woman **__

I shall not sing a May song. A May song should be gay I'll wait until November And sing a song of gay.

I'll wait until November that is the time for me. I'll go out in the frosty dark And sing most terribly.

And all the little people Will stare at me and say. "That is the crazy woman That would not sing in May."

__** Reaction: **__ I think this poem is talking about a lady who everyone thinks is crazy because she is singing a May song in November. The lady though does not care if people talk about her or if she is different because she is herself and if singing a May song in November pleases her.

__**Lieterary Devices:**__ This poem uses hyperbole because it is an exaggeration of how she will sing.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">__**Rhyme Scheme:**__ A,B,C,B C, D, E,F G,B,H,B

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> __**Historical Context:**__ Back then when there was a good but of discrimination and all people were not allowed to be who they wanted to and were not allowed to do what they wanted to, espically African Americans.

__** Theme: **__ The theme is to always be yourself no matter what people think of you just be yourself.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: 140%;">__**Bibliography**__

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">//Mathematics Department//. Web. 02 Mar. 2010. <http://www.math.buffalo.edu> Mesmer, Edric S. //The Best Poems Ever: a Collection of Poetry's Greatest Voices//. New York: Scholastic, 2001. Print. <span style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">Plowden, Martha Ward., and Ronald Jones. //Famous Firsts of Black Women//. Gretna, La.: Pelican Pub., 1993. Print. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"> //Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More//. Web. 02 Mar. 2010. <http://www.poets.org>.