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Annie Allen

Gwendolyn Brooks

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Dec 30, 2016 Brina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: african-american, chicago-setting, classics, pulitzer-winner, poetry

Gwendolyn Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize for her poetry collection Annie Allen in 1950, making her the first African American woman to win the illustrious award. A sequel to her Street Called Bronzeville, Annie Allen continues to describe in detail the African American experience during the late 1940s. Through her expressive language, Brooks relates how African Americans navigated post war America, and this vivid collection has stood the test of time.

Annie Allen and her mother are one of many si Gwendolyn Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize for her poetry collection Annie Allen in 1950, making her the first African American woman to win the illustrious award. A sequel to her Street Called Bronzeville, Annie Allen continues to describe in detail the African American experience during the late 1940s. Through her expressive language, Brooks relates how African Americans navigated post war America, and this vivid collection has stood the test of time.

Annie Allen and her mother are one of many signature poems in this collection. Brooks describes what both daughter and mother hope for in their life, for good and bad. Using her poetry as a platform, Brooks expresses how she hopes that Annie Allen finds a stable marriage to a black soldier returning from war. He should be a steady family man who is ready to settle down and live the American dream. Brooks' language is sad yet hopeful as Annie's parents relay what knowledge they have in hopes that their daughter has a brighter future than they did.

The centerpiece of this collection is The Anniad. A ballad, the Anniad describes in detail the experience of a soldier both on the front and after his return. His adjustment to life in the African American community can at times be trying, but Brooks hopes that he does not turn to alcoholism as a means to get through the rigors of life. She has seen many men in her community fall prey to both whiskey and womanizing and desires that these soldiers do more with their lives than repeat the community's habits. Depressing in language at times, The Anniad relays the feeling that African Americans should attempt to live the American dream after fighting to defeat fascism abroad.

Following the Anniad, the language starts to flow and become upbeat. Brooks urges her brothers and sisters to make the church and the barbershop the safe centers of their lives rather than languishing on the street. Rather than performing as clowns in front of white audiences, soldiers should take advantage of the GI bill and move forward with their lives. Published two years after Jackie Robinson integrated baseball, Brooks is perhaps using him as an example to show that anything is possible. As a result, the poems in the second half of the collection become more positive in language.

Gwendolyn Brooks paved the way for generations of African American women to express their feelings through poetry, most notably Audre Lorde in her work Sister, Outsider. Named a poet laureate of Illinois in 1968 and holding the position until her death in 2000, Brooks became the torch bearer for young poets throughout the state. A remarkable woman, Brooks has had many Chicago institutions named for her. Annie Allen is much deserving of its awards and is a poetry collection that should be widely read and studied. ...more

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