By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘The Crazy Woman’ is a poem by the American poet Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000). It was published in her 1960 collection The Bean Eaters. In the poem, a self-described ‘crazy woman’ announces her determination to sing as she pleases, however controversial her song might be or however unacceptable society may find her song to be.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Speech to the Young’, full title ‘Speech to the Young: Speech to the Progress-Toward’, is a poem by the American poet Gwendolyn Brooks, included in her 1970 collection Family Pictures as well as several subsequent collections. The poem is dedicated to Brooks’ two children, Nora Brooks Blakely and Henry Blakely III, although in a sense the poem is addressed to all young people.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘We Real Cool’ is probably Gwendolyn Brooks’s best-known poem. Written in 1959 and published the following year in her poetry collection The Bean Eaters, it has been widely taught in schools and anthologised on many occasions. You can read ‘We Real Cool’ here before proceeding to our analysis of Brooks’s poem below.