SOURCE: "The Poet-Militant and Foreshadowings of a Black Mystique: Poems in the Second Period of Gwendolyn Brooks," in Concerning Poetry, Vol. 10, Fall, 1977, pp. 37-45.

In the following essay, Hansell examines political themes and aspirations in the "second period" of Brooks's poetry. According to Hansell, Brooks "dramatically portrays the black poet's role in the revolution which is intended to bring about a rededication to American ideals."

Gwendolyn Brooks, in a 1976 interview at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, said that her work falls into three periods which correspond to "changes" in her perspective. A study of her work seems to reveal strong grounds for agreement with her. My criteria for making the division derive from changes in her portrayal of the role of the poet and of the function of art, and her gradual adoption, beginning in the poems of the second period, of attitudes which foreshadow a mystique of...