Gwendolyn B. Bennett's Poetry Analysis

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“Silence is a sounding thing, to one who listens hungrily.” Gwendolyn B. Bennett was an author, journalist, educator, and artists. She was a woman of the Harlem Renaissance. But despite all the struggles of being an African American woman, Gwendolyn B. Bennett made herself into the woman she was in the 1900s. Therefore, the strong woman she became is shown through her work.
Gwendolyn was born July 8, 1902 in Giddings, Texas. Her full name was Gwendolyn Bennetta Bennett. She spent part of her life in Nevada, where her parents were educators. Gwendolyn had a different type of childhood, as one would say. Her parents later got divorced. Her mother received custody, her father did not seem too happy. Her father later remarried, and kidnapped …show more content…

Each poem has their own back story to them. For example, “To a Dark Girl”, Gwendolyn writes to all the African American female children saying that they should not care what others say about them because they do not look like everyone else. They should stand out and not be afraid of it. She called them queens, and says that their skin color, hair, face, plump lips, everything is perfect because that is how they were made. Gwendolyn wanted equality and freedom, as did every other African American. She also wrote short stories. One of her short stories, “Wedding Day” show representation on how White Americans use African Americans. In the short story, Paul was a fighter who went to jail because of how he reacted to a white male calling him names. He moved to Paris when he got out of jail. He hung out with African Americans in the “pit”. He met a white female, named Mary, who wanted his attention and help. He decided to help her, and they ended up falling in love. On their wedding day, Mary wrote him a letter saying that she could not go through with it. He figured this would happen because people like the idea of being in love and even with someone who is not like you until you are about to be legally bound to one another. He got on a train and left

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