The Lovers of the Poor
by Gwendolyn Brooks
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At a glance:
- Author: Gwendolyn Brooks
- First Published: 1960
- Type of Work: Poem
- Genres: Poetry
- Subjects: African Americans, United States or Americans, Poverty or poor people, Inner cities or inner-city life, Apartment houses, Colors
The Work
“The Lovers of the Poor” is one of thirty-five poems in The Bean Eaters, a collection that moves beyond the descriptive and autobiographical to show Brooks’s growing social awareness. A satire on people with neither respect not genuine charity, the work was inspired by a visit Brooks received from two wealthy white women who wanted to see how the black winner of the Pulitzer Prize looked. In Brooks’s words, they behaved “rather sniffingly.” The women barge into Brooks’s apartment, apparently without warning, and silently criticize, while their...
(The entire page is 699 words.)
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