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Gwendolyn BrooksA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“The Lovers of the Poor” by Gwendolyn Brooks (1960)
This poem appears in Brooks’s collection The Bean Eaters, right after “The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock.” “Lovers of the Poor” also addresses social issues surrounding racism, but it centers on an organization of women rather than a male reporter. Food plays an important role in this poem, reflecting the use of tea and cookies in “The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock.”
“We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks (1959)
New readers of Brooks’s poetry should be aware of Brooks’s most famous poem, “We Real Cool.” It is influenced by and references jazz music. This is in contrast to the classical composers referenced in “The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock,” like Beethoven and Bach. Little Rock, unlike Chicago and New York, does not have a notable jazz scene (which featured many living Black musicians in the 1950s). However, residents of Little Rock have access to outdoor concerts that expose them to dead, white composers.
“Rosa Parks” by Nikki Giovanni (2002)
After Brooks’s death, Giovanni celebrated her and the Chicago Defender in the poem “Rosa Parks.” Like Rosa Parks, the newspaper and Brooks were key figures in the civil rights movement.
By Gwendolyn Brooks
A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi...
A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon
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A Sunset of the City
A Sunset of the City
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Boy Breaking Glass
Boy Breaking Glass
Gwendolyn Brooks
Cynthia in the Snow
Cynthia in the Snow
Gwendolyn Brooks
Maud Martha
Maud Martha
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my dreams, my works, must wait till after hell
my dreams, my works, must wait till after hell
Gwendolyn Brooks
Speech to the Young
Speech to the Young: Speech to the Progress-Toward (Among them Nora and Henry III)
Gwendolyn Brooks
The Ballad of Rudolph Reed
The Ballad of Rudolph Reed
Gwendolyn Brooks
The birth in a narrow room
The birth in a narrow room
Gwendolyn Brooks
The Blackstone Rangers
The Blackstone Rangers
Gwendolyn Brooks
The Crazy Woman
The Crazy Woman
Gwendolyn Brooks
The Lovers of the Poor
The Lovers of the Poor
Gwendolyn Brooks
The Mother
The Mother
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the rites for Cousin Vit
the rites for Cousin Vit
Gwendolyn Brooks
To Be in Love
To Be in Love
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To The Diaspora
To The Diaspora
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Ulysses
Ulysses
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We Real Cool
We Real Cool
Gwendolyn Brooks