Burton 1 Shelley Burton Professor Camargo English 2100 12 February 2013 Poetry Analysis: a song in the front yard

Everyone has longed to experience a lifestyle different from their own at some point. Some people desire a life void of trouble and risk-taking while others desire a life filled with those things. Gwendolyn Brooks poem, a song in the front yard, describes such a longing. Throughout the poem, Brooks uses imagery, tone, and figurative language to aid in explaining her desire to break free from her sheltered life to experience something different and exciting. She uses the analogy of the front yard to describe her behavior and overall lifestyle thus far. She desperately longs to experience the back yard and all of the adventure it has to offer. A song in the front yard reveals an innocent young womans curiosity about a lifestyle dramatically different from her own. Imagery refers to the pattern of related comparative aspects of language, particularly of images in a literary work. The author uses this device throughout the poem. She begins the poem by saying Ive stayed in the front yard all my life (Brooks 1). This term front yard is a figure of speech for the safe life of innocence she has always known. She continues by saying I want a peek at the back (Brooks 2). The back is referring to rebellion and freedom. She describes the back yard by saying it is rough and untended and hungry weed grows (Brooks 3). This description would be referencing the lifestyle of people who live in the back yard. They are wild and dirty and answer to no one. The comparisons between the front yard and the back yard and their underlying meanings can be found throughout the poem. This literary device is considered a type of figurative language, or, a form of language use in which writers and

Burton 2 speakers convey something other than the literal meaning of their words. She ends the first stanza by saying, A girl gets sick of a rose (Brooks 4). This line implies the boredom she has with the purity and innocence of her life so far. While her life has been free from trouble, it has also been void of freedom and adventure. In poetry, tone refers to the implied attitude of a writer toward the subject and characters of a work. The tone throughout the first stanza is full of desire. It sets the mood for the lines that follow. The author begins the second stanza by writing, I want to go in the back yard now/ And maybe down the alley (Brooks 5-6). Down the alley suggests venturing even further into the back yard. This leads the reader to the realization that she wants the full experience of rebelling against everything she knows. She continues by adding that she wants to go where the charity children play (Brooks 7). While the term charity children may sound demeaning, the authors tone implies that it is not meant to be. The term refers to the troubled adolescents who come from a lower social class than the narrator of the poem. They most likely partake in activities that the narrator has never experienced, yet she craves their company. She ends the second stanza by writing, I want a good time today (Brooks 8). This line reiterates the fact that she wants to break free from her safe, comfortable life to experience the wildness of misbehaving with the charity children. This stanza uses several literary devices, such as tone, imagery, and figurative language to continue driving the theme of rebellion home to the readers. The third stanza begins with a tone of admiration towards those children in the back yard. She writes, They do some wonderful things./ They have some wonderful fun (Brooks 910). This definitely contributes to the narrators positive tone about a group of people and a lifestyle that most would likely look at negatively. Throughout the rest of the third stanza, the narrator describes her mothers view of the charity children. She writes, My mother sneers,

Burton 3 but I say its fine/ How they dont have to go in at a quarter to nine (Brooks 11-12). The fact that her mother sneers at the thought of these people shows just how harshly she criticizes them. The tone implies that her disapproving attitude comes from her belief that her lifestyle is superior. The narrator goes on to say, My mother, she tells me that Johnnie Mae/ Will grow up to be a bad woman (Brooks 13-14). Despite her mothers warnings, the narrator is still determined to break away from her safe and comfortable life to experience the freedom of having no rules or constraints. She recognizes that life in the other side of the yard has the potential to get her into trouble, yet she still longs to experience it. She is obstinate and will not be persuaded to keep up her well-behaved lifestyle. The authors tone in the third stanza reiterates the fact that her opinion has been formed, her mind is made up and cannot be changed. Lastly, in the fourth and final stanza, the authors fierce and determined tone creates a pretty powerful image and brings the poem to a close. She writes, But I say its fine. Honest, I do./ And Id like to be a bad woman, too (Brooks 17-18). She knows that compromising her place in the front yard will have consequences, but she is willingly ready to accept them. She continues by saying she would like to wear the brave stockings of night-black lace (Brooks 19). The fact that she refers to this attire as brave reiterates her complimentary view of these people who are considered to be in a lower class of society. Finally, she ends the poem by saying she would like to strut down the streets with paint on my face (Brooks 20). The term strut aids in constructing the image of a woman who is not proper and refined. This term is usually not meant to be complimentary, yet the narrator proudly embraces it. Also, she boldly refers to wearing makeup as paint on her face. In only twenty short lines, Gwendolyn Brooks captures the longing that so many people can relate to. A song in the front yard especially speaks to young women, more specifically

Burton 4 those who are high in social ranking because of their modest behavior. While many people would like to be in the narrators position, the narrator craves to experience the wildness of life on the other side. Brooks uses figurative language throughout the poem by comparing her life in the front yard to the life she desires in the back yard. The tone and imagery in a song in the front yard help the reader grasp the longing she feels to rebel against her conservative upbringing. Gwendolyn Brooks poem, a song in the front yard, expresses a strong desire that everyone can identify with; the desire to experience something exciting and different. Through her use of imagery, tone, and figurative language, she clearly describes a young womans struggle to break free from her conservative upbringing and experience something wild and dangerous. Ultimately, the theme of rebellion in the poem can be summed up in the first two lines: Ive stayed in the front yard all my life./ I want a peek at the back (Brooks 1 -2).

Burton 5 Works Cited Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 7th ed. New York: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2005. Print.