Steven Banks. “The Children Of The Poor” by Gwendolyn Brooks “People who have no children can be hard: Attain a mail of ice and insolence: Need not pause in the fire, and in no sense Hesitate in the hurricane guard. And when wide world is bitten and bewarred. They perish purely, waving their spirits hence. Without a trace of grace or of offense. To laugh or fail, diffident, wonder-starred. While through a throttling dark we others hear. The little lifting helplessness, the queer. Whimper-whine; whose unridiculous. Lost softness softly makes a trap for us. And makes a curse. And makes a sugar of the malocclusions, the inconditions of love. What shall I give my children? Who are poor, who are adjudged the leastwise of the land, who are my sweetest lepers, who demand no velvet and no velvety velour; But who have begged me for a brisk contour, crying that they are quasi, contraband because unfinished, graven by a hand less than angelic, admirable or sure. My hand is stuffed with mode, design, device. But I lack access to my proper stone. And plentitude of plan shall not suffice nor grief nor love shall be enough alone to ratify my little halves who bear across an autumn freezing everywhere.”

The poem has 2 stanzas, 11 sentences

Gwendolyn Brooks biographical info Gwendolyn Brooks was born on june 7 1917. she won the “Pulitzer prize for poetry” in 1950. she was appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois in 1968. and poet laureate consultant to poetry to the library of congress in 1985. in 1995 she was presented with the national medal of arts. In 1989 she was given the Robert Frost medal by the poetry society of America. In 1994 she was given the national endowment of the humanities, Jefferson lecture (which is the highest honor in American letters) and many other medals and awards for contributing to American literature.

The poem in detail. the first stanza is all metaphor and parable. The stanza is long and difficult to understand in one reading you have to look it over a few times before you understand it completely. The poem itself though is about how people who are poor are not just poor but they are also very caring and grateful. They care for their kids more than themselves as any parent should but they care more so. Their kids are grateful for anything not because they are nice people but because so little can be provided so what they get is very valuable and appreciated. The second stanza is almost completely literal and can be understood easily. This stanza states the guilt of parents who are poor and cannot provide for their children and their children don’t ask for fancy clothes but they ask for a canteen of cold clean water which would be a common luxury for someone of middle or higher class but for the poor it is a blessing.

The poem in detail continued The poem offers little to no imagery at all. It offers little rhyme and poetic elements. But the poem has innumerable amounts of metaphor. There is an entire stanza completely metaphor. The poem is long and difficult to remember because it has so many metaphors and the sentences are also extremely long.

Literal meaning The literal meaning of this poem is that children who are poor do not care for the fancy things in life because it has no value or worth to them. They only ask for the basic necessities of life like food, water, clothes and medicine.

Figurative meaning The figurative meaning is that these children are lost and blind that they do not have the velvet that the richer people have.

Authors purpose The poets purpose for this work is that she herself came from a poorer family and made very little money and she understood the hardships of being poor and to explain these hardships to those who do not know it or understand it.