19 pages • 38 minutes read
Gwendolyn BrooksA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
"Speech to the Young” is a lyric poem. It's short and reflects personal beliefs and feelings. The names in the title’s parenthetical bolster the personal aspect of the poem. If the reader knows about Brooks' life, they might be aware that she had two children: a daughter named Nora and a son called Henry. Her children are among the young people the speech seeks to reach. Brooks asks that her kids hear this, and the request underscores the speech's sincere tone. The audience includes two young people who are an intimate part of Brooks's life, so it's logical to say Brooks is the poem's speaker. Yet Brooks doesn’t explicitly identify herself as the speaker in the poem, so, out of deference for her individual identity and the craft of poetry, it’s also fine to refer to the speaker as the speaker, so the identity of the speaker doesn’t get in the way of discussing what they say, how they say it, and the poem’s themes.
The title offers one of the main themes of the poem: youth. As the speech seeks to capture the attention of the young, the focus is on them.
By Gwendolyn Brooks
A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon
Gwendolyn Brooks
A Sunset of the City
Gwendolyn Brooks
Boy Breaking Glass
Gwendolyn Brooks
Cynthia in the Snow
Gwendolyn Brooks
Maud Martha
Gwendolyn Brooks
my dreams, my works, must wait till after hell
Gwendolyn Brooks
The Ballad of Rudolph Reed
Gwendolyn Brooks
The birth in a narrow room
Gwendolyn Brooks
The Blackstone Rangers
Gwendolyn Brooks
The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock
Gwendolyn Brooks
The Crazy Woman
Gwendolyn Brooks
The Lovers of the Poor
Gwendolyn Brooks
The Mother
Gwendolyn Brooks
the rites for Cousin Vit
Gwendolyn Brooks
To Be in Love
Gwendolyn Brooks
To The Diaspora
Gwendolyn Brooks
Ulysses
Gwendolyn Brooks
We Real Cool
Gwendolyn Brooks