The Sonnet-Ballad
Oh mother, mother, where is happiness?
They took my lover's tallness off to war,
Left me lamenting. Now I cannot guess
What I can use an empty heart-cup for.
He won't be coming back here any more.
Some day the war will end, but, oh, I knew
When he went walking grandly out that door
That my sweet love would have to be untrue.
Would have to be untrue. Would have to court
Coquettish death, whose impudent and strange
Possessive arms and beauty (of a sort)
Can make a hard man hesitate--and change.
And he will be the one to stammer, "Yes."
Oh mother, mother, where is happiness?
~Gwendolyn Brooks
Gwendolyn Brooks was born in 1917 in Topeka, Kansas, but she was raised in Chicago.She lived there until she died. She has over 20 published books of poetry, the first of which was published in 1945. She achieved early success and had her first poem published in a magazine when she was a young girl. She received encouragement from Langston Hughes after he heard of her work. She worked as Poet Laureate in Illinois and later worked as a consultant for the Library of Congress. She also worked as a teacher beginning int the sixties. She died in 2000.
This poem was published in 1949 in Brooks second book of poetry. This poem talks about war, which is very fitting for the time. Brooks comments on how the war and "possessive arms" changes a person. Even if the boyfriend comes back from the war, he will not be the same. Yet again, this poem uses personification to turn death into a character. This character will be a major player in the life of the men who come back from the war. The rhetoric question that both begins and ends the question leaves the audience with the feeling that both the author and the boyfriend will not be able to find happiness for quite sometime.
Oh mother, mother, where is happiness?
They took my lover's tallness off to war,
Left me lamenting. Now I cannot guess
What I can use an empty heart-cup for.
He won't be coming back here any more.
Some day the war will end, but, oh, I knew
When he went walking grandly out that door
That my sweet love would have to be untrue.
Would have to be untrue. Would have to court
Coquettish death, whose impudent and strange
Possessive arms and beauty (of a sort)
Can make a hard man hesitate--and change.
And he will be the one to stammer, "Yes."
Oh mother, mother, where is happiness?
~Gwendolyn Brooks
Gwendolyn Brooks was born in 1917 in Topeka, Kansas, but she was raised in Chicago.She lived there until she died. She has over 20 published books of poetry, the first of which was published in 1945. She achieved early success and had her first poem published in a magazine when she was a young girl. She received encouragement from Langston Hughes after he heard of her work. She worked as Poet Laureate in Illinois and later worked as a consultant for the Library of Congress. She also worked as a teacher beginning int the sixties. She died in 2000.
This poem was published in 1949 in Brooks second book of poetry. This poem talks about war, which is very fitting for the time. Brooks comments on how the war and "possessive arms" changes a person. Even if the boyfriend comes back from the war, he will not be the same. Yet again, this poem uses personification to turn death into a character. This character will be a major player in the life of the men who come back from the war. The rhetoric question that both begins and ends the question leaves the audience with the feeling that both the author and the boyfriend will not be able to find happiness for quite sometime.
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