19 pages • 38 minutes read
Gwendolyn BrooksSpeech to the Young: Speech to the Progress-Toward (Among them Nora and Henry III)
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1991A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Youth and Night versus Day and Now
As the first of the title indicates, a critical theme of the poem is young people. The speaker sketches a portrait of young people as wild, uproarious, and somewhat reckless. The theme plays on youthful archetypes and how young people are typecast. Not all young people are at odds with harmony or feel the need to rebel against a commanding authority like the sun. Yet the theme of youth links to, for better or worse, the standard portrait of youth manifested throughout literature and media, from Brooks’s flippant young pool players in “We Real Cool” to Bret Easton Ellis's sinister novel Less Than Zero (1985) to the sensationalized teen narratives in the HBO TV series Euphoria (2019).
The daring and destructive theme of young people connects to the theme of night. In a sense, these two themes complement each other, with youth representing night and night representing youth. The speaker wants the speech-giver to tell the young audience, “It cannot always be night” (Line 7). This statement confirms the link between night and youth. Night is as wild and dangerous as young people and vice-versa. The alliance between young people and night is also confirmed earlier in Line 3 when the speaker refers to young people as “sun-slappers.” As the sun is a feature of daytime, it makes sense for the youth, conspiring with night, to have a hostile attitude toward it.
The word "day” appears only once in the poem, but is a crucial part of the speech. The speech-giver is to tell the young audience, “Even if you are not ready for day / it cannot always be night” (Line 6-7). The speech doesn’t detail what day is. However, since the speech juxtaposes day with night, the reader understands the two entities are at odds. Day isn’t thrilling, vociferous, or aggressive but calm, quiet, and steady. Somehow, the youth have to get “ready” to settle down and adjust to the tranquility of daytime.
Conversely, the poem doesn’t dictate that young people have to live only in the day. The speech doesn’t force the youth to choose. The speech says youth have to prepare themselves to face the day. They can still have the night, but when it’s not night, they have to be able to exist “in the along” (Line 12) and be in the present. The "along” and “day” is not about forswearing night forever but the theme of here and now, so when it’s day, young people must accordingly act.
How to Develop and Change
A second integral theme is evident in the title: progress. After the colon and before the parenthetical featuring the names of Brooks’s children, it reads, "Speech to the Progress-Toward.” Thus, the poem broaches the theme of change and development since it’s hard to have progress without changing things up and developing into something better.
The theme of change and development links to the portrait of the youth. The youth are wild, bold, and daring, so they live for the nighttime where exciting things tend to happen. The preoccupation with night is not great in the mind of the speaker. In fact, it's problematic.
The one-sentence speech specifically tackles the fixation on night, “Even if you are not ready for day / it cannot always be night” (Lines 6-7). What has to change, and what amounts to progress, is young people grappling with the elements of the daytime. As these sedate traits aren’t like the soaring elements of night, this will take some getting used to. However, it is the “right” (Line 8) point for the speech to make and the correct course for young people to pursue.
To prosper and live a sustainable life in this world, a person can’t be bold and bawdy at all times. They can’t constantly be living for glorious “battles” (Line 10) and soaring musical finales; they have to adjust, reconfigure themselves, and allow "harmony” (Line 5) to enter their lives. As tranquility, composure, and balance aren’t bad, the poem subtly provides a blueprint for progress by way of the themes of change and development.
Speeches and What Makes a Good Speech
Gwendolyn Brooks puts her poem's title to work. The title addresses the theme of young people and the theme of progress; it also touches on the theme of public speaking. Indeed, the first word in the title is “speech.” The poem is only 12 lines long, and the speech itself is just two lines and one sentence. However, this speech is important. It’s the heart of the poem.
The theme of public speaking and addressing an audience adds another dimension to the text. It’s as if the text is a poem with a speech placed in the middle. Throughout literature, speeches have played a pivotal role. In James Joyce’s well-known short story, “The Dead,” the main character Gabriel gives a speech to the guests at his aunt’s dance. Like Gabriel, the speaker in Brooks’s poem gives a speech or, more specifically, tells a potential speech-giver what they should say to an audience of young people.
The theme of speech-making provides a unique blueprint for how to address a group of young people. One key facet of giving a speech is knowing the audience and what will and won’t capture their attention. As the speaker presents the young audience as bold and fearless, it makes sense that the speech isn’t long or drawn out. A blunt, pointed speech will likely have a greater impact on them than an elaborate talk.
More so, the symbolism of day and night appears as an effective communication device for young people. Rather than literally speaking, figurative language appeals to the imagination of young people and helps discuss their predicament. They can envision the night and they can see the day. Hopefully, they can figure out how to “live in the along” (Line 12) when it’s daytime. It takes but 13 words to convey these ideas, yet no one should argue that the speech isn’t influential. In Brooks’s poem, the theme of speech-making suggests that sometimes fewer words can be powerful—particularly with a young audience waiting for night to come.
Related Titles
By Gwendolyn Brooks
