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 been praised for her wisdom and insight into the African Experience in America. 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. Brooks uses ordinary speech, where only words that will strengthen, and richness of sound to create effective poetry.
             "The Bean Eaters" is an example of several key elements. First, it is the use of ordinary speech. One critic, George E. Kent, says the old couple who eat beans "have had their day and exist now as time markers" (141). However, another critic, D.H. Melhem perceives not so much time...