The Life and Styles of

Gwendolyn Brooks
Early Life
● Born June 7, 1917 in Topeka, Kansas
● Grew up in Chicago
● Started reading and writing poetry from an early
age
● Wrote her first poem “Eventide” at the age of 13
Later In Life
● She attended three different high schools
● At age 17, she was frequently publishing in Chicago Defender (An African-American
newspaper)
● She graduated from Wilson Junior College
Later In Life
● She attended three different high schools
● At age 17, she was frequently publishing in Chicago Defender (An African-American
newspaper)
● She graduated from Wilson Junior College
● Married Henry L. Blakely and had a son and daughter
● Died from cancer on December 3rd, 2000
Later In Life
● She attended three different high schools
● At age 17, she was frequently publishing in Chicago Defender (An African-American
newspaper)
● She graduated from Wilson Junior College
● Married Henry L. Blakely and had a son and daughter
● Died from cancer on December 3rd, 2000
Awards and Honors
● First American to win Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
● Invited by JFK to read at the library of Congress poetry festival in 1962
● Appointed poet laureate in Illinois in 1968
● Selected by the National Endownment for the Humanities as the 1994 Jefferson
Lecturer
● Chicago State University established a books center upon her name in 1990
About her work
Her poems act as representations and culminations of the experiences and lives of people on the
same socio-economic spectrum as her. A Lot of her works are “devoted to small, carefully
celebrated, terse portraits of the Black urban poor,”

Her style can be described as “folksy narrative,” due to how down to earth and realistic it was to
the tongue and speech of blacks, but she varied her forms, using free verse, sonnets, and other
models.

Her poetry is considered a work of art and a poignant social document by many people 89
In Annie Allen, which follows the experiences of a Black girl as she grows into adulthood, Brooks
married social issues, especially around gender, with experimental writing

These books do not only cover important issues that reach today such as prejudice, racism and
poverty but they are also alive and reaching able to unify and uplift the masses.
About her work
Her poems act as representations and culminations of the experiences and lives of people on the
same socio-economic spectrum as her. A Lot of her works are “devoted to small, carefully
celebrated, terse portraits of the Black urban poor,”

Her style can be described as “folksy narrative,” due to how down to earth and realistic it was to
the tongue and speech of blacks, but she varied her forms, using free verse, sonnets, and other
models.

Her poetry is considered a work of art and a poignant social document by many people 89
In Annie Allen, which follows the experiences of a Black girl as she grows into adulthood, Brooks
married social issues, especially around gender, with experimental writing

These books do not only cover important issues that reach today such as prejudice, racism and
poverty but they are also alive and reaching able to unify and uplift the masses.
 "The Ballad of Rudolph Reed"
Uses narrative poetry to depict the struggle of a Black American family trying to own their
own home, which ends up to be in a white neighborhood. After the Reeds move into this
unwelcoming neighborhood, they are finally a proud and happy family, but they still didn't
earn the satisfaction of their Caucasian neighbors.

As Brooks writes "A neighbor would look, with a yawning eye

that squeezed into a slit. But the Rudolph Reeds and the children three were too joyous to
notice it" you can see these feelings of the segregated neighbors come across, but the Reeds,
being so happy that they have their own home, didn't even notice.
“The ballad of rudolph Reed” Cont.
As the story goes on, the neighbor's hatred is shown by them throwing rocks "as big as two fists" on the first night and "a
rock as big as three" on the second night at the Reed's home. The story ends tragically when the husband/father attacks
his neighbors and is murdered after they attacked his house,

injuring his young daughter. o As Gwendolyn Brooks puts it, “He ran like a mad thing into the

night. And the words in his mouth were stinking. By the time, he had hurt his first white man he was no longer thinking.
By the time he had hurt his fourth white man Rudolph Reed was dead. His neighbors gathered and kicked his corpse.
"Nigger-" his neighbors said." (The Ballad of Rudolph Reed).
Conclusion
● The themes of a lot of her poems deal with discrimination or depict the lives of urban Black
America, with some of these experiences coming from Brooks growing up on the South Side of
● Chicago Brooks was highly respected and honored by her peers, critics, and readers which made
her writings have a positive impact on society.