Are you looking for an analysis of Gwendolyn Brooks poem, Sadie and Maud? That’s great. We have an exceptional analysis that you won’t find anywhere else!
Sadie and Maud analysis: Background
Gwendolyn Brook’s poem Sadie and Maud first appeared in her book A Street in Bronzeville, published in 1945. Bronzeville is a neighborhood in Chicago. The book conveys, via short poems and vignettes, various aspects of life among the black urban poor of the area.
In many ways A Street in Bronzeville is decidedly non-political. It doesn’t take up causes or protests but seeks what is genuinely universal in the human condition. While ostensibly the book’s poems are about the urban black poor, on a deeper level they are about that which is universal and true in all humans.
The poem Sadie and Maud is a good example of how issues of ethnicity and background can be transcended to create a universal message. A person of any background can read Sadie and Maud and be moved by its message.
Sadie and Maud analysis: Structure, Rhyme and Meter
No analysis of Sadie and Maud should fail to mention Gwendolyn Brooks’ marvelous poetic techniques.
The poem Sadie and Maud is written in five quatrains. The rhyme pattern is abcb with the third and fourth lines of each quatrain rhyming.
The poem can’t be said to follow any particular meter. However, in its plain-spoken simplicity, it creates a special type of eloquence.
One finds an example of this in the first stanza. Three lines follow an identical sentence structure. The last line varies this structure so that it stands out, taking the poem in a new direction.
Throughout the poem, one comes across numerous and effective uses of alliteration. Sadie’s name begins with the S-sound and ends with the long e-sound. One can find these sounds in many of the lines about Sadie. This helps to emphasize her playfulness and carefree nature.
Contrastingly, the name Maud contains sounds that convey a more formal and sullen personality. Brooks intentionally uses no alliteration in the lines related to Maud’s name.
We do find other uses of alliteration such as “brown mouse” and the use of the l-sound in the penultimate line of the poem. These are slow, sullen sounds that convey Maud’s personality.
Another technique Brooks uses is that of framing. The poem opens and begins with Maud. Despite this, the poem is entirely about Sadie.
Sadie and Maud Analysis: Typical Interpretation
Nearly everyone reading the poem Sadie and Maud come away with the following analysis. Happiness comes from following your own path in life. Sadness comes from following the path society lays out for you.
The poem calls to mind the famous William Shakespeare quote, “To thy own self be true.”
Ample evidence supports this interpretation.
Maud does what everyone expects of her. She goes to college. She’s properly shamed by Sadie’s conduct. Yet, she ends up all alone.
Sadie does what she wants. She combs through life to get every last joy from it. She has children under her maiden name. Her children stay with Sadie until she dies then go off on their own to follow Sadie’s example.
Sadie faces a much happier fate than Maud.
Given this, whose example ought we follow? Of course, we should follow the example of Sadie.
Is this really all there is to the poem? We don’t think so. We believe there is much more at work in the poem.
Sadie and Maud analysis: Looking Deeper
Now it’s time for our analysis to dig deeper into the poem Sadie and Maud.
First, we note that the poem does not directly compare Sadie and Maud. Instead, this is a poem about Sadie that begins and ends with Maud. Maud is the frame that provides a contrasting border within which we can better see and understand Sadie.
Ask yourself the following question, why doesn’t Sadie want to go to college? Why would going to college not be scraping through life with a fine-toothed comb?
Did you know Sadie and Maud was written in the 1940s? How many women graduated from college in the 1940s? How many black Americans graduated from college in the 1940s? Finally, how many black American women graduated from college in the 1940s? You can be sure it was only a tiny percentage of them.
And did you think Maud was boring? When you stop to think about her accomplishment, it’s quite extraordinary.
Why does Maud do it? Does she do it because she thought it was fun? No, she probably did it because she wanted to help her family. Also, is it not implied in the poem that Maud and Sadie live together after Maud leaves college? Does Maud provide financial assistance to Sadie?
When Sadie has children out of wedlock, Maud is ashamed. She identifies with her family and cares about what they do. In other words, she’s a good person.
Now, let’s ask this. How does society reward Maud’s accomplishments? The care she provides for her family financially?
Given Maud’s lonely fate, can we honestly say Sadie made the wrong decision to live life solely on her own terms? No, we can’t, and therein lies the problem.
Sadie makes the right decision to live life the way she does, but this throws into question the society and rules around Sadie that makes this the right choice. To quote Shakespeare again, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”
In its own subtle manner, the poem is a fierce criticism of the society Sadie and Maud grow up in.
While sticking entirely to a universal theme, the poem still manages to become a powerful voice of protest against contemporary society’s status quo. Gwendolyn Brooks ability to comment on contemporary issues while sticking to universal themes is what makes Sadie and Maud such a great poem.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this Sadie and Maud analysis. We hope encourages you to your own personal interpretation of the poem.
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