by Fernando Mendez

In the 1940’s and 1950’s, poets such as Robert Lowell and Randall Jarrell began to use childhood as a subject in their works. However, childhood through these white poets’ eyes was often portrayed in a more nostalgic light. During this period, the white suburban family became the “cultural norm and media icon.” ¹ The mainstream culture portrayed a sentimental and idealistic view of childhood, specifically white childhood. Most of the white poets were from upper class backgrounds, and so wrote from their upper class experiences.

Just as those earlier white poets used their understanding of childhood, Gwendolyn Brooks also chose to write about childhood from her own experiences. However, the children that inhabited Brooks’ poetry differed greatly from the ones depicted in earlier poems. Brooks chose to write about the poor black children of the ghettos. They did not exist in a world apart from the problems of adults, but rather were aware and lived with and around those same problems. Brooks pulled away the nostalgic curtain of childhood and showed the realities of being a black youth. She updated the childhood poems for a generation of readers more accustomed to the hardships of black urban life. She pushed aside the romanticized version of childhood, and portrayed the realities of her target black audience. In short, Brooks created poetry that was relevant to her readers. As Brooks states, “I am interested in telling my particular truth as I have seen it.” 2

Brooks used her poetic works to portray a true black experience that often goes unnoticed or misunderstood in America. Brooks’ ghetto is a place where living takes place. It is a place where children grow up, learn, experience, live and die. Brooks wanted to show the truth of the ghetto—a misunderstood place that people called home. Many of Brooks’ works have been about the subject of childhood, and the experiences of black children and young people growing up in ghettos. Her poetry contains extraordinary characters that are drawn from the underclass of the nation’s black neighborhoods, specifically Chicago. However, she does not hold the ghetto accountable for the hardships in the people’s lives. It is simply an existing power with which people must deal and live with. Just as Brooks does not place blame on the ghetto, neither does she offer any grand plans for her characters’ future, and does not offer the promise of some great divine spirit that will save them. Brooks is satisfied to depict a moment in the lives of these ordinary people whose only goal is to exist and survive from day-to-day. She sets forth the facts without embellishment. The simplicity of her truth and reality brings out the magic in her poetry.

One of Brooks’ poems that paints this reality of black urban childhood is “We Real Cool.” It is a short poem vividly portraying the thoughts of seven black youths in a pool hall. From the title the reader learns why these seven pool players left school—being too cool for school. The following lines boast of their street learning, mocking the worth of traditional and formal education. They did not need the white man’s education. They learned from the streets, the only education with any real and true value to them, the only type of education that taught survival. Until the reader gets to the last line, the actions of these youths seem almost desirable. They take a certain sort of pride in themselves for not conforming to society’s institutions. They are outlaws, above the law and outside of society’s reach. They have escaped the hard work and tediousness of school and work, and are free from societal constraints and conventions. These seven are not victims of society; they make no excuses for themselves, and demand none from any one else. Even when the reader learns of the final dire consequence that comes with this freedom, the boys’ existence seems to still hold the same charm. Their disorderly lives sing of freedom, freedom to control your life, and freedom from the binds of society. They understand their mortality, and so choose to live life by the rules they have learned on the streets.

Brooks presents these seven black youths as they are, in their own world and time. This poem is their lives as they see it, and that is how Brooks presents it. It is their truth, their lives, and their destiny in ten lines. The poem is not Brooks’ call to inspire any type of social cause or advancement for blacks. Brooks does not seem to condemn their choices and actions, nor does she show pity or remorse for their eventual outcome. Rather, she portrays the realities of urban life for this group of young black pool players as they see it.

Brooks’ uncomplicated and simple poetic style in this work makes their harsh reality beautiful. She is able to blow away the pool hall’s haze and present the reader with their simple, sad, and beautiful truth. This is Brooks’ gift: to make reality both beautiful and accessible to her readers.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1950 for poetry, the first black female author to achieve this distinguished award. Poetry consultant to the Library of Congress, another first for a black woman. Poet Laureate of the State of Illinois.            Recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees. However, it is not the many honors and accolades that should be considered Gwendolyn Brooks’ greatest achievements. Perhaps her greatest accomplishment was her tireless effort to make poetry open and accessible to young people, especially young black urban youths. Through public readings, teaching, and poetry workshops, Brooks brought the world of poetry to many young people who may not have otherwise had access to, or even an interest in, the literary art form. Brooks taught and encouraged children and her many readers to see the poetry in their daily lives. She allowed them to see that poetry is within the reach and understanding of all. The lasting legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks’ is her desire to transform her black audience into black writers and poets.

References:

1. Flynn,Richard. “‘The Kindergarten Of New Consciousness’: Gwendolyn Brooks And The Social Construction Of Childhood.” African American Review 34.3 (2000): 483. World History Collection. Web. 10 March 2012.

2. Montez IV, Roqua. “The Poet Laureate Of Cool: Gwendolyn Brooks Showed Kids A World Of Words, A Path To Pride And Truth.” San Jose Mercury News (CA) (n.d.): Newspaper Source. Web. 10 March 2012.