A Reading of Gwendolyn Brooks The Bean Eaters

Gwendolyn Brooks poem “The Bean Eaters” is about an old couple and how their lives changes. As they get older, they end up living in a small back room eating mostly beans. Old age can be a dark time but remembering the good times will keep people going. This poem implies that old age can be boring. For example, “Two who are mostly good/ Two who have lived their day, but keep on putting on their clothes and putting things away” (lines 5-8). This shows that they have nothing else to live for but each other, because they have already lived through the best times of their lives and they live the same day by day with each other. It also shows that they are old by saying, “This old yellow pair” (line 1). This poem shows that remembering the old times will keeps people going. In my opinion, this poem is a despairing picture of old age

Gwendolyn Brooks is the female poet who wrote “The Bean Eaters” in 1960. Although, this poem runs only eleven lines and it’s written in plain language about very plain people. She’s also the first African American to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize; she was considered one of America’s most distinguished poets well before the age of fifty. She has

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“Dinner is a casual affair” is also a unique statement (line 2).

“The Bean Eaters” is an example of several key elements. This shows the importance of a strong and positive relationship between a woman and a man. Old yellow pair resounds with more meaning than couple. Even under the conditions they are living in, they still have each other. However, Shaw observes the word, but also indicates the couple’s “determination to go on living, and a refusal to give up and let things go” (80). Her works reflect both the paradises and hells of the black people of the world. Her writing in objective, but her characters speak for themselves. The first stanza is laden with sonorous words that effectively convey the meaning of each phrase. These words are easily understandable, though plain speech is more differently. “Yellow” implies faded or old; “pair” is more compassionate than “couple’ suggesting more of a connection than just a match up. I feel that this poem shows how even if you have not accumulated all of the material things that our society feels necessary, as long as you have someone to love and love you, you have succeeded in life. “Dinnerware” implies wealth and elegance, while chip ware calls up the dignity of dinnerware.

Common topics in this essay:
DH Melhem, Harry Shaw, Bean Eaters, Experience America, Pulitzer Prize, George Kent, Gwendolyn Brooks, bean eaters, remembering times, gwendolyn brooks, casual affair, dinner casual affair, dinner casual, times people, remembering times people, African American, poem remembering times, chip ware, plain creaking, tin flatware, ordinary speech,

Approximate Word count = 824
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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