Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an African-American poet. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1950 and was appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois in 1968 and Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1985.

Read more about Gwendolyn Brooks:  Biography, Career, Excerpt, Honors and Legacy, Bibliography

Famous quotes by gwendolyn brooks:

    I don’t like the idea of the black race being diluted out of existence. I like the idea of all of us being here.
    Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)

    They had supposed their formula was fixed.
    They had obeyed instructions to devise
    A type of cold, a type of hooded gaze.
    But when the Negroes came they were perplexed.
    These Negroes looked like men....
    Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)

    And plenitude of plan shall not suffice
    Nor grief nor love shall be enough alone
    To ratify my little halves who bear
    Across an autumn freezing everywhere.
    Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)

    Her fortune, too, lies there,
    Converted into cool hard steel
    And right red velvet lining;
    While over her tan impassivity
    Shot silk is shining.
    Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)

    If Mary came would Mary
    Forgive, as Mothers may,
    And sad and second Saviour
    Furnish us today?
    Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)