I hold my honey and I store my bread
In little jars and cabinets of my will.
I label clearly, and each latch and lid
I bid, Be firm till I return from hell.
I am very hungry. I am incomplete.
And none can give me any word but Wait,
The puny light. I keep my eyes pointed in;
Hoping that, when the devil days of my hurt
Drag out to their last dregs and I resume
On such legs as are left me, in such heart
As I can manage, remember to go home,
My taste will not have turned insensitive
To honey and bread old purity could love.
The analysis of the poem seems very simple to begin with. My opinion on the poem appears to sound like a person who has discovered they have a serious illness and they are about to undergo an intensive round of therapies in order to attempt to beat it. In the poem written above the author uses the terms honey and bread as a metaphor meaning dreams. The poem is involving of course the author in her lifetime situations. This poem seems very differently from her other ones. It's dark, it's short, and it has a more personal subject from these previously
stated poems. The poems also seem different from other ones ive read because of the ambition it has in its meaning. The meaning of this poem describes the times she has been through hell and she cant come to reality with her dreams. This poem is about tough times and hurt and hopelessness and depression. Of course the author wants to wait until her tough times of hell and depression to go away so she would be able to overcome it and go back to the way things are suppose to be. Gwendolyn Brooks has the feeling of being lost in the world. Having her dreams and work materialized into extremely humble, and maybe cheap,
foods, shows how helpless she feels. The poem identifies that she did something horrible in her past and all of her mistakes is a result of sin. She seems punished for her mistakes and she cant obtain her "honey" which is a characteristic of her dreams that she has. She also states "My taste will not have turned insensitive." which means everything will go back correctly when she is done suffering through whatever she is going through. Gwendolyn Brooks seems like a very passionate woman but her studies for sin seems to really bother her and she hopes to overcome her fear so everything can go back to normal with her future.
There are many various interpretations to this poem. And everyone has their own opinion. This is mine after reading about two analysis.
ReplyDeleteI would completely disregard it as being an illness because the sense of incompleteness and hopelessness seems to be much more severe than that of an illness. Brooks being an African American poet, the situation can rather easily be regarded as her lack of freedom as a poet. It gives us a glimpse of her mind set. How it had affected her very deeply, almost to the point of feeling as if she was in hell. But then towards the end of the poem, we see hopelessness fading and a puny light emerging. We are assured of Brooks emerging from her dark period in life.