A Street in Bronzeville (1945)
Gwendolyn Brooks
This sequence of poems is arranged as it was in Gwendolyn Brooks’ eponymous 1945 collection, A Street in Bronzeville. In later anthologies of her work, and online, editors have divorced the poems from the larger sequence, as too often happens. Reading them together in the original order, one can see how they build upon one another for emotional and lyric effect. Brooks’ estate holds the copyright on these poems, so I have pulled them together via links from disparate sites. You can click the links below to read them in order. I have also pulled them together in a single document here for ease of reading.
the old marrieds
kitchenette building
the mother
southeast corner
hunchback girl: she thinks of heaven
a song in the front yard
the ballad of chocolate Mabbie
the preacher: ruminates behind the sermon
Sadie and Maud
the independent man
when you have forgotten Sunday: the love story
of De Witt Williams on his way to Lincoln Cemetery
the vacant lot
References
- “the old marrieds,” copyright by Gwendolyn Brooks, is available through the Chicago Literary Archive.
- “kitchenette building,” copyright by Gwendolyn Brooks, is available on the Poetry Foundation website.
- “the mother,” copyright by Gwendolyn Brooks, is available on the Poetry Foundation website.
- “southeast corner,” copyright by Gwendolyn Brooks, is available at the Morgan Library and Museum.
- “hunchback girl: she thinks of heaven,” copyright by Gwendolyn Brooks, is available through the Chicago Literary Archive.
- “a song in the front yard,” copyright by Gwendolyn Brooks, is available on the Poetry Foundation website.
- “the ballad of the chocolate Mabbie,” copyright by Gwendolyn Brooks, is available through the Chicago Literary Archive.
- “the preacher: ruminates behind the sermon,” copyright by Gwendolyn Brooks, is available through the Chicago Literary Archive.
- “Sadie and Maud,” copyright by Gwendolyn Brooks, is available on the Poetry Foundation website.
- “the independent man,” copyright by Gwendolyn Brooks, is available through the Chicago Literary Archive.
- “when you have forgotten Sunday: the love story,” copyright by Gwendolyn Brooks, is available on the Poetry Foundation website.
- “of De Witt Williams on his way to Lincoln Cemetery,” copyright by Gwendolyn Brooks, is available at the Morgan Library and Museum.
- “the vacant lot,” copyright by Gwendolyn Brooks, is available on the Poetry Foundation website.