Gwendolyn Brooks

A Street in Bronzeville

Introduction

Gwendolyn Brooks was the first black author to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1950. Her poetry was very popular in Chicago. She was one of many novelists in Chicago for example one is specific was Ernest Hemingway and Lyman Frank Baum. “A Street in Bronzeville” was the compilation that brought fame to Brooks. In this collection, you can see how she uses a variety of poetic forms to bring her characters to life. Brooks goes from ballads to urban blues poems to sonnets to Chaucerian stanzas, and it is in this great mixture of forms that you see how Brooks synthesized all of her influences into her own voice. Her titles can be found in the lower case like E.E. Cummings, some poems have a flair for the dramatic as seen in Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poetry, and others remind you of Langston Hughes’ jazz. Although the authors pieces are in different forms, the work in her collection all share the same or similar idea. I honestly feel like Gwendolyn really brought light to the black community especially to African American women. The purpose of this essay is to bring light to one of Gwendolyn’s master pieces which is the book named “A street in Bronzeville.” This book holds a collection of her best pieces of art. This book reveals Brooks’ life and her influential imprint on society and future generations to come.

About the Author

Gwendolyn Brook was born in Topeka, Kansas in the year 1917. She was born and when she was just six weeks old her family decided to move to Chicago. In Chicago where she was raised, Brooks attended three different high schools: Hyde Park High School, the predominantly black Wendell Phillips Academy High School and the integrated Englewood High School. The different racial prejudices found within each school greatly influenced Brooks’ understanding of social and racial dynamics. She knew she had to express herself and she chose to write. She was able to create memorable characters in her stories due to this experience. Brooks discovered her love for writing at a young age. She was first published at the age of 13 in American Childhood Magazine and kept writing ever since. Later in life, Brooks is known to have said, ‘I felt that I had to write. Even if I had never been published, I knew that I would go on writing’ according to culture trip article.

About the book

The book “A street in Bronzeville” is one of Gwendolyn’s most known book in my opinion reveals to the reader an ugly world filled with violence. I enjoyed reading the book because Brooks eloquently pens about life on Chicago’s south side. Her poetry flows on the pages, making the difficult subject matter easy to read. She discusses everything from the beauty salon as the center of the community to the mother as often times the head of a makeshift family unit. These hard working African Americans headed north for a better life and expected that life to come to fruition. Throughout her astonishing poetry, the author voices the collective frustrations of her community. The first section details the material lived experiences in Chicago neighborhoods, overcrowded due to segregated housing practices that forced most apartments to be divided into “kitchenettes.” The very first word of the first poem “the old-marrieds” in the first section “A Street in Bronzeville” is “But”: “But in the crowding darkness not a word did they say.” The authors style in most of her books is kind a folksy narrative.

Legacy

Brook won the Pulitzer Prize in 1950 and this was a very influential and amazing because she was the first African American women to win this prize. Although she had several other books written prior to this one, she was best known for “A street in Bronzeville.” The author made this book so influential because it talks about the hard and economical struggles of the city of Chicago. He masterpieces are so popular that they are still teaching them in school. I remember being in high school and reading the poem “We real cool” I really enjoyed it and it was so inspirational for me at that age and re-reading it again it still sends chills down my spine. Mind you, in her birthday on June 7th (also known as BrooksDay), poets take the time to appreciate her legacy. With all these appreciations of Brooks, it brings along a new generation of young readers and poets to pass on her knowledge. She’s a national treasure who used her voice to influence people and is held in high regard by many.

Work Cited

Conrad, Rachel. “”and Stay, a Minute More, Alone”: Time and Subjectivities in Gwendolyn Brooks’s Bronzeville Boys and Girls.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, vol. 38, no. 4, 2013, pp. 379–398. ProQuest, http://db07.linccweb.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.db07.linccweb.org/docview/1470087946?accountid=10674.

Sheila, Hassell H. “A Prophet Overheard: A Juxtapositional Reading of Gwendolyn Brooks’s “in the Mecca”.” African American Review, vol. 38, no. 2, 2004, pp. 257–280. ProQuest, http://db07.linccweb.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.db07.linccweb.org/docview/209806215?accountid=10674, doi:http://dx.doi.org.db07.linccweb.org/10.2307/1512289.

Shaw, Harry B. “On Gwendolyn Brooks: Reliant Contemplation.” African American Review, vol. 32, no. 3, 1998, pp. 499–500. ProQuest, http://db07.linccweb.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.db07.linccweb.org/docview/209812833?accountid=10674, doi:http://dx.doi.org.db07.linccweb.org/10.2307/3042252.

“A Street in Bronzeville” https://medium.com/@lrotering/a-street-in- bronzeville-9704940d0bf9A book that changed America.Article Published

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