Gwendolyn Brooks would spend the majority of her life in Chicago, observing and experiencing life for African-Americans in the city. Many of her works, including “First Fight. Then Fiddle,” revolve around the struggles of blacks as she understood them. Going to a range of schools and meeting a wide variety of people would introduce her to racism and some of its causes, and develop her views on the world. She was motivated by these encounters to use her writing to educate her readers about the issues in the world that she had personal experience with. Brooks’ experiences influenced her to write about the inequalities and hardships of being African-American in the vast majority of her works.
Brooks was born in Kansas but moved with her family …show more content…
The phrases, “muzzle the note / With hurting love,” begin to create the connection between the conflict and artistic natures of the poem (line 2-3). The lines expresses the idea of censorship for the greater good. ‘Muzzling’ the music means to prevent it from ringing out, and ‘hurting love’ refers to experiencing pain for something the speaker loves, or doing what’s best instead of what is desired for the sake of the beloved subject. With the phrase, “Qualify to sing,” Brooks asserts that blacks were not seen as ‘qualified’ to participate or ‘sing’ with the whites (line 4). Similarly to the previous lines, it pairs the topic of music with undertones of conflict as it seemingly blames racism for the hurdles placed before African-Americans. The second half of the work focuses more singularly on conflict. The poem closes with the lines “For having first to civilize space / Wherein to play your violin with grace,” (lines 13-14). This line is referring to the struggles of African-Americans trying to find a place after their moves during the Great Migration. After being forced into segregated living or banding together and naturally creating their own communities, they made the most of their spaces by using them as free places to express themselves and enjoy all forms of art and culture thriving around them (“Great Migration”). By the end of the work, Brooks appears to be returning to the original formatting of the poem by writing the …show more content…
Then Fiddle” adheres to the pattern of many of her other works, especially those from her book of works Annie Allen. All of the pieces in this book collaborate to portray the typical lives of African-Americans through the story of a girl learning from her mother, fantasizing about love, and reminiscing on what she might like to change about the world (cite). The work, “First Fight. The Fiddle.” falls into the first section, in which a mother attempts to explain to her daughter the importance of art and the ways that it can lead to conflict; either through people fighting for the right to make it or the controversy the creation of some art can create. Both this idea of art being something to fight for and her focus on contrast throughout the poem were ideas that Brooks was known to have. Many of Gwendolyn Brooks’ famous quotes reflect an interest in contrasting ideas, particularly the contrast between war and the arts. She has famously said “Art hurts. Art urges voyages - and it is easier to stay at home,” which is a quote that reinforces the connection of art with challenges or conflict, as well as continues to group together contrasting things that are unlikely to commonly be
Brooks was born in Kansas but moved with her family …show more content…
The phrases, “muzzle the note / With hurting love,” begin to create the connection between the conflict and artistic natures of the poem (line 2-3). The lines expresses the idea of censorship for the greater good. ‘Muzzling’ the music means to prevent it from ringing out, and ‘hurting love’ refers to experiencing pain for something the speaker loves, or doing what’s best instead of what is desired for the sake of the beloved subject. With the phrase, “Qualify to sing,” Brooks asserts that blacks were not seen as ‘qualified’ to participate or ‘sing’ with the whites (line 4). Similarly to the previous lines, it pairs the topic of music with undertones of conflict as it seemingly blames racism for the hurdles placed before African-Americans. The second half of the work focuses more singularly on conflict. The poem closes with the lines “For having first to civilize space / Wherein to play your violin with grace,” (lines 13-14). This line is referring to the struggles of African-Americans trying to find a place after their moves during the Great Migration. After being forced into segregated living or banding together and naturally creating their own communities, they made the most of their spaces by using them as free places to express themselves and enjoy all forms of art and culture thriving around them (“Great Migration”). By the end of the work, Brooks appears to be returning to the original formatting of the poem by writing the …show more content…
Then Fiddle” adheres to the pattern of many of her other works, especially those from her book of works Annie Allen. All of the pieces in this book collaborate to portray the typical lives of African-Americans through the story of a girl learning from her mother, fantasizing about love, and reminiscing on what she might like to change about the world (cite). The work, “First Fight. The Fiddle.” falls into the first section, in which a mother attempts to explain to her daughter the importance of art and the ways that it can lead to conflict; either through people fighting for the right to make it or the controversy the creation of some art can create. Both this idea of art being something to fight for and her focus on contrast throughout the poem were ideas that Brooks was known to have. Many of Gwendolyn Brooks’ famous quotes reflect an interest in contrasting ideas, particularly the contrast between war and the arts. She has famously said “Art hurts. Art urges voyages - and it is easier to stay at home,” which is a quote that reinforces the connection of art with challenges or conflict, as well as continues to group together contrasting things that are unlikely to commonly be