Bean Eaters By Gwendolyn Brooks Essay

“Look at what’s happening in the world. Everyday there’s something exciting or disturbing to write about. With all that’s going on, how could I stop?” (Brooks). During 1917-2000, Gwendolyn Brooks, an African American poet, wrote the poem “The Bean Eaters” because she wanted others to know about the unspoken problem of poverty. Brooks wants to elaborate on poverty by trying to teach it through her words inside of the poem, the techniques, and writing style she used. Brooks used certain techniques and words in her poem to create a deeper feeling and understanding when people read her poem. She also showed her strength within the poem and used “human talk” to make it easier for people to read and understand her message. In Gwendolyn Brooks’s

Following the quote “But keep on putting on their clothes and putting things away” (Brooks), it tells the reader that the couple had to stay strong and have strength to get through the state. “They eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair” (Brooks), the words “old yellow pair” say that they have lived in poverty like state for a while. When in poverty, somebody may not know how long they may be in it. Brooks showed a massage within the words “But they keep putting on their clothes”. Though it showed people the feeling of poverty, Brooks also told the readers that you have to keep moving and use that strength in order to do so. Strength was shown within the poem, but so were the struggles of poverty through her

“Human talk” are words that people use in a normal conversation. “The Bean Eaters” in terms of Brooks's own seemingly contradictory statements that poetry should have the looseness of “human talk” and that it should employ only as many words as necessary” (Rich). The words are not too big so that the readers get confused and get a false meaning of the message of the poem. Each word used can be used inside of a conversation and that’s how Brooks intended it to be. She wanted her readers to have the ability to understand the poem so that they could easily explain it to others and be able to give them the proper knowledge of the poem when explaining it because it would be so easy to elaborate on. Not only are the words easy to understand and explain, but the rhyming scheme of the poem was easy to understand as well. A basic rhyming structure was put in place so that it was easier to remember the poem. When something rhymes, it is remembered easier than poem written in more complicated structures. The poem feels as if you could have a conversation using its words. This elaborates on the “human talk” that Brooks tried to incorporate into her poem. The words that Brooks had used are used in everyday language. Since they are used in everyday language, people are use to the style of talk and words that are used, hence why the poem is so