Poetry Response #3

Piper Furman
Ms. Locano
AP Lit & Comp
5 October 2016

Poetry Response #3

           In the poem "The Crazy Woman" by Gwendolyn Brooks, the speaker talks about singing. The speaker expresses what times are correct to sing and how they will be sung. This is not the opinion of others, but the speaker's own opinion. This is not the typical type of singing: "I shall not sing a May song. / A May song should be gay. / I'll wait until November / And sing a song of gray." (1-4) The mood I get from this is depression. I know that's jumping from one thing to another, but that's the tone I feel throughout this poem. Depression isn't a easy thing to just throw on a reader or person. Yet, I think that's what Brooks was trying to convey in "The Crazy Woman."

           Another part in the poem that makes me look at the poem like it has a depressed tone is stanza 3. It talks about the other side of singing a "gray" song: "And all the little people / Will stare at me and say, / "That is the Crazy Woman / Who would not sing in May."" (9-12) When Brooks refers to little people talking about "The Crazy Woman", it makes me think that they don't really know what's going on with the speaker. The little people don't know what the speaker is going through or why she is waiting to sing a gray song in November. I like this poem because it's like Brooks structured the poem to have multiple meanings for reader to look for. 

The Crazy Woman