19 pages • 38 minutes read
Gwendolyn Brooksmy dreams, my works, must wait till after hell
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1945A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Form and Meter
Brooks's poem “my dreams, my work, my life” is an example of a sonnet. It consists of 14 lines, iambic pentameter, and a subtle rhyme scheme. Read out loud in an informal fashion, the sonnet might appear as if it has no rhymes, thus Brooks is arguably subverting the sonnet structure. Brooks might still be putting her own mark on the sonnet, but she's employing some type of rhyme. For example, “bread” (Line 1) and “lid” (Line 3) can rhyme, and so can “again” (Line 6) and “in” (Line 8).
The subtle, tenuous rhymes make the reader pay attention to the sound and the pronunciation of words. A sensitive ear is required to pick up on the rhymes. The delicate rhymes reinforce the sensitive speaker—a soldier whose main wish is not to be “turned insensitive” (Line 13) to what he appreciated before the war. Additionally, iambic pentameter advances the suspense of the war, with the unstressed, stress pattern replicating the thumping heartbeat of someone in a scary situation—like a soldier at war.
Alliteration
Alliteration is a literary device that allows the poet to create a harmonious sound by putting similar sounding words or words starting with the same letter near one another. Brooks’s poem begins on an alliterative note with the proximity of “hold” and “honey” in Line 1. In Line 3, alliteration appears with “label,” “latch,” and “lid,” and, in Line 4, alliteration manifests since “Be” follows “bid.” Even when the speaker pivots to the hellish war, alliteration remains, with “devil days” (Line 9) and “drag” and “dregs” in Line 10.
The alliteration adds an ironic twist to the poem since it might make more sense for a poem about the ghastliness of war to not sound pleasant. Conversely, the alliteration shows there’s rhyme and reason to each state. The rhyme and reason are obvious in the pre-war state since the soldier can label and organize his belongings as he wishes. In the hellish state of war, rhyme and reason remains present because the soldier can reason that there is no rhyme or reason as to what will happen to him. The alliterative sounds in the hell section of the poem alert the reader that the soldier faces a stable stream of torment.
Repetition
Repetition is a literary device that lets the poet emphasize certain themes by repeating specific words. In Brooks’s sonnet, the word “I” appears a handful of times. At first, the presence of the first-person singular pronoun might not seem like a big deal. After all, a soldier narrates the poem in his own voice, so it makes sense for there to be more than a few Is. Yet Brooks places the Is in prime spots, with four of the first five lives starting with “I.” The repetition of the “I” draws attention to the soldier's humanity. This is a person with dreams and desires. He doesn’t want to lose his life or become a brute. He wants to remain sensitive and loving. In other words, he doesn’t want to transform into something other than a human. The plurality of Is establish the unique, humane quality of the soldier speaker.
The repetition also relates to the journey motif. The poem starts with honey and bread and ends with honey and bread. It’s as if the narrator has made a complete journey. They begin with their bread and honey, go through hell, and now can still appreciate the bread and honey even though they had to endure the horrors of war. With honey and bread kicking off and concluding the poem, Brooks’s hellish sonnet comes across as tidy, with the end mirroring the beginning. It’s as if fate is on the soldier's side and will help him resume his life as it was before his journey to war.
Related Titles
By Gwendolyn Brooks
