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Paul Lawrence Dunbar ||> =__Gwendolyn Brooks __ = Gwendolyn Elizabeth Books was born on June 7th in 1917, and passed away December 3, 2000 at the age of 83. She was born in [|Topeka, Kansas] , however she moved to [|Chicago, Illinois],  when she was four, where she lived for the remainder of her life. Motivated by Paul Lawrence Dunbar at a young age to pursue her dreams to become a writer, Brooks was able to have one of her poems published in a children's magazine by the age of thirteen. This persurverence paid off when she published her frst book of poems called [|A Street in Bronzeville]  at the age of twenty-eight in 1945.After her sucess with this poem,Brooks wrote her book of poetry, [|Annie Allen,]  and received a [|Pulitzer Prize]  for it in 1949. She became the first [|African American]  to receive this award.
 * [[image:brooks.jpg]]

Brooks continued to write many poems on African American city life. She wrote about her own life and the way she saw herself. In some poems she would express that she felt less atractive because of her darker skin color. She began to write about the poverty she expericence and endured. Brooks also wrote about the life of living in the "hood" of the city. A theme repeated throughout her works of poetrey was her ethnicity. She also tried to influence blacks to speak out by writing poetry. 

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> __Awards__ Gwendolyn Brooks recived many awards for her works of poetry. These awards include: || <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="display: block; font-size: 120%; color: #f51714; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">__Sample Poems__
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Pulitzer Award
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">American Academy of Arts and Letters award
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Frost Medal
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">National Endowment for the Arts award
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Shelley Memorial Award

<span style="font-size: 70%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">    <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> __ Sadie and Maud __ by:Gwendolyn Brooks

Maud went to colledge Sadie stayed home Sadie scraped life with a fine tooth comb

she didnt leave a tangle in her comb found every strand Sadie was one of the livingest chicks in all the land

Sadie bore two babies under her maiden name Maud and Ma and Papa Nearly died of shame

When sadie said her last so-long Her girls struck out from home (Sadie left as heritage her fine toothed comb)

Maud, who went to coledge is a thin brown mouse she is living all alone in this old house       <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">    <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> __We Real Cool__ by: Gwendolyn Brooks

We real cool. We   <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Left school. We   <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">    <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Lurk late. We   <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Strike straight. We   <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">    <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Sing sin. We   <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Thin gin. We   <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">    <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Jazz June. We   <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Die Soon  <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Gwendolyn Brooks' Poems
|| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Bibliography
 * * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">[|To Be In Love]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">[|A Sunset of the City]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">[|The Independent Man]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">[|My Dreams,My Works, Must Wait Till After Hell]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">[|The Lovers of the Poor] ||> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">[[image:bronzeville.jpg width="123" height="133"]]

> > <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="color: #ee1717; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">
 * 1)    Brooks, Gwendolyn. __Poem Hunter.__ 30 November 2008 < http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-be-in-love/ >.
 * 2)     African American Liturature Book Club, "Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks" __AALBC__ 1997-2007 AALBC.com, LLC < http://aalbc.com/authors/qwendolyn.htm
 * 3)  World Class Poetry, "Gwendolyn Brooks: Poet Laureate, Encourager, Friend" __World Class Poetry__ 2005-2008 <www.world-class-poetry.com/qwendolyn-brooks.htlm
 * 4)  Bloom,Harold. "Gwendolyn Brooks Biography" __notable biographies__ 4 December 2008 < http://www.notablebiographies.com/Br-Ca/Brooks-Gwendolyn.html
 * 5)  Brooks,Gwendolyn. "Gwendolyn Brooks: Sadie and Maud". __Poem Hunter__ 4 December 2008 <http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sadie-and-maud/

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Explication
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Explication of "Sadie and Maud" by Gwendolyn Brooks

The poem “Sadie and Maud” by Gwendolyn Brooks with text from //Poem Hunter// ( <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">[|http://www.poem] <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> hunter.com/poem/sadie-and-maud/) is a story of two women who were sisters that lived separate lives. In the poem Brooks is contrasting the life of a person who does everything right and the life of a person who strays from the path at times in their life. In Brooks’ comparison of these two lives, it is wondered whether it is better to do everything right or to take a risk. The poem begins with the two sisters separating while one, Maud, heads to college and another, Sadie, stays home to do things her own way. The paths that they took is compared to a fined toothed comb. While Maud lives her comb untangled and clean, Sadie’s was not without hair and dirty. Sadie had two children, but never got married. Maud, her mother and her father, never got used to that fact. This was one of the dirty strands on Sadie’s fine toothed comb. Finally when Sadie left, she “…left as heritage her fine-toothed comb.” Although Maud did not agree with most of her sister’s decisions, she was the one who eventually lived alone in an old house with no memories of mistakes she could learn from and no adventures she could share. Sadie, although her comb was dirty, had lived her life the way she wanted and no one could tell her differently. This poem has the element of rhyme. The way it is set up is ABCB throughout the poem for each paragraph. Although there are no similes in this poem, the fine toothed comb, belonging to Sadie, is compared to the lives of the girls. This metaphor, compares Maud’s perfect but lonely life, to Sadie’s life which was full of obstacles. Brooks did a tremendous job on explaining how to live life. The way her poem is written makes a great debate. Is living a life where everything that is supposed to be done is done, but not having done things that you may have wanted to experience. Or is it better to live life on the edge and not worry about what people think? A strong element of the poem was its metaphors. The rhyme scheme was perfect for the poem. This poem gave me a new perspective or a new way to look at things. To me, it was that some risks are okay to take and that making mistakes is part of life. You make your own destiny. How would you choose to live it?