What do you think?
Rate this book
A Street in Bronzeville
Gwendolyn Brooks was one of the most accomplished and acclaimed poets of the last century, the first black author to win the Pulitzer Prize and the first black woman to serve as poetry consultant to the Library of Congress—the forerunner of the U.S. Poet Laureate. Born in Topeka, Kansas, she moved with her family to Chicago when she was young and she would capture the explosive energies of the city’s mostly black South Sidein her first book of poems, A Street in Bronzeville. “I wrote about what I saw and heard inthe street,” she later said. “I lived in a small second-floor apartment at the corner, and I could look first on one side and then the other. There was my material.” From this material, Brooks made a forceful and passionate poetry that fused modernist aesthetics with African-American cultural tradition. For poet Elizabeth Alexander it is Brooks formal range—she experiments here with sonnets, ballads, spirituals, blues, and full and off-rhymes—that is most impressive: “she is nothing short of a technical virtuoso.”
Also available from The Library of America, in both print and e-book editions: The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks, a career-spanning survey of Brooks's poetry, selected and introduced by Elizabeth Alexander.
Also available from The Library of America, in both print and e-book editions: The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks, a career-spanning survey of Brooks's poetry, selected and introduced by Elizabeth Alexander.
First published January 1, 1945
42 people are currently reading
989 people want to read
About the author
Gwendolyn Brooks
125 books567 followersGwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Annie Allen and one of the most celebrated Black poets. She also served as consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress—the first Black woman to hold that position. She was the poet laureate for the state of Illinois for over thirty years, a National Women’s Hall of Fame inductee, and the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her works include We Are Shining, Bronzeville Boys and Girls, A Street in Bronzeville, In the Mecca, The Bean Eaters, and Maud Martha.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
December 29, 2016
In 1968, Gwendolyn Brooks was named Poet Laureate of Illinois and held that position until her death in 2000. Prior to being commended for her achievements, Brooks became the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer for her poetry collection Annie Allen in 1950. A student of Langston Hughes as early as 1941, Brooks penned and published her first collection of poetry about Chicago's south side entitled A Street Called Bronzeville in 1945. A definitive look at African American life in the 1940s, Bronzeville set the course for Brooks' illustrious career.
It is 1945. African American soldiers are returning from serving their country in World War II, wiping out fascist dictatorships. Serving in segregated units, the soldiers question why they are fighting racism abroad while they have few rights at home. It is two years prior to Jackie Robinson integrating Major League Baseball, an additional two until the armed forces are integrated as well. Brooks witnesses the soldiers, including her brother, returning and captures their sentiments through poetry. Her collection is in part Brooks' own take on the place of African Americans in society at the time of publication.
The centerpiece of this collection is entitled The Ballad of Pearl Mae Lee. Pearl is a respectable African American woman who attempts to hold her family together. Her son Sammy can pass for White and does at times, gaining him entrance into white society and a better life. Yet, on one occasion when he passed for white, the girl accused him of rape. Being that she saw Sammy as a black man, he had little chance to win a trial. Pearl Mae Lee's response to him was that he had it coming.
Brooks eloquently pens about life on Chicago's south side. Her poetry flows on the pages, making the difficult subject matter easy to read. She discusses everything from the beauty salon as the center of the community to the mother as often times the head of a makeshift family unit. These hard working African Americans headed north for a better life and expected that life to come to fruition. Through her beautiful poetry, Brooks voices the collective frustrations of her community.
Gwendolyn Brooks is considered a Laureate and legend in Chicago. Many places are named for her, including charter and magnet high schools. A master poet who captured the essence of her community experience through her touching words, Brooks poetry is not to be missed. The precursor to her Pulitzer winning Annie Allen, A Street Called Bronzeville is a powerful collective worthy of just as many awards as its successor.
It is 1945. African American soldiers are returning from serving their country in World War II, wiping out fascist dictatorships. Serving in segregated units, the soldiers question why they are fighting racism abroad while they have few rights at home. It is two years prior to Jackie Robinson integrating Major League Baseball, an additional two until the armed forces are integrated as well. Brooks witnesses the soldiers, including her brother, returning and captures their sentiments through poetry. Her collection is in part Brooks' own take on the place of African Americans in society at the time of publication.
The centerpiece of this collection is entitled The Ballad of Pearl Mae Lee. Pearl is a respectable African American woman who attempts to hold her family together. Her son Sammy can pass for White and does at times, gaining him entrance into white society and a better life. Yet, on one occasion when he passed for white, the girl accused him of rape. Being that she saw Sammy as a black man, he had little chance to win a trial. Pearl Mae Lee's response to him was that he had it coming.
Brooks eloquently pens about life on Chicago's south side. Her poetry flows on the pages, making the difficult subject matter easy to read. She discusses everything from the beauty salon as the center of the community to the mother as often times the head of a makeshift family unit. These hard working African Americans headed north for a better life and expected that life to come to fruition. Through her beautiful poetry, Brooks voices the collective frustrations of her community.
Gwendolyn Brooks is considered a Laureate and legend in Chicago. Many places are named for her, including charter and magnet high schools. A master poet who captured the essence of her community experience through her touching words, Brooks poetry is not to be missed. The precursor to her Pulitzer winning Annie Allen, A Street Called Bronzeville is a powerful collective worthy of just as many awards as its successor.
April 30, 2021
Each body has its art, its precious
prescribed
Pose, that even in passion's droll
contortions, waltzes
Or push of pain—or when a grief has
stabbed,
Or hatred hacked—is its, and nothing
else's.
Each body has its pose. No other stock
That is irrevocable, perpetual
And its to keep. In castle or in shack
With rags or robe. Through good,
nothing, or ill.
And even in death a body, like no other
On any hill or plain or crawling cot
Or gentle for the lilyless hasty pall
(Having twisted, gagged, and then
sweet-ceased to bother),
Shows the old personal art, the look.
Shows what
It showed at baseball. What it showed in
school.
This poem called still do I keep my look, my identity knocked the breath out of me. And so did all the poems collected in this book, which was Gwendolyn Brooks' first collection. The humanity in all the poems link it together, in their exploration of spirituality, ordinary life, the devastating effects of war, death, love, despair, persistence. Simply a marvel of a collection.
And I'll end this review with one of my favourite poems ever, one which I had read before and was delighted to find collected here, my dreams, my works, must wait till after hell
I hold my honey and I store my bread
In little jars and cabinets of my will.
I label clearly, and each latch and lid
I bid, Be firm till I return from hell
I am very hungry. I am incomplete.
And none can tell when I may dine
again.
No man can give me any word but Wait,
The puny light. I keep eyes pointed in;
Hoping that, when the devil days of my
hurt
Drag out to their last dregs and I resume
On such legs as are left me, in such
heart
As I can manage, remember to go home,
My taste will not have turned insensitive
To honey and bread old purity could
love.
prescribed
Pose, that even in passion's droll
contortions, waltzes
Or push of pain—or when a grief has
stabbed,
Or hatred hacked—is its, and nothing
else's.
Each body has its pose. No other stock
That is irrevocable, perpetual
And its to keep. In castle or in shack
With rags or robe. Through good,
nothing, or ill.
And even in death a body, like no other
On any hill or plain or crawling cot
Or gentle for the lilyless hasty pall
(Having twisted, gagged, and then
sweet-ceased to bother),
Shows the old personal art, the look.
Shows what
It showed at baseball. What it showed in
school.
This poem called still do I keep my look, my identity knocked the breath out of me. And so did all the poems collected in this book, which was Gwendolyn Brooks' first collection. The humanity in all the poems link it together, in their exploration of spirituality, ordinary life, the devastating effects of war, death, love, despair, persistence. Simply a marvel of a collection.
And I'll end this review with one of my favourite poems ever, one which I had read before and was delighted to find collected here, my dreams, my works, must wait till after hell
I hold my honey and I store my bread
In little jars and cabinets of my will.
I label clearly, and each latch and lid
I bid, Be firm till I return from hell
I am very hungry. I am incomplete.
And none can tell when I may dine
again.
No man can give me any word but Wait,
The puny light. I keep eyes pointed in;
Hoping that, when the devil days of my
hurt
Drag out to their last dregs and I resume
On such legs as are left me, in such
heart
As I can manage, remember to go home,
My taste will not have turned insensitive
To honey and bread old purity could
love.
March 27, 2018
There are lots of poems here, but the book gets 5 stars because of The Sundays of Satin Legs Smith, Queen of the Blues, and Ballad of Pearl May Lee. Mother Brooks did her good writing there...she’s all form and technique and I love it!
December 21, 2023
Originally published in 1945, this was the collection of poems that put Black Chicago poet Gwendolyn Brooks on the map. I loved this collection, depictions of Black northern city-life that are at times profound, gritty, moving, sensual, and stunning. "Ballad of Pearl May Lee" about an inter-racial liaison followed by a lynching, was breathtaking. Her rhyme-schemes throughout are the work of a master. Her second collection, Annie Allen, won her the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, the first time a Black person had ever been awarded a Pulitzer of any kind, but I think I liked A Street in Bronzeville even better. Even for a rube like me with almost no poetic sensibilities whatever, these poems hit something deep. Brooks ought to be (is she?) considered an essential part of the American canon of arts and letters.
January 24, 2018
I'm surprised I had never heard of this collection before. Having read Liesl Olson's "Chicago Renaissance" recently, Brooks, and this book, is one of her main shared stories. Kind of a Chicago Af Am "Winesburg, Ohio" or "Spoon River Anthology".
The poetry is very technical, with a use of meter that can only be called "intense". On occasion Brooks does use more of a "blues cadence", as in what may be the best known poem of this collection, "Ballad of Pearl May Lee". A poetic portrait of Chicago's Bronzeville in the '40's, there are poems about abortion (never an easy decision for any woman), and soldiers ("Negro Hero" - for Pearl Harbor hero, Dorie Miller) and sad poems of fading love ("When you have forgotten Sundays").
Published in 1945, the last quarter of the book is made up of more abstract poems about "Negro" soldiers, and what they have come home to as well. These were much less interesting for me, and did not seem to display her talent quite as well. The back cover of the original publication had Brooks promoting War Bonds!
While the Library of America does not have a Brooks volume available, they do have this collection available as an ebook - which is how I read it. One sitting - at about 70-80 pp. I have the first volume of her autobiography, "Report from Part One" on request from my local public library.
Interesting, after Brooks' editor at Harper & Row passed away, a white woman with whom she had a very close working relationship, she became much more radicalized, and moved to smaller, Af Am run presses to publish her books.
As poetry, part of the Chicago - and Af Am - experience, well worth a read.
The poetry is very technical, with a use of meter that can only be called "intense". On occasion Brooks does use more of a "blues cadence", as in what may be the best known poem of this collection, "Ballad of Pearl May Lee". A poetic portrait of Chicago's Bronzeville in the '40's, there are poems about abortion (never an easy decision for any woman), and soldiers ("Negro Hero" - for Pearl Harbor hero, Dorie Miller) and sad poems of fading love ("When you have forgotten Sundays").
Published in 1945, the last quarter of the book is made up of more abstract poems about "Negro" soldiers, and what they have come home to as well. These were much less interesting for me, and did not seem to display her talent quite as well. The back cover of the original publication had Brooks promoting War Bonds!
While the Library of America does not have a Brooks volume available, they do have this collection available as an ebook - which is how I read it. One sitting - at about 70-80 pp. I have the first volume of her autobiography, "Report from Part One" on request from my local public library.
Interesting, after Brooks' editor at Harper & Row passed away, a white woman with whom she had a very close working relationship, she became much more radicalized, and moved to smaller, Af Am run presses to publish her books.
As poetry, part of the Chicago - and Af Am - experience, well worth a read.
February 20, 2020
[02192020] this is an interesting, dense collection of (largely) narrative poems. my personal favorites were the sonnets at the end, which i’m definitely going to have to come back to in order to absorb. i had a harder time with the cadence in some of the narrative poems; reading them aloud helped. the combination of rhyme and free verse (sometimes in the same poem!) was interesting too—it would be fun to examine these technically, because i'm sure i missed a lot. i’ll do that at some point, probably. i’m not really as big on narrative poetry as the lyric, but it’s definitely good to read something that’s outside of my ultra-academic contemporary comfort zone.
read as part of my personal goal to read at least 14 books by Black authors during february 2020.
read as part of my personal goal to read at least 14 books by Black authors during february 2020.
October 29, 2021
A barn burner of a debut, holy smoke.
September 18, 2025
Love love love. A collection of poems I will return to
July 3, 2016
Major Field Prep: 41/133
Gwendolyn Brooks's first published collection of poetry, A Street in Bronzeville, shows the genesis of her dedication to making poetry available to black people in any social and economic circumstance, and to illustrate a portrait of and for African Americans. The first section details the material lived experiences in Chicago neighborhoods, overcrowded due to segregated housing practices that forced most apartments to be divided into "kitchenettes." The very first word of the first poem “the old-marrieds” in the first section “A Street in Bronzeville” is “But”: “But in the crowding darkness not a word did they say” (ln 1). The collection is the turn in an already occurring conversation; it is the counter to other representations of Americanness and African Americanness. Many of the poems trace the specific gendered domestic experience of black women, of note "Sadie and Maud," "Kitchenette Building," the "Hattie Scott" series. The perspective and scope of "Ballad of Pearl May" is greater than the lyric position of the speaker but enfolds all those that remain to absorb the residual violence of lynching. Compare with the similar project of “A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile a Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon” (1960) on the lynching of Emmett Till. Another alternative perspective, a highly gendered female perspective, on the residual violence of lynching and of the culpability of white women in the perpetuating of lynching. Other poems of note respond to WWII and postwar American race relations, particularly "Negro Hero: to suggest Dorie Miller."
Gwendolyn Brooks's first published collection of poetry, A Street in Bronzeville, shows the genesis of her dedication to making poetry available to black people in any social and economic circumstance, and to illustrate a portrait of and for African Americans. The first section details the material lived experiences in Chicago neighborhoods, overcrowded due to segregated housing practices that forced most apartments to be divided into "kitchenettes." The very first word of the first poem “the old-marrieds” in the first section “A Street in Bronzeville” is “But”: “But in the crowding darkness not a word did they say” (ln 1). The collection is the turn in an already occurring conversation; it is the counter to other representations of Americanness and African Americanness. Many of the poems trace the specific gendered domestic experience of black women, of note "Sadie and Maud," "Kitchenette Building," the "Hattie Scott" series. The perspective and scope of "Ballad of Pearl May" is greater than the lyric position of the speaker but enfolds all those that remain to absorb the residual violence of lynching. Compare with the similar project of “A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile a Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon” (1960) on the lynching of Emmett Till. Another alternative perspective, a highly gendered female perspective, on the residual violence of lynching and of the culpability of white women in the perpetuating of lynching. Other poems of note respond to WWII and postwar American race relations, particularly "Negro Hero: to suggest Dorie Miller."
May 31, 2017
I love this book. The poems, especially "the mother" and "a song in the front yard," inspire me. So accessible and timely, even after all these years (1945). I would recommend Brooks's work to anyone who loves good poetry.
January 9, 2019
Many of these poems sung themselves in my head as I was reading.
March 19, 2025
This book is an amazing collection of full hearted and melancholy poems. Brooks does a great job representing the challenges she herself had as an African American Women in Chicago. She really uses her poems to speak out and reach the reader helping them understand the depth of what she is trying to say. She is honest and raw about her struggles and triumphs as a woman.
I really enjoyed how the rhythm of the poems felt. Some were worded like a song and others a story. She touch’s on topics that a lot of people are to scared to such as abortion and prostitution. These little poems tell a big story. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is struggling with sexuality, race, or social norms.
I really enjoyed how the rhythm of the poems felt. Some were worded like a song and others a story. She touch’s on topics that a lot of people are to scared to such as abortion and prostitution. These little poems tell a big story. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is struggling with sexuality, race, or social norms.
March 3, 2021
Gwendolyn Brooks is one of those poets for whom I would like to read her Complete Poetry. Unfortunately, twenty-one years after her death, there is still no "complete works," probably because she had had various publishers who can't get together on this. It has become sort of a bucket list effort for me to read all her published poetry, so discovering this ebook of her first book of poems has been a boon. This has many of her well-known poems republished elsewhere--"kitchenette building," "the mother," "song from the front yard," " The Sundays of Satin-Legs Smith,"--but there are enough poems I have never read elsewhere to make this worth my money (especially at $5.99).
June 7, 2023
Floors me that this was her debut. Picked it up again today (haven't read it since my undergrad years) because it would've been her 106th birthday today.
It's powerful from the first syllable, but the ending lines are just as strong:
"A fear, a deepening hollow through the cold.
For even if we come out standing up
How shall we smile, congratulate: and how
Settle in chairs? Listen, listen. The step
Of iron feet again. And again wild."
She was writing in the brief time following WWII, but those words resonate today.
It's powerful from the first syllable, but the ending lines are just as strong:
"A fear, a deepening hollow through the cold.
For even if we come out standing up
How shall we smile, congratulate: and how
Settle in chairs? Listen, listen. The step
Of iron feet again. And again wild."
She was writing in the brief time following WWII, but those words resonate today.
July 23, 2021
This was my first exposure to Gwendolyn Brooks, and I clearly understand already why she is as revered as she is.
“A song in the front yard,” “the preacher: ruminates behind the sermon,” “of De Witt Williams on his way to Lincoln Cemetery,” and "Ballad of Pearl May Lee" were the ones that stuck most with me.
“A song in the front yard,” “the preacher: ruminates behind the sermon,” “of De Witt Williams on his way to Lincoln Cemetery,” and "Ballad of Pearl May Lee" were the ones that stuck most with me.
March 11, 2022
A stellar collection of poems, no doubt. The structure interests me because of the way Brooks nestles poems into titled sections. I certainly took my time reading this, and it may have been best to read it more swiftly given this structure.
My favorite of it: “Queen of the Blues.”
My favorite of it: “Queen of the Blues.”
September 14, 2017
Excellent.
This book was very inspiring and encouraging. The poetry was vivid and amazingly articulated. It was an honor to read this book of poetry.
This book was very inspiring and encouraging. The poetry was vivid and amazingly articulated. It was an honor to read this book of poetry.
December 30, 2018
I don’t read poetry outside of school very often, but I really enjoyed this collection. Lots of pain and sorrow, but also happiness and a bit of optimism. Best enjoyed with a cup of coffee.
June 27, 2020
How had I never gotten around to reading Brooks before this?
Read
October 7, 2020Wonderful poetry and art work. Geared towards kids. Good for adults
April 13, 2021
I love her writing style. It’s sweet and sensual without being pretentious and didactic. It’s like talking to somebody who has lived nine lives.
February 14, 2024
Love the sobriety of Brooks’ vision, the economy of expression.
February 28, 2024
My first foray.
I enjoy poetry.
Will seek out other works.
"kitchenette building" stuck with me.
I enjoy poetry.
Will seek out other works.
"kitchenette building" stuck with me.
May 18, 2024
"My best allegiances are to the dead."
June 12, 2024
beautiful!
June 22, 2024
I need to reread, some of the metaphors missed me
July 4, 2022
Gwendolyn Brooks~Masterful
The beauty in these poems resides in the everyday language and brilliant word choices: I feel that the reader is considered with honesty and respect: This art is not constructed by artifice: Her words are honest and beautiful even as they question war, institutions, love~even her own faith, which she seems willing to put aside if divinity cannot deliver its promise: But even in that case: she appears resolute, ready to venture forward on her own power, be it ever so human: She has that much faith that her return from hell will not capsize her.
The beauty in these poems resides in the everyday language and brilliant word choices: I feel that the reader is considered with honesty and respect: This art is not constructed by artifice: Her words are honest and beautiful even as they question war, institutions, love~even her own faith, which she seems willing to put aside if divinity cannot deliver its promise: But even in that case: she appears resolute, ready to venture forward on her own power, be it ever so human: She has that much faith that her return from hell will not capsize her.
Read
November 19, 2025Poems written in 1945 reflect the language, limitations, and love relationships of that period.
May 3, 2025
You must read ‘the mother’!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews