LITR 5535: American Romanticism
 
Student Poetry Presentation 2006

Monday 27 November:

poetry: Gwendolyn Brooks, "kitchenette building," N 2698

poetry reader / discussion leader: Crystal Reppert

Gwendolyn Brooks

"kitchenette building" is from her first collected works of poetry, A Street in Bronzesville. This title is "from the name journalists gave to the Chicago black ghetto" (Anthology 2697). Brooks’ poetry came about as a combination of two influences in her life - her own experiences and the poetry of writers such as Pound and Eliot to whom she was exposed during her years in grade school. After grade school, she attended a workshop on poetry taught by a rich Chicago socialite, Inez Cunningham.

The blend of the dual influences won recognition for her at the Midwestern Writer’s Conference in 1943. At this conference she was approached by Emily Morrison of Knopf [publishers]. Brooks sent in a portfolio of a variety of poems, but was informed by Morrison that only the “Negro” poems were of interest for publication. A second portfolio resulted in A Street in Bronzesville.

kitchenette building

We are things of dry hours and the involuntary plan,

Grayed in, and gray. "Dream" makes a giddy sound, not strong

Like "rent," "feeding a wife," "satisfying a man."

But could a dream send up through onion fumes

Its white and violet, fight with fried potatoes

And yesterday's garbage ripening in the hall,

Flutter, or sing an aria down these rooms.

Even if we were willing to let it in,

Had time to warm it, keep it very clean,

Anticipate a message, let it begin?

We wonder. But not well! not for a minute!

Since Number Five is out of the bathroom now,

We think of lukewarm water, hope to get in.

Objective 2: Cultural Issues

Americans as racially divided but historically related people develop "Old and New Canons" of Romantic literature.

Questions

1.  Where is the Romance in picturing a dream floating through onion fumes?

2.  Is there a sense of loss in the bathroom being vacated and becoming a priority?