“A woman should be wise to think it well...” This is quote from the poem “Independent Man” written by Gwendolyn Brooks. The line illustrates the independence of woman and the confidence in thoughts. Gwendolyn Brooks had to become independent before most because she was mistreated for her appearance as a child. Each school she was enrolled to she was mistreated for being black; this was hard on Brooks as a child because racism challenged her outside of school. Brooks was able to express her thoughts in poetry; she published her first poem when she was thirteen. Gwendolyn Brooks writing was greatly influenced by her childhood, black oppression, and participation in poetry workshops.
Gwendolyn Brooks’ childhood was shaped around the time period she lived in. “Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was born on June 7, 1917, in Topeka, Kansas.” ("Gwendolyn Brooks") “When Brooks was six weeks old, her family moved to Chicago, Illinois as a part of the Great Migration.” ("Gwendolyn Brooks") There were an abundant amount of families moving to the cities; living space and unemployment became an issue. The Brooks family were poor, but did not let that affect their family life. “Her home life was stable and loving, although she encountered racial prejudice in her neighborhood and schools.” (“Gwendolyn Brooks”) “She had unfriendly classmates, she would normally be isolated from others while writing.” ("Gwendolyn Brooks on Poetry ") Her parents believed education was important for success, so they provided Brooks with the most education as possible. “They were supportive for their daughter’s passion for reading and writing.” ("Gwendolyn Brooks", Poetry Foundation) She attended the Hyde Park High School, the leading white school in Chicago. “In 1936, sh...
... middle of paper ...
...em/172082>.
"Biography of Gwendolyn Brooks ." PoemHunter.com . PoemHunter.com , 19 Mar 2014. Web. 19 Mar 2014. .
"Gwendolyn Brooks on Poetry ." Gwendolyn Brooks - Biography . Inspirational Black Literature . Web. 1 Apr 2014. .
"Gwendolyn Brooks." Poem & Poets . Poetry Foundation . Web. 1 Apr 2014. .
"Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks." 2014. A + E Television Networks, LLC . Mar 25 2014, 01:20 http://www.biography.com/people/gwendolyn-brooks-9227599.
"Sadie and Maud ." Gwendolyn Brooks . PoemHunter.com . Web. 24 Mar 2014. .
"THE CRAZY WOMAN." AfroPoets Famous Writers. AfroPoets Famous Writers. Web. 24 Mar 2014. .
She draws a picture of her equality to men by expressing her strength and hard-working efforts as she “ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me.” Again, following this statement, “Ain’t I a woman?” She rhythmically continues this pattern, making a claim to her equality she feels with males and then following it with the powerful question “Ain’t I a woman?”.
The poem Sadie and Maud was written by Gwendolyn Brooks and is included in her first volume of poetry known as A Street in Bronzeville. Gwendolyn was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1917, but moved to Chicago at a young age. Her first poem was published when she was thirteen years old, and it was called Eventide. By the time Gwendolyn was seventeen, she was publishing poems for the Chicago Defender, a newspaper for the black population. After attending junior college, Gwendolyn began writing the poems that were included in her first collection, A Street in Bronzeville”, which was published in 1945. These poems focused on portraying the black urban poor. In the 1940s, when these
"This is the very point I aim at. I do not wish [women] to have power over men; but over themselves" (Wollstonecraft 63). Wollstonecraft made this statement in response to Roseau dictating that if society "[Educated] women like men..." (Wollstonecraft 63), and women would resemble the male sex, and then carry less power over men. Instead of succumbing to men, Wollstonecraft stressed how education could elevate a women to reach equal statue in society. Following similar ideas to the Tao Te Ching and the Art of War, Wollstonecraft serves education as a tool of discipline to women who can use it to help elevate them in society. Wollstonecraft points out in her introduction that, "One cause to [the problem of women sacrificing their usefulness and strength to beauty attributes] to a false system of education..." (Wollstonecraft 6), and how a reformation and push for women to better educate themselves and look past what is currently there will help them reach higher status in society; therefore giving them their own independence. As Wollstonecraft dictates, "It follows then, I think, that from their infancy women should either be shut up like eastern princes, or educated in such a manner as to be able to think and act for themselves (Wollstonecraft
In June Jordan's essay “Many Rivers to Cross,” Jordan explains how multiple events in her life, including her mother’s death, led her to realize that women should “stand up” and not allow men to control them. The title of the essay is very indicative of the process that she had to go through before she came to this epiphany. Jordan’s husband is a man who is a part of the patriarchy that disrespects women. Her father is another example of a man who doesn’t know better than to oppress women, while Mrs. Hazel Griffin is the antithesis to his misogynistic ideology. Mrs. Griffin is a strong, independent women who doesn't need a man to be happy or successful. Jordan believes that women should be strong, like Hazel Griffin, and not give up when they are being persecuted, rather than being weak and submitting to oppression, like Jordan’s mother.
Throughout history women have learned to find a voice against men through writing. Writing has been a medium where women have learned to speak their minds and allow their ideas to be broadcasted to the world. Women have used writing to discuss issues, such as discrimination, inequality, sexual frustrations, and many more that they have dealt with. In the poem, “A Loyal Woman’s No”, written by Lucy Larcom. She gives power to women to say no to men. Her poem discusses the issues that many women face. They face issues of men taking advantage of them, men objectifying them and using them. However, Larcom’s poem shows a clear progress of women standing up against men, and being firm in saying no to them. Larcom has given women the ability to stand up to man and show the true power that women have over men. Many women fear standing up to men due to the repercussions of their actions, however, Lucy Larcom uses the symbolism of nature and her rhetoric to show a woman’s true power against men and say no and to free themselves of the rigid grasp that so many men have over women.
Poetry Foundation. Ed. Poetry Foundation. Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute, n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
Barnstone, Aliki, and Willis Barnstone. A book of women poets. New York: Schocken Books, 1980. Print.
“Lucille Clifton.” Poets.org. The Academy of American Poets, 1997-2014. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. http://poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/79 .
Shirley Jackson was born December 14, 1919, in San Francisco. She spent all of her childhood in Burlingame, California, and started her writing, as well. Then when she turned seventeen, her and her family moved east, where she enrolled in the University of Rochester. After only a year in the university, she left and decided to pursue writing. Another year passed and she attended Syracuse University. There she published her first story, “Janice” and also won
One might wonder why Brooks produces poetry, especially the sonnet, if she also condemns it. I would suggest that by critically reckoning the costs of sonnet-making Brooks brings to her poetry a self-awareness that might justify it after all. She creates a poetry that, like the violin playing she invokes, sounds with "hurting love." This "hurting love" reminds us of those who may have been hurt in the name of the love for poetry. But in giving recognition to that hurt, it also fulfills a promise of poetry: to be more than a superficial social "grace," to teach us something we first did not, or did not wish to, see.
Marchino, Lois A. "My Last Duchess." Masterplots II: Poetry Series. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Vol. 4. Pasadena: Salem, 1992. 1443-1445.
For the purpose of this chapter, these words by Stephen Vincent Benet in his foreword to Margaret Walker’s first volume of poetry, For My People (1942) are really important. They give an idea about the richness of the literary heritage from which Walker started to write and to which she later added. This chapter is up to explore those “anonymous voices” in Walker’s poetry, the cultural and literary heritages that influenced her writings. Margaret Walker’s cultural heritage, like her biological inheritance, extends back to her ancestors in Africa and the Caribbean. It is quite genetic, something she got by birth; which is quite there just by being African American. Echoes of ancient myths, lost history, mixed bloods, and complex identities are brought about along with the skin colour and the racial origins.
Natasha Trethewey is an accomplished poet who is currently serving as United States Poet Laureate appointed by the Library of Congress and won the Pulitzer Prize for her collection of poems, Native Guard in 2007. She grew up mixed race, black and white, in Gulfport, Mississippi, and when her parent’s divorced she moved with her mother to Atlanta. Her mother, Gwen, remarried and at a young age Natasha was a eyewitness in the physical and psychological abuse that her new stepfather hurled upon her mother. After graduating from high school, Natasha set off to go to school in Athens, Georgia at the University of Georgia. During Trethewey’s freshman year, her mother was murdered by her stepfather and she works through her grief by writing poetry
Margaret Walker was born on July 7, 1915 in Birmingham, Alabama to Reverend Sigismund C. Walker and Marion Dozier Walker (Gates and McKay 1619). Her father, a scholarly Methodist minister, passed onto her his passion for literature. Her mother, a music teacher, gifted her with an innate sense of rhythm through music and storytelling. Her parents not only provided a supportive environment throughout her childhood but also emphasized the values of education, religion, and black culture. Much of Walker’s ability to realistically write about African American life can be traced back to her early exposure to her black heritage. Born in Alabama, she was deeply influenced by the Harlem Renaissance and received personal encouragement from Langston Hughes. During the Depression, she worked for the WPA Federal Writers Project and assists Richard Wright, becoming his close friend and later, biographer. In 1942, she was the first African American to win the Yale Younger Poets award for her poem For My People (Gates and McKay 1619). Her publishing career halted for...
Several people regard women as inferior figures in this global world. Women have challenged the traditional female roles and have gradually climbed up the ladder of equality. They portray a distinct perspective that proves that womanhood can accomplish anything they set their mind to and search for equal gender status. The poems celebrate femininity and highlights the traits necessary for a women to be successful. The ladies in the poems are female-figures that carry themselves with high self-esteem and fearlessness. This essay identifies various literary techniques that describe feminine strength in Angelou and Clifton.