Skip to content
Notes of Oak
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Self-Portrait
Photo of Clock for Maud Martha Gwendolyn Brook Literary Analysis Notes of Oak Blog Literary Analysis

Historical Erasure & Common Moments in Brooks’s ‘Maud Martha’

  • 10/21/201802/24/2023
  • by Hannah Huff

A LITERARY ANALYSIS OF THE NARRATIVE IMPLICATIONS OF THE VIGNETTE STRUCTURE OF GWENDOLYN BROOKS’S 1953 NOVEL


The only novel written by poet Gwendolyn Brooks, Maud Martha (1953) is structured as a series of 34 vignettes/chapters that range from 2 to 20 pages, with the average less than 10. The poetic narrative traces the life ray of Maud Martha Brown from around age six, up until her pregnancy with a second child (she seems to be in her late twenties by the final chapter). This ray is formed both through the content that is present — the described action in the vignettes — and the content that is absent — the unsaid that happens between the vignettes. In the rapid passage of time “off-stage,” and the pausing on often seemingly banal activities, Brooks’s fragmented structure exposes history’s relentless erasure of marginalized narratives, and reveals the corresponding therapeutic importance of paying attention to the feat of surviving everyday moments as Maud is marginalized as a young black woman.

Read more “Historical Erasure & Common Moments in Brooks’s ‘Maud Martha’” →

SEARCH FOR POETIC BULLION

BLOG POST CATEGORIES

  • Book Review 9
  • Discover Literature 5
  • Literary Analysis 4
  • Poeticize the Prosaic 1
  • Reader Lifestyle 6

RECENT POSTS

  • Photo of tape cassette for The Best Study Music Playlist for Deep Thinkers on Notes of Oak Literary BlogThe Best Study Music Playlist for Deep Thinkers
  • Image of ekphrastic poetry inspiring blue abstract artEkphrastic Poetry: When Art Kindles Literature
  • What We See When We Read By Peter Mendelsund Book Review‘What We See When We Read’: A Tame Thrill
  • Photo of line paper for poetic line breaks guide on Notes of Oak Literary BlogDear Bad Writers, Read This Poetic Line Breaks Guide
  • Photo of The Soul of an Octopus Sy Montgomery for Nature Book Review Notes of Oak Literary BlogHuman Hubris Dictates ‘The Soul of an Octopus’

Please visit your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription to receive new Notes of Oak blog posts via e-mail.

Follow Me

© 2023 Hannah Huff
Theme by Colorlib Powered by WordPress
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Self-Portrait