Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000)

A selective list of online literary criticism on American poet Gwendolyn Brooks, favoring signed scholarly articles and books, peer-reviewed sources, and web sites that adhere to the MLA Guidelines for Web Sites.

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Introduction

"Gwendolyn Brooks." Introduction and Biography, plus excerpts from influential critical commentary on these poems: We Real Cool; The Ballad of Rudolph Reed; Gay Chaps at the Bar. Also, an essay on Gay Chaps at the Bar by Susan Schweik; on To the Diaspora; another essay on Gay Chaps at the Bar, by James Smethurst; on of De Witt Williams on his way to Lincoln Cemetery; and on The Boy Died in My Alley. Also, interviews with Brooks; about the Black Arts Movement; about World War II; about the sonnet; Brooks book jackets. Modern American Poetry. Ed. James Sullivan.

"Gwendolyn Brooks." Poetry Foundation. Ed. Catherine Halley. Good, encyclopedia-type introduction to Gwendolyn Brooks's themes, style and techniques, with a biography and samples of her poems.

"Gwendolyn Brooks." A brief introduction to the poet. On The Bean Eaters (1960). Academy of American Poets.

"Brooks, H. D., and Rukeyser: Three Women Poets in the First Century of World Wars," by Marilyn Hacker. Academy of American Poets.

Jimoh, A. Yemisi. "Gwendolyn Brooks." Literary Encyclopedia. Eds. Robert Clark, Emory Elliott, Janet Todd. A substantial introduction to Gwendolyn Brooks, from a database that provides signed literary criticism by experts in their field, and is available to individuals for a reasonably-priced subscription.

A biography of Gwendolyn Brooks, from the Gale Group.

"Illinois poet Laureate, Gwendolyn Brooks." Introduction to Gwendolyn Brooks from the State of Illinois.

A very short biography of Gwendolyn Brooks from the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Literary criticism

Burr, Zofia. "Reading Gwendolyn Brooks across Audiences," in Of Women, Poetry, and Power (U of Illinois P 2002). Publisher's web site.

Clarke, Cheryl. "The Loss of Lyric Space in Gwendolyn Brooks's 'In the Mecca,' in After Mecca: Women Poets and the Black Arts Movement (Rutgers UP). At Google Books.

Cummings, Allison. "Public Subjects: Race and the Critical Reception of Gwendolyn Brooks, Erica Hunt, and Harryette Mullen." Frontiers 2005.

Debo, Annette. "Reflecting violence in the warpland: Gwendolyn Brooks's Riot." African American Review Spring-Summer 2005.

Flynn, Richard. "The Kindergarten of New Consciousness": Gwendolyn Brooks and the Social Construction of Childhood. African American Review Fall 2000.

Kent, George. Publisher's page for A Life of Gwendolyn Brooks (UP of Kentucky 1990).

Melhem, D.H. A discussion guide for Gwendolyn Brooks for students and teachers from textbook publisher Heath.

News articles

Personal papers of Pulitzer-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks join archives at UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library, 11 Jan 2001, press release.

A 1979 interview with Gwendolyn Brooks, published in The Artful Dodge

Gwendolyn Brooks's obituary from the NY Times.

Removed articles

Jimoh, A. Yemisi. "Double Consciousness, Modernism, and Womanist Themes in Gwendolyn Brooks's 'The Anniad.'" Melus 7 (Fall 1998) (removed).

Lowney, John. "'A material collapse that is construction': History and Counter-Memory in Gwendolyn Brooks's In the Mecca," in Melus 7 (Fall 1998) (removed).

Wright, Stephen Caldwell (ed.) A review of On Gwendolyn Brooks: Reliant Contemplation. (U of Michigan P 1996). Reviewed in Melus 7 (Fall 1998) by Terence Allan Hoagwood (removed).

An introduction to Gwendolyn Brooks's life and writing, from Longman Publishers (removed).

An interview with Gwendolyn Brooks by Denise Hawkins, from the Poetry Center at James Madison Univ. (removed).

main page | 20th-century literature | 20th-century poetry | later african american poets | 20th-century women writers

1998-2010 by Jan Pridmore