The Crazy Woman by Gwendolyn Brooks

Andra Cover

Mrs. Rogers 

Honors Comp. & Lit. II, P.7

18 March 2019

“The Crazy Woman”

The poem, “The Crazy Woman,” by Gwendolyn Brooks dramatizes the conflict between the speaker's feelings being different from those around her. In line two, she says, “ A May song should be gay.” By saying this, the speaker explains that songs played in May, which is in the spring, should be happy and uplifting. In describing the song as happy, the author personifies the song by giving it emotions. Compared to the cheerful May song, the speaker is rather sad and will “wait until November” (3). That is when she will “sing a song of grey.” (4). Furthermore, by calling the song “grey” (4), the author applies imagery and allows the reader to imagine hearing a sorrowful song. Along with the repetition of the word “song” throughout the first stanza, the author used a rhyme scheme of abcbcdedfghg, in doing so, the author made the poem appear like a song as well.

The speaker then transitions into saying, “I’ll wait until November” (5), which was said earlier in line three, using repetition of what the speaker will do. Then, in line six, she says, “That is the time for me”, which means that November is a time in which she can go out and sing her low-spirited song freely.  Imagery is then used in line seven when the speaker will go out into the “frosty dark” and sing her sad songs that have been held in for seven months. In doing so, the author shows how fall, compared to spring is more dark and gloomy, which is why the speaker wants to sing her downhearted song in November. After that, the speaker says she will “sing most terribly” (8), meaning that she will sing the songs that those in her neighborhood do not want to hear due to her songs sad nature.