Exploring Human Depths in Brooks' Poetic Work

Abstract:

Brooks achieves artistic excellence not by attempting to rise above her present condition but by taking that condition and raising it above the level where it is usually perceived so that it becomes an aid to understanding man. Brooks enlightens white readers on the subject of themselves as a nation and as humans by letting them glimpse into African American lives. It can be a realistic look at African American women and their condition. An in-depth analysis of her poetry is needed to enhance understanding and appreciation of it as a positive social force.

My purpose of this research is to analyze the poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks in terms of the social themes that run through it: death, the fall from glory, the labyrinth, and survival. Looking at the poem “We Real Cool”, I want to show by taking note of the parallels between the stories depicted in Brooks poetry and various aspects of black life. I will discuss how the themes expressed in her poetry is representative of the African American woman and is based in the psychological and social realities of their lives. Unless Brooks poetry fits better into some larger context, some comprehensive history, they become merely simple little pictures of black life. Each story is told with a common theme underlining the story. Common characters take turns playing out very common themes. But viewing a persons history through the eyes of someone more experienced or seasoned is more enlightening than the actuality of life because while it is less avoidable, less dilutable and less manipulatable, it is not less true.

With her writings coming from the realities of the black experience, the social themes are eyeopening with their general explanation and definitions of their important features and of the methods of their presentation. There is no really dramatic writing plots in her poems; but through her poetry does depict and come across as a clear, story of the social diagram of the black experience from slavery and even to the present day struggles for dignity and equality. Her poems helps to give a look at traditional characteristics of this genre and helps as an effective means of showing social themes. The openness and fullness of Brooks writings allow readers to see her profound thoughts and subtle emotions which would not, I thought, be possible through the written word.

Introduction:

Given the growing race-ethnic diversity of the United States derived from the ongoing migration flows, it is claimed that the problem of the twentieth-first century in the United States is the increasing number of color lines (Guenther, Pendaz, and Makene 2011). Although American sociologists have extensively studied the impact of racial and ethnic boundaries on modern American society from different approaches (Fox and Guglielmo 2012), the type of literary analysis is not common when studying ethnicity. Since poetry has not been a common use for analysis in the studying of ethnic minority in sociology, it is important to point out why poetry is an effective source of sociological data. Throughout history, societies have created and used communication systems based upon poetic modes. Since poetry is developed by individuals immersed in social groups, poetic content is inevitably influenced by all kinds of social dynamics that affect and regulate social structures in particular contexts (Perry 1969:13). Aside from perceiving it as social data, poetry can be considered as a vivid depiction of the sociohistorical context in which it was created (Lowenthal 1961:141). Poetry has “the ability to provide reflective and linguistically negotiated understandings of personally meaningful events” (Hanauer 2010:55). Even though some scholars have studied the link between the literary field and society (Guillory 1993), no poetry studies have focused on minorities’ ethnicity in contemporary American society I chose Gwendolyn Brooks, “We Real Cool” to try and show how sociologically important these types of poetry really are.

Brooks:

Brooks' beginning poetry follows a European standard and is striking for its universality, in that she expresses human experience, like the jazz bar in the poem, in terms readily understandable to all. However, while her poetry explored human emotional longings, loves and hurts, most of Brooks’ audience was white, for many blacks did not consider themselves a part of the particular world she spoke of so eloquently in her poetry. She refers to her first-period work as narrow and limited. As she describes it in Report From Part One, her early work “was conditioned to the times and the people.” Her preference for being considered just a writer (not a black writer) kept her, as it did other black writers who subscribed to the idea, from presenting a distinctive black perspective (14).

Many say the poem focuses on black males but the words to me are genderless and show that Brooks focus on the role of the black poet as militant, its strong Afrocentric underpinnings make it the clearest example of Brooks' moving toward a new aesthetic, black identity and her own female black identity. Showing Brooks’ growing conviction that the black poet has a responsibility to reflect closely and honestly the environment from which that poet’s art emerges. Brooks was committed to change, and declared this commitment in a 1967 interview with George Stavros at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, when she explained that her work falls into three periods corresponding to changing dimensions in her development (Contemporary Literature II Winter 1970:5). Indeed, Brooks' third-period poetry reflects a penetrating concern for, and insight into, black experience in America. She portrays the black family’s intense emotional connections, both within the private family setting as well as in the public arena. One sees poignant examples of these public and private connections in poems such as “Riot,’’ a 3-part poem; her 8-poem collection, “Family Pictures;” and “Beckonings.”

It is Brooks’ approach to her subject that capitalizes on her ability to condense black experience into life segments that represent microcosms. She offers, in each segment, moving revelations of black dynamics and their linkages to the social, political, economic and religious influences that are continually shaping them. Her poetry encompasses an extensive array of issues that range from ethics, to fantasy, to play and dream worlds, to the large spectrum of socio-political and religious issues that underline the black experience. Gwendolyn Brooks is an artistic declaration of black Americans’ protest against social suffocation and potential spiritual and cultural death. As such, the protest is inextricably linked to the country’s ability to successfully fulfill its democratic ideal of liberty and justice for all of its citizens; thus the means are as sacred as the end.

We Real Cool:

In “We Real Cool”, Brooks addresses gang values and the problem that arises when the black person, regardless of their reasons, is not functioning from a centered position. The result can be a person lost within the confines of other people's perceptions and expectations. Those outside the gang culture, for instance, see nothing of value of the person and expect them to suffer the consequences of gang activity such as abuse, depravity, disease, prison, or death or some combination thereof. Those inside the gang expect the member to earn their gang credentials the hard way and conform to gang mentality without questioning. Meanwhile, the young persons sense of worth to family, society, value to their-self and dreams for their tomorrows have long since seceded from their psyche.

Woman-ism in Brooks poetry is about the woman's responsibility to recognize her value and to assert herself justly, for her own sake and no one else. The Total Woman stands up to her circumstances and lays claim to her person-hood. She does not shrink from hard work and does not dismiss all of the beauty and fun and sensuality from her life simply because “World” has severely restricted her range of possibilities. She knows the difference between what she wants to do, what she can do, and what she has to do. And she can articulate the injustice or “offense” of being denied her true place in society. America’s racism and sexism may cause her to feel as though her ambitions make her “a pomade atop a sewage,” yet she will continue to maintain her esprit in this adversarial environment. She will stand out, and she will survive as she lives the poet’s directive to “Conduct your blooming in the noise and whip of the whirlwind” (World of Gwendolyn Brooks 426).

Many of Brooks’ post-1967 writings, like “We Real Cool” have essential ramifications for both black woman and black man in their struggle against deep, violent oppression in America. However, a man’s struggle is distinctly different from a woman’s struggle because he does not experience suffering in the same manner that the woman does. But the poetry represent an intricate and extremely concentrated reportage of intermingled, collective historical memories; religious, social, and cultural. The intertwined histories form a scathing reproach against those who have contrived to deprive African Americans of basic human rights.

Conclusion:

Brooks began to be recognized as a major black American writer long before she won the Pulitzer Prize. Since then, numerous critical essays and collections of essays have been published on her poetry. Her earliest work was usually universal in theme, while her later work emphasized the black poet’s role as militant advocate. Her third-period poetry (post-1967), however, remains steadfast to the commitment she had made at the Fisk University Writers’ Conference of 1967 to give her voice to her people. I focused on black people's struggle for social, political, and economic justice through the eyes of the author. Brooks was convinced that she had to give her voice to her people wherever they may be. Brooks’ new aesthetic as it relates to the black woman and the black man.