Gwendolyn+Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks photo courtesy of: [|www.kodiakschools.org/.../ gwendolyn_brooks.jpg] this painting was provided by: [|www.umtsd.org/.../ The-Harlem-Renaissance.jpg] "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. Poem from: [] ** Analysis of "The Bean Eaters" by Gwendolyn Brooks ** In "The Bean Eaters" Gwendolyn Brooks opens up the poem by saying "they eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair." Brooks is describing an old couple eating beans for dinner. During the Harlem Renaissance, beans was a popular meal for poor people because it was all they could afford. In the first stanza Brooks is describing the couple using plain chipware to eat their dinner at their dinner table made of creaking wood. By using these descriptions, Brooks helps the reader assume this old couple is poor. In the second stanza, Brooks writes "two who have lived their day, but keep on putting on their clothes and putting things away." This couple is now old but they have lived their day and had their share of memories and good times in the past. They remember their past as Brooks describes with "twinklings and twinges". Remembering the past helps the couple move on with their lives and "keep on putting on their clothes." The couple lives the same day by day for each other. They live in a rented back room that is "full of beads and receipts and dolls and cloths, tobacco crumbs, vases and fringes." Their back room is full of things they used to be able to afford. As the couple got older their lives became dark, but this poem shows that just because you're old doesnt mean you can't be happy and move on with your life. This couple has each other to be happy and thats all they need. They don't need the materialistic things in life to make them happy like beads, cloths, vases and dolls. Remembering the past and good times helps keep this couple going.  ** History **  Gwendolyn Brooks was born on June 7, 1917 in Topeka, Kansas. She was the first born child to Keziah Brooks, a

schoolteacher, and David Anderson Brooks, a janitor. Shortly after Brooks was born her family moved to Chicago.

Brooks was often picked on because she did not have very good social or athletic skills. By the time Brooks was sixteen she had written more than seventy-five poems. <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> Gwendolyn Brooks graduated from Wilson Junior College in 1936. She then became the director of publicity for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: Georgia, serif;">In 1939 she married a writer by the name of Henry Blakeley and they had two children together. Brooks continued to write releasing a second collection titled //Annie Allen.// In 1950 Gwendolyn Brooks was the first African American presented with the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

Brooks’ poetry mainly reflected the everyday lives and activities of African Americans. In 1959 Brooks wrote a novel, __Maud Martha__, which reflected the lives of husband and wife, mother and father. <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">   In 1967 Gwendolyn Brooks switched to a more simple writing so that her message would be received more expressively. Some of Gwendolyn Brooks’ greatest works include, The Mecca, Riot, Aloneness, and Family Pictures. Her new works were focused on raising racial awareness. In the 70’s, Brooks started teaching poetry at Northeastern Illinois State University, The University of Wisconsin at Madison, and The City College of The City University of New York. <span style="font-size: 90%; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia, serif;">In 1985, Gwendolyn Brooks was named the poetry consultant for the Library of Congress. In 1990, Chicago State University established a center on campus dedicated to her works. Throughout the rest of her life she continued to do readings at school. Gwendolyn Brooks died of cancer at her Chicago home. By the end of Gwendolyn Brooks’ life, she was considered a legend of her time. [] <span style="display: block; font-size: 130%; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; background-color: #ff0000; text-align: center;">**<span style="display: block; font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; background-color: #f31261; text-align: center;">Harlem Renaissance ** <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> <span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif;">During the early nineteenth century a group of African American intellectuals were gathering in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City; but the movement also impacted the urban centers of the whole country. Their main purpose was the find the historical significance of a Black person in northern United States. There were many meritorious individuals involved in these movements. One of them is Gwendolyn Brooks, a remarkable American poet. Brooks mainly wrote Sonnets and Ballads and her characters were often lived in poverty. Brooks was also influenced by Mr. Johnson. When she was young he advised her to continue with her studies and carefully study the works of the famous poets of that time.

In her poem, "The Boy Died in My Aly" she is advising the individual to confront evil instead of just compromising with it. She also mentions the importance of individual in society. She is known writing poems such as “The Bean Eater,” a poem about a couple remembering the life they have lived.

Brooks in her poem is explaining the importance of relationships, as she calls the couple a “Yellow Pair” referring to them as a pair rather than an individual Throughout the poem Brooks refers to the couple as one and doesn’t provide them with any individual personality. Artist in the Harlem Renaissance are promoting the importance of a group or a pair rather than an individual. On the contrary she is also isolating the couple from the rest of the world and the community. There is no involvement in the poem of anyone outside their household. One of the main concerns of the Harlem Renaissance is to show the importance of community to the people.

Brooks also describes the couple eating bean for dinner and not having opulent dinner ware but plain chip ware. She also writes that they are living in a ‘rented back room.” Brooks also describes as the couple being shabby and unpleasant. She also writes about the couple’s past life which is full of memories of the past, which no one but them can be proud of. Brooks is referring to past and the consequences that the old couple has to live in because of it. Harlem Renaissance is about taking the past as an example and hoping for a prosperous future.

They both follow routine that only involves during the daily chores and changing their daily clothes. They never leave their room. Harlem Renaissance promotes people to become social, something this couple never does. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">