Sadie Buxton
Ms. Price
C&C
November, 30, 2015
Gwendolyn Brooks was an accomplished poet with a new voice for her time. As a writer, Brooks was able to convey social and political issues . Due largely to this she became the first black female to win the Pulitzer Prize and also served as the poetry consultant to the Library of Congress. Born on June 7, 1917 to David and Keziah Brooks in Topeka, Kansas, she moved to Chicago a short six months later as part of the great migration. Once in Chicago, Brooks experienced three distinct high school experiences. The first one was Hyde Park Highschool, which was a prestigous school that was mostly white. Brooks then transferred to an all-black high school called Wendell Phillips. Finally, she attended Englewood, a racially integrated school (poetryfoundation.org). These three …show more content…
For example in “A Street in Bronzeville” and “Annie Allen, Brooks depicts her battle with racism while still igniting hope through her words. In her obituary in The New York Times, Richard Wright, the famous writer captures what made Gwendolyn Brooks such a special poet and novelist when he says, what made Brooks so remarkable by saying, “The pathos of petty destinies, the whimper of the wounded, the tiny incidents that plague the lives of the desperately poor, and the problems of the common,” (writing.upenn.edu) Toni Cade Bambara wrote in the New York Times Book Review that “something happened to Brooks… a new movement and energy, intensity, richness, power of statement and a new stripped lean, compressed style. A change of style prompted by a change of mind." (poetryarchive.org). Gwendolyn Brooks herself says that when Paul Engle wrote a reviwe about her in the Chigaco Tribune saying “Her poems were no more “Negro poetry” than robert Frost’s poetry was “white poetry.” Advanced her reputation.
Ms. Price
C&C
November, 30, 2015
Gwendolyn Brooks was an accomplished poet with a new voice for her time. As a writer, Brooks was able to convey social and political issues . Due largely to this she became the first black female to win the Pulitzer Prize and also served as the poetry consultant to the Library of Congress. Born on June 7, 1917 to David and Keziah Brooks in Topeka, Kansas, she moved to Chicago a short six months later as part of the great migration. Once in Chicago, Brooks experienced three distinct high school experiences. The first one was Hyde Park Highschool, which was a prestigous school that was mostly white. Brooks then transferred to an all-black high school called Wendell Phillips. Finally, she attended Englewood, a racially integrated school (poetryfoundation.org). These three …show more content…
For example in “A Street in Bronzeville” and “Annie Allen, Brooks depicts her battle with racism while still igniting hope through her words. In her obituary in The New York Times, Richard Wright, the famous writer captures what made Gwendolyn Brooks such a special poet and novelist when he says, what made Brooks so remarkable by saying, “The pathos of petty destinies, the whimper of the wounded, the tiny incidents that plague the lives of the desperately poor, and the problems of the common,” (writing.upenn.edu) Toni Cade Bambara wrote in the New York Times Book Review that “something happened to Brooks… a new movement and energy, intensity, richness, power of statement and a new stripped lean, compressed style. A change of style prompted by a change of mind." (poetryarchive.org). Gwendolyn Brooks herself says that when Paul Engle wrote a reviwe about her in the Chigaco Tribune saying “Her poems were no more “Negro poetry” than robert Frost’s poetry was “white poetry.” Advanced her reputation.