With her mastery of traditional verse forms and insightful treatment of race, Gwendolyn Brooks carved a unique space for herself within American poetry. This title offers an introduction that reflects on Brooks' legacy, locating her work as a bridge between the poets of the Harlem Renaissance and the poets of the black arts movement.
The essays in this set explore how the Harlem Renaissance and the civil rights movement influenced Brooks's work, with close readings of selections from A Street in Bronzeville, Annie Allen, The Bean Eaters, In the Mecca, Riot, and Family Pictures. Essays also provide a survey of the major pieces of Brooks criticism and Brooks's novel Maud Martha, and offer a close reading of "The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock."
