Grass Is Always Greener in Gwendolyn Brooks' Poem, A Song in the Front Yard

Sharlet Cannon English 1302-56328 Professor T. Heflin August 9th, 2015 The Mother Abortion, a sensitive topic most people don’t want to talk about or try to figure out ways for it to be out-lawed. " The Mother," a poem written by Gwendolyn Brooks looks at abortion from a mothers’ point of view. This poem deals with the heartfelt emotions that a woman may go through after she has had an abortion. The theme, tone and figures of speech written displays overwhelming regret tormenting her mind.

     Gwendolyn Brooks is the female poet who has been most responsive to changes in the black community, particularly in the community’s vision of itself. The first African American to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize; she was considered one of America’s most distinguished poets well before the age of fifty. Known for her technical artistry, she has succeeded in forms as disparate as Italian terza rima and the blues. She has been praised for her wisdom and insight into the African Experience in America. Her works reflect both the paradises and the hells of the black people of the world. Her writing is objective, but her characters speak for themselves. Although the

The atmospheric conditions may represent the hardships that the couple had to go through in their relationship, and may also be used contrast the unpredictability of the outside world compared to the steady relationship that the couple have. ‘A Youth Mowing’ is also a poem about relationships, this time it is between a younger couple. The river ‘Isar’ is a symbol of freedom, it represents the way that the men’s lives are. However, this sense of liberty is broken by the ‘swish of the scythe-strokes’ as the girl takes ‘four sharp breaths.’ Sibilance is used to show that there is a sinister undertone to the freedom that the boy has which will be broken by the news that his girlfriend is bringing. She feels guilty for ‘what’s in store,’ as now the boy will have to be committed to spending the rest of his life with her, and paying the price for the fun that they had.

There comes a point in one’s life when they must recognize the hardships placed upon them, and instead of being ignorant of those hardships, they must confront them head-on. In “Marigolds”, a short story by Eugenia Collier, the main protagonist, Lizabeth, encounters various struggles that come with living in a poor town in rural Maryland during the Depression, allowing her to learn more about growing up and accepting reality with all its flaws. Lizabeth is a 14-year-old girl who feels a conflict between her inner child and her inner woman, as she is unable to do anything that satisfies both sides of her. She feels too old to be a child, yet too young to be a

The garden is the vehicle in which the narrator reveals her reluctance to leave behind the imaginary world of childhood and see the realities of the adult world. The evidence supporting this interpretation is the imagery of hiding. The narrator uses the garden to hide from reality and the

Love is not always an easy adventure to take part in. As a result, thousands of poems and sonnets have been written about love bonds that are either praised and happily blessed or love bonds that undergo struggle and pain to cling on to their forbidden love. Gwendolyn Brooks sonnet "A Lovely Love," explores the emotions and thoughts between two lovers who are striving for their natural human right to love while delicately revealing society 's crime in vilifying a couples right to love. Gwendolyn Brooks uses several examples of imagery and metaphors to convey a dark and hopeless mood that emphasizes the hardships that the two lovers must endure to prevail their love that society has condemned.

Gwen Harwood’s, ‘Father and child’, is a two-part poem that tempers a child’s naivety to her matured, grown up attitude. Barn Owl presents a threshold in which the responder is able to witness the initiation of Gwen’s transition. The transformation is achieved through her didactical quest for wisdom, lead by her childhood naivety and is complimented through ‘nightfall’, where we see her fully maturate state. The importance of familial relationship and parental guidance is explored in father and child, as well as the contrasting views on mortality and death. Barn Owl depicts death as a shocking and violent occurrence while the second poem, nightfall, displays that death can be accepted, describing the cyclical and

Gwen Harwood’s poetry endures to engage readers through its poetic treatment of loss and consolation. Gwen Harwood’s seemingly ironic simultaneous examination of the personal and the universal is regarded as holding sufficient textual integrity that it has come to resonate with a broad audience and a number of critical perspectives. This is clearly evident within her poems ‘At Mornington’ and ‘A Valediction’, these specific texts have a main focus on motif that once innocence is lost it cannot be reclaimed, and it is only through appreciating the value of what we have lost that we can experience comfort and achieve growth.

The notion that ordinary, everyday experiences encompass universal emotions of both sadness and delight is central to Gwen Harwood’s anthology of Selected Poems. This Australian poet often uses her personal journey towards self-knowledge and experience of growing up to comment on universal aspects of raw, uncensored life experiences. She aims to convey the idea that motherhood is a difficult experience for many women who resent the way they are forced to abandon their individuality and careers. Harwood also illustrates the sadness in the loss of innocence and regrets in childhood. However, she also reminds the audience of the importance of celebrating the richness and vitality of human life such as the importance and power of women and parenthood. Ultimately the collection also suggests that aspects of both sadness and delight are evident in every human experience.

In The House Behind, Lydia Davis establishes a divide between social classes through the creation of the front house and the back house. Their separation is meaningful in that it represents the divide in society between the rich and the poor. It represents the difference in power. The setting does not change in the story, however the people’s attitudes do. There’s an increase in uneasiness from the house in front after the murder. Those in the house behind became ashamed by the actions of their neighbor. Through the association between front and superior there is an indirect connection established. The courtyard connects the two houses as a common ground for interaction, however, it seems to instead serve as a separator between the two.

In the Park is an engaging and eye-opening poem published in early 1960’s. The author of the Poem, Gwen Harwood, is Australian born and is often regarded as one of Australia’s finest poets. Her work is primarily situated on the subject of motherhood. Through her poems, such as In the Park and Suburban Sonnet she shows the hardships and inner struggles that mothers encounter. The underlying message of the poem is showing how a young mother feels as though her children have deprived her of happiness and she regrets the life she has chosen. The theme of motherhood is prevalent in this poem however it shows the alternative side. The dominant view is usually one where the mother shows the purest, undeniable and strong love for her children. Harwood explains the side of motherhood which is not joyous but overwhelming and tiring. Throughout it is made clear that wants to expose the reader to the truth that is often concealed about motherhood.

Gwen Harwood explores through many of her poems the role of women in society in which reflects the challenges of the changing nature of Australian society and expectations of women. Harwood highlights the stultifying world of domesticity and the importance of identity in relation to motherhood, by challenging dominant values and mainstream beliefs. Harwood criticizes the male dominated society and channels the zeitgeist of 1960s feminism, by depicting the entrapment of motherhood in a domestic life and reinforcing of loss of identity within her poems. In both of Harwood's poems 'suburban Sonnet' and 'In the Park', the common themes of motherhood and loss of identity is enforced using a wide variety of literally techniques to portray the inner pain and anguish felt by Harwood in a patriarchal society.

“But now I know more/ about the great wheel of growth,/ and decay, and rebirth”(Oliver). In the poem Stanley Kunitz by Mary Oliver, the speaker talks about a man who she at first misunderstands, but then realizes the reality about him. This man is Stanley Kunitz, who was the tenth Poet Laureate of the United States, and inspired many people(Poetry Foundation). Although many admire Stanley Kunitz, Mary Oliver admired him enough to write a poem about him, and how she wants to be as great of a poet as Kunitz. Even though at first Mary Oliver had misunderstood how Kunitz would work so ethically, and almost thought it was like magic. Oliver soon realized that it wasn’t magic, it had been hard work, which had make Kunitz such a phenomenal poet. Throughout the poem Oliver describes a garden, and how hard this man works to make it beautiful, which makes sense on the surface. When looking at the deeper meaning, the poem is about how hard work pays off and creates beautiful works of art.

“Sadie and Maud” was written by Gwendolyn Brooks. Gwendolyn Brooks was an American poet and teacher. In 1950, she became the first black person to win and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. The poem Sadie and Maud is comparing the lifestyle choices of two women, one of whom goes to college and the other stays at home. The poem talks about making life choices and pursuing happiness. The poem explains how these women lead very different lives that reflect the choices they make for themselves.

“That’s the lawn and my daddy grazes his calves on it” (13). By viewing the woods it seems to give here inner peace and she loves her family and wants the best for them in contract to what her grandfather