19 pages • 38 minutes read
Ulysses
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Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“kitchenette building” by Gwendolyn Brooks (1963)
This poem centers on key themes in Brooks’s canon. Like “Ulysses,” this poem addresses the difficulties of life. Here, the speaker of the poem is a poor Black woman in an urban house with the kitchenette symbolizing the experiences of the woman. The poem asks about the possibility of fulfilling a dream deferred. This poem echoes notable works by Langston Hughes and Lorraine Hansberry, also artists associated with the Black Arts Movement.
“Sadie and Maud” by Gwendolyn Brooks (1963)
In this poem, Brooks describes the diverging lives of two girls: One girl leads a more socially approved life than the other, who goes to college but lives alone. Despite leading different lives, both women end up unhappy, suggesting that women struggled to find a clear path to fulfillment during this period. Like “Ulysses," this poem allows Brooks to reflect upon the struggles for Black Americans.
“We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks (1963)
“We Real Cool” is another of Brooks’s most well-known poems. In this poem, a group of teenagers hang out at a pool hall, imagining themselves to be rebels. While this attitude and their behavior will possibly kill them, the poem takes a more complex stance on their behavior. The poem suggests that these teens’ actions are both self-destructive and worthy of criticism, and revolutionary and worthy of celebration. This poem’s setting and her centering of the Black experience are reflective of Brooks’s wider canon.
“Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes (1936)
Notable Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes both encouraged Brooks and inspired the Black Arts Movement. In this poem, Hughes explicitly criticizes America as being exclusionary for many groups, including Black Americans.
Further Literary Resources
“Children Coming Home: The Anticipatory Present in Gwendolyn Brooks’s Poems of Childhood” by Rachel Conrad (2014)
Conrad examines the whole collection of poems of which “Ulysses” is a part. She considers the use of children to narrate these poems and the effect it has on the adult audience.
“The Kindergarten of New Consciousness: Gwendolyn Brooks and the Social Construction of Childhood” by Richard Flynn (2000)
Flynn considers how Brooks’s historical context and the Black Arts Movement informed her poetry, especially her works about childhood.
Gwendolyn Brooks: Poetry and the Heroic Voice by D. H. Melhem (1986)
Poet and critic D. H. Melhem, also a friend of Brooks, wrote this first comprehensive study of Brooks. Melhem traces the development of Brook’s poetry; examines the different context for her poetry; and includes Brook’s correspondences with her editor, other writers, and critics.
A Surprised Queenhood in the New Black Sun: The Life and Legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks by Angela Jackson (2018)
This biography by Chicago writer Angela Jackson uses previously unpublished documents and intimate interviews to trace Brooks’s life and career. Jackson uses 43 poems from throughout her career as her guide through Brooks’s life.
“The Voice of Gwendolyn Brooks” by Victoria F. Harris (1979)
Harris analyzes how Brooks’s poems reflect her engagement with the Black Arts Movement and her other literary contexts.
Gwendolyn Brooks by Harold Bloom (2000)
This collection of critical essays includes topics such as the role of violence and rage in her poetry, the experiences of Black women, and her engagement with literary conventions and traditions. In this examination of Brooks’s poetry, Bloom uses a variety of lenses, including feminist, biographical, literary, and cultural.
Conversations with Gwendolyn Brooks edited by Gloria Wade Gayles (2003)
Spanning over thirty years, these interviews cover Brooks’s perspective on a variety of topics. Her interviewers include Studs Terkel, poet Haki Madhubuti, and poet and future biographer D. H. Melhem. These interviews were conducted in various places, including radio recording studios, university classrooms, the National Endowment for the Humanities celebration, and the poet’s living room.
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By Gwendolyn Brooks
