Again, use the questions following it as a starting point.
And don't forget to read this one out loud and get into the rhythm of it.
Of what does this rhythm remind you?
"Sadie and Maud" by Gwendolyn Brooks tells a story of two sisters taking opposite life paths. "Maud went to college. Sadie stayed home." Brooks leaves the reader with a rhetorical sarcastic proposal by illustrating more on Sadie's life rather than Maud's. "Sadie was one of the livingest chicks In all the land," exerts powerful freedom Sadie had over life and even though she did not attend "college" she was making the most, and had a passion for life.
"Sadie bore two babies Under her maiden name. Maud and Ma and Papa Nearly died of shame," Sadie steps out of what is socially acceptable. Her life experiences were far greater than what Brooks writes for Maud. The reader only knows Maud to conform to social dictation and what is presumed to be an appropriate attempt of fruition. Brook's focus was describing Sadie. However, with few dull derision lines of "Maud, who went to college, Is a thin brown mouse. She is living all alone In this old house," tells us how little Maud had to show for; described alone and a starving "mouse".
The ironic message Brooks translated by the sardonic tone is that; it's easier to fail in life when allowing the collective doctrine of "fulfillment" to miss guided your heart from life's gumption and gusto. And it is an accomplishment to flourish, even when you are your only support.
As Isantoscoy wrote, this is a story of two sisters that seem to be complete opposites of each other. Maud seems to be the smarter of the two, and the one to be more of a rule follower. On the other hand, Sadie is more carefree and doesn't miss out on things just because she shouldn't do it. In line 3-5, it is shown how "Sadie scraped life With a fine tooth comb. She didn't leave a tangle in". This is a metaphor to how she goes through life experiencing anything and everything it has to offer. She doesn't miss out on anything like Maud seems to be doing.
Sadie is so carefree that she seems to do anything that makes her happy despite of what is "socially acceptable" as Isantoscoy states. "Sadie bore two babies Under her maiden name. Maud and Ma and Papa Nearly died of shame." (stanza 3). She had kids when she wasn't married and no one approved of it, but she did it because it made her happy. I believe in line 13, "When Sadie said her last so-long", she died. My favorite part of this poem are lines 15-16, "(Sadie left as heritage Her fine-toothed comb.)It is a metaphor to the fact that Sadie's children took after their mother, and they were just as carefree as her. Unfortunately, Maud stays all alone in her house. She seems to be unhappy or it is at least portrayed that way in this poem.
This poem has a very nice rhyme to is. When reading it out loud for the first time, it was very catchy and I believe added more life to the poem which is a comparison to Sadie's life and character.
The rhythm in the poem, much like the subject matter and the two characters lives is very much a back and forth, see-sawing sound and motion to the poem. This cadence serves to hyper exaggerate the already diversified characters in the poem, Maud and Sadie. In agreance with the two posts above, I would say the two characters are two results of two differing decisions. One, as mentioned already, to go to school, peruse education, or perhaps a higher standard of living, bending maybe the desires of society, and the other side, to stay at home, “enjoy life” and not take it too seriously. The attitudes between Sadie and Maud both have somewhat of a moral standpoint as well. Maud probably stricter in moral guidelines, wanted perhaps to honor parents and do her very best; Sadie, morally not so constricted to pleasing her parents or feeling like she had to strive to be more than what she was. Both had resulting consequences, Sadie, “bore two babies” fatherless outside of holy matrimony to which “Ma and Pa nearly died of shame”; Maud, an education at the cost of friendship and family, and personal health living in an “old house” I find it interesting that the one, Maud, is nearly neglected as a character in the poem, only being mentioned in the first and last stanzas. This leaves room only to really see Sadie’s side of life, no progression for Maud’s life. We can only see the beginning decision and the isolated end result of Maud’s decision. Sadie we know that she made a decision and we know the result, but we also have more light shed on how here life went from A to B. This almost glorifies the life of Sadie of the life of Maud, shining the spotlight on one over the others. We have no details as to how good, or bad, life was as it progressed for Maud. This also serves to heighten even more how different the two life styles and it would be interesting if the poem had an alternate, where emphasis was focused on the other.
I reinforce what everyone says. Sadie and Maud are two very different sisters that have chosen different ways in life. They both have the same background but at the end different paths. Maud decided to be more outgoing and social, while Sadie stays home and has an anti-social life. At the end, eventhough Maud was social and had everything she wanted, she was unhappy. Sadie stayed home and became a happy woman. This rhythm is not soft, it is very straight foward, there are not details to the poem, but it is still understood.
The rhythm of this poem reminds me of a tennis match, swaying back and forth with beats and dialect. There is almost a quality of ease that I picked up from reading it. Gwendolyn Brook's use of rhythm gives a familiar sense of a nursery rhyme of some sort. It flows smoothly with such qualities as a song perhaps.
"Sadie and Maud" is a poem of comparison between two sisters, however most of the content focuses on Sadie and not Maud. Maud is collected, stable, practical, and one could assume so much more; for this reason perhaps it wasn't necessary for the speaker to feel the need to continue a further explanation.
Sadie is impulsive and full of life, however her actions stated in this poem are looked down upon. For example, bearing children out of wedlock was considered shameful. But towards the end it states that Maud is "... living all alone in this old house." That aspect about Maud may not be looked down upon to the same extent as Sadie's course of actions, but perhaps that could evoke a sense of pity for Maud from the reader.
One can only assume so much about this poem going abroad the words on the paper. I have to agree with my peers on the lack of details, which brings a debate on the quality of life for these two sisters, whether it was good or bad. There are given circumstances and from there the rest is up to you.
I believe lsantoscoy nailed the meaning of this poem. A story of two sisters but different life styles and the outcome. Brooks has the Sadie in comparison to Maud. I think that Sadie felt left out when she stayed home while Maud went to college. Brooks describes Sadie's outlook on life as trying to sort out her circumstances, "Sadie scraped life With a fine toothed comb. She didn't leave a tangle in, Her comb found every strand" (lines 3-6).
Sadie lived her life on the edge as opposed to not only Maud but the majority of her town. By doing so brought her to her single parent responsibility of two and the shame she gave to her parents and sister.
Sadie died, and left her carefree decision making heritage to her children, who "struck out" were unexpectedly forced to face reality from their Mom's death. Maud lived life as what society would view as acceptable, but in the end came back home, to be alone.
I believe the narrator in this poem would be Brooks, speaking to everyone about how two sisters raised in the same home can have complete different lives; not by how they were raised, but of their mentality.
In the poem “Sadie and Maud” by Gwendolydon Brooks, tells a story who grew up in the same house are living two worlds apart. Maud is depicted in the story as “school type” and goes on to college to study while her sister Sadie is the “stay home and go out” type stays at home and did not pursue a further education. The poet placed more emphasis on Sadie where she found herself “scraping” through life with relevance to a fine-tooth comb. My understanding of this is throughout all her circumstances and hardhips, she still found a way through all of it and lived life to the fullest. Sadie had two children that bore her maiden name which means either she does not know the name of the father of her children or the males refused to take responsibility for the children so she used her name instead. This caused shame to her family. Sadie’s “last so-long” meant that she had died and her children left home because of this, leaving her lifestyle as the only memory. Maud returned home after college and remained there until she was very old. The rhythm of the poem is a controlled metrical form. It is evident that when I read it aloud the lines rhyme in every stanza.
The author is talking about two sisters, Saide and Maud, who both have a complete different life style. Maud is a sister who thought about extending her education and thinking about a better life. Saide in the other hand stayed home and enjoyed her life and took it easy. She enjoyed every moment of it and still does. She may not have gone to college but she still does what she does best, enjoy her life. She may have had two babies but that didn’t stop her. She may have brought shame to her family but that still didn’t bother her at all. The author talks very little about Maud but compares her life to an animal, a mouse. A mouse in this society is basically an animal who struggles looking for a home and hunger. Maud isn’t struggling in a home but she does live in a small house but is struggling for hunger . I believe what the author is trying to say is even if you do better than everyone else you can still end up like others who didn’t push their life into a new life. yes college is stressful and hard and people say at the end it will pay off but it doesn’t always happen to everyone. Sadie didn’t go attend college but still manage to be a successful person and enjoy her life. Maud who was probably proud of getting her degree in her major isn’t really enjoying her life.
To me the rhythm seems to show a celebration almost of Sadie’s life. Yes Maud went off to college but by the last few lines of the poem you would think that was all she did. She was too busy attending to her studies that she may not have taken the time to enjoy other aspects of life. Sadie on the other hand, while she did not bother to expound on her book smarts, decided to take life by the reins and enjoy it. It seems she also instilled the same value in her daughters as well.
Many decades ago women were supposed to seem proper and demure. They were supposed to be well bred with the best manners and were never to do anything to cause a scandal. Sadie having not one but two children out of wedlock would definitely be frowned upon just as “Maud and Ma and Papa nearly died of shame.” Sadie being called “one of the livingest chits” certainly maintains the idea that she did just that-lived! Despite what everyone in her town, family and friends alike; may have thought of her and her doings.
The poem does not go into details on Maud’s life but we do get the idea that even though she attended college she still missed out on a lot life itself can offer. Brooks uses the phrases “a thin brown mouse” and “living all alone” to tell us that in addition to her enriched education this is basically what her life became about. The term “brown mouse” has never been a flattering compliment for anyone and her social life may be little to not at all.
"Sadie and Maud" by Gwendolyn Brooks is such a powerful poem in my opinion. I am currently living in this situation, meaning I can personally relate to this. The way I saw this poem reflected in my life was with my older brother who is not going to college and with me who I am. My brother is only working and somehow has so much more free time. He has traveled to many many places, even out of the united states, and I have not. I feel as if society is trapped in this american lifestyle that we all feel obligated to follow. Yes, you can't get very far without a diploma if you want to be successful, but you can definitely still live and enjoy life with out one.
I feel as if the rhythm of the poem brings the unity of these two sisters by blood. Yet, however, the differences are shown in their different interests, "Maud went to college. Sadie stayed home."
Brooks would probably enjoy the way Sadie lived instead of the way Maud did. I come to that conclusion because she describes that lifestyle and worthwhile and somewhat fun, compared to Maud's where "she is living all alone in this old house."
Perhaps Brooks wishes she had appreciated her surroundings and the beauty that life offers when she was living young.
This poem is talking about two sisters which have chosen different paths on life. This poem is using a very easy vocabulary where the speech sounds natural, On the poem the author talks more or remarks more Sadie’s life instead she does not look like the smartest one of the two sisters. To me it sounds like the author is trying to express through this poem, that Sadie who was the one who did not take the best decisions in life, she is lives very happy even though when she did not go to college. On the poem this girl called Sadie had two babies before getting married and her family specially her parents where very disappointed and died of shamed. I consider that on this part of the poem “ Maud and Ma and Papa Nearly died of shame” the author is trying to say that Sadie’s family were shame and scared of what the people were going to say about his daughter bad decision taken.
Well it seams like everyone agrees with this poem and the point is rather forward. Go make the best of life. I feel that in no way this poem is saying college is bad, but its saying follow your own heart, and do not conform your dreams just because society tell you how to live. Sadie might have made some bad decisions such as not going to college or getting pregnant with two kids, but she never regretted making those decisions. I feel that Maud could perhaps be happier if she would just take that fine- tooth comb and enjoy life little more and get our of the house and become a roaring lion opposed to the little brown mouse.
"Sadie and Maud" by Gwendolyn Brooks tells a story of two sisters taking opposite life paths. "Maud went to college. Sadie stayed home." Brooks leaves the reader with a rhetorical sarcastic proposal by illustrating more on Sadie's life rather than Maud's. "Sadie was one of the livingest chicks In all the land," exerts powerful freedom Sadie had over life and even though she did not attend "college" she was making the most, and had a passion for life.
ReplyDelete"Sadie bore two babies Under her maiden name. Maud and Ma and Papa Nearly died of shame," Sadie steps out of what is socially acceptable. Her life experiences were far greater than what Brooks writes for Maud. The reader only knows Maud to conform to social dictation and what is presumed to be an appropriate attempt of fruition. Brook's focus was describing Sadie. However, with few dull derision lines of "Maud, who went to college, Is a thin brown mouse. She is living all alone In this old house," tells us how little Maud had to show for; described alone and a starving "mouse".
The ironic message Brooks translated by the sardonic tone is that; it's easier to fail in life when allowing the collective doctrine of "fulfillment" to miss guided your heart from life's gumption and gusto. And it is an accomplishment to flourish, even when you are your only support.
As Isantoscoy wrote, this is a story of two sisters that seem to be complete opposites of each other. Maud seems to be the smarter of the two, and the one to be more of a rule follower. On the other hand, Sadie is more carefree and doesn't miss out on things just because she shouldn't do it. In line 3-5, it is shown how "Sadie scraped life With a fine tooth comb. She didn't leave a tangle in". This is a metaphor to how she goes through life experiencing anything and everything it has to offer. She doesn't miss out on anything like Maud seems to be doing.
ReplyDeleteSadie is so carefree that she seems to do anything that makes her happy despite of what is "socially acceptable" as Isantoscoy states. "Sadie bore two babies Under her maiden name. Maud and Ma and Papa Nearly died of shame." (stanza 3). She had kids when she wasn't married and no one approved of it, but she did it because it made her happy. I believe in line 13, "When Sadie said her last so-long", she died. My favorite part of this poem are lines 15-16, "(Sadie left as heritage Her fine-toothed comb.)It is a metaphor to the fact that Sadie's children took after their mother, and they were just as carefree as her. Unfortunately, Maud stays all alone in her house. She seems to be unhappy or it is at least portrayed that way in this poem.
This poem has a very nice rhyme to is. When reading it out loud for the first time, it was very catchy and I believe added more life to the poem which is a comparison to Sadie's life and character.
The rhythm in the poem, much like the subject matter and the two characters lives is very much a back and forth, see-sawing sound and motion to the poem. This cadence serves to hyper exaggerate the already diversified characters in the poem, Maud and Sadie.
ReplyDeleteIn agreance with the two posts above, I would say the two characters are two results of two differing decisions. One, as mentioned already, to go to school, peruse education, or perhaps a higher standard of living, bending maybe the desires of society, and the other side, to stay at home, “enjoy life” and not take it too seriously.
The attitudes between Sadie and Maud both have somewhat of a moral standpoint as well. Maud probably stricter in moral guidelines, wanted perhaps to honor parents and do her very best; Sadie, morally not so constricted to pleasing her parents or feeling like she had to strive to be more than what she was. Both had resulting consequences, Sadie, “bore two babies” fatherless outside of holy matrimony to which “Ma and Pa nearly died of shame”; Maud, an education at the cost of friendship and family, and personal health living in an “old house”
I find it interesting that the one, Maud, is nearly neglected as a character in the poem, only being mentioned in the first and last stanzas. This leaves room only to really see Sadie’s side of life, no progression for Maud’s life. We can only see the beginning decision and the isolated end result of Maud’s decision. Sadie we know that she made a decision and we know the result, but we also have more light shed on how here life went from A to B. This almost glorifies the life of Sadie of the life of Maud, shining the spotlight on one over the others.
We have no details as to how good, or bad, life was as it progressed for Maud. This also serves to heighten even more how different the two life styles and it would be interesting if the poem had an alternate, where emphasis was focused on the other.
I reinforce what everyone says. Sadie and Maud are two very different sisters that have chosen different ways in life. They both have the same background but at the end different paths. Maud decided to be more outgoing and social, while Sadie stays home and has an anti-social life. At the end, eventhough Maud was social and had everything she wanted, she was unhappy. Sadie stayed home and became a happy woman. This rhythm is not soft, it is very straight foward, there are not details to the poem, but it is still understood.
ReplyDeleteThe rhythm of this poem reminds me of a tennis match, swaying back and forth with beats and dialect. There is almost a quality of ease that I picked up from reading it. Gwendolyn Brook's use of rhythm gives a familiar sense of a nursery rhyme of some sort. It flows smoothly with such qualities as a song perhaps.
ReplyDelete"Sadie and Maud" is a poem of comparison between two sisters, however most of the content focuses on Sadie and not Maud. Maud is collected, stable, practical, and one could assume so much more; for this reason perhaps it wasn't necessary for the speaker to feel the need to continue a further explanation.
Sadie is impulsive and full of life, however her actions stated in this poem are looked down upon. For example, bearing children out of wedlock was considered shameful. But towards the end it states that Maud is "... living all alone in this old house." That aspect about Maud may not be looked down upon to the same extent as Sadie's course of actions, but perhaps that could evoke a sense of pity for Maud from the reader.
One can only assume so much about this poem going abroad the words on the paper. I have to agree with my peers on the lack of details, which brings a debate on the quality of life for these two sisters, whether it was good or bad. There are given circumstances and from there the rest is up to you.
I believe lsantoscoy nailed the meaning of this poem. A story of two sisters but different life styles and the outcome. Brooks has the Sadie in comparison to Maud. I think that Sadie felt left out when she stayed home while Maud went to college. Brooks describes Sadie's outlook on life as trying to sort out her circumstances, "Sadie scraped life With a fine toothed comb. She didn't leave a tangle in, Her comb found every strand" (lines 3-6).
ReplyDeleteSadie lived her life on the edge as opposed to not only Maud but the majority of her town. By doing so brought her to her single parent responsibility of two and the shame she gave to her parents and sister.
Sadie died, and left her carefree decision making heritage to her children, who "struck out" were unexpectedly forced to face reality from their Mom's death.
Maud lived life as what society would view as acceptable, but in the end came back home, to be alone.
I believe the narrator in this poem would be Brooks, speaking to everyone about how two sisters raised in the same home can have complete different lives; not by how they were raised, but of their mentality.
In the poem “Sadie and Maud” by Gwendolydon Brooks, tells a story who grew up in the same house are living two worlds apart. Maud is depicted in the story as “school type” and goes on to college to study while her sister Sadie is the “stay home and go out” type stays at home and did not pursue a further education.
ReplyDeleteThe poet placed more emphasis on Sadie where she found herself “scraping” through life with relevance to a fine-tooth comb. My understanding of this is throughout all her circumstances and hardhips, she still found a way through all of it and lived life to the fullest.
Sadie had two children that bore her maiden name which means either she does not know the name of the father of her children or the males refused to take responsibility for the children so she used her name instead. This caused shame to her family.
Sadie’s “last so-long” meant that she had died and her children left home because of this, leaving her lifestyle as the only memory. Maud returned home after college and remained there until she was very old.
The rhythm of the poem is a controlled metrical form. It is evident that when I read it aloud the lines rhyme in every stanza.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe author is talking about two sisters, Saide and Maud, who both have a complete different life style. Maud is a sister who thought about extending her education and thinking about a better life. Saide in the other hand stayed home and enjoyed her life and took it easy. She enjoyed every moment of it and still does. She may not have gone to college but she still does what she does best, enjoy her life. She may have had two babies but that didn’t stop her. She may have brought shame to her family but that still didn’t bother her at all. The author talks very little about Maud but compares her life to an animal, a mouse. A mouse in this society is basically an animal who struggles looking for a home and hunger. Maud isn’t struggling in a home but she does live in a small house but is struggling for hunger . I believe what the author is trying to say is even if you do better than everyone else you can still end up like others who didn’t push their life into a new life. yes college is stressful and hard and people say at the end it will pay off but it doesn’t always happen to everyone. Sadie didn’t go attend college but still manage to be a successful person and enjoy her life. Maud who was probably proud of getting her degree in her major isn’t really enjoying her life.
ReplyDeleteTo me the rhythm seems to show a celebration almost of Sadie’s life. Yes Maud went off to college but by the last few lines of the poem you would think that was all she did. She was too busy attending to her studies that she may not have taken the time to enjoy other aspects of life. Sadie on the other hand, while she did not bother to expound on her book smarts, decided to take life by the reins and enjoy it. It seems she also instilled the same value in her daughters as well.
ReplyDeleteMany decades ago women were supposed to seem proper and demure. They were supposed to be well bred with the best manners and were never to do anything to cause a scandal. Sadie having not one but two children out of wedlock would definitely be frowned upon just as “Maud and Ma and Papa nearly died of shame.” Sadie being called “one of the livingest chits” certainly maintains the idea that she did just that-lived! Despite what everyone in her town, family and friends alike; may have thought of her and her doings.
The poem does not go into details on Maud’s life but we do get the idea that even though she attended college she still missed out on a lot life itself can offer. Brooks uses the phrases “a thin brown mouse” and “living all alone” to tell us that in addition to her enriched education this is basically what her life became about. The term “brown mouse” has never been a flattering compliment for anyone and her social life may be little to not at all.
I apologize for the delay.
ReplyDelete"Sadie and Maud" by Gwendolyn Brooks is such a powerful poem in my opinion. I am currently living in this situation, meaning I can personally relate to this. The way I saw this poem reflected in my life was with my older brother who is not going to college and with me who I am. My brother is only working and somehow has so much more free time. He has traveled to many many places, even out of the united states, and I have not. I feel as if society is trapped in this american lifestyle that we all feel obligated to follow. Yes, you can't get very far without a diploma if you want to be successful, but you can definitely still live and enjoy life with out one.
I feel as if the rhythm of the poem brings the unity of these two sisters by blood. Yet, however, the differences are shown in their different interests, "Maud went to college. Sadie stayed home."
Brooks would probably enjoy the way Sadie lived instead of the way Maud did. I come to that conclusion because she describes that lifestyle and worthwhile and somewhat fun, compared to Maud's where "she is living all alone in this old house."
Perhaps Brooks wishes she had appreciated her surroundings and the beauty that life offers when she was living young.
This poem is talking about two sisters which have chosen different paths on life. This poem is using a very easy vocabulary where the speech sounds natural, On the poem the author talks more or remarks more Sadie’s life instead she does not look like the smartest one of the two sisters. To me it sounds like the author is trying to express through this poem, that Sadie who was the one who did not take the best decisions in life, she is lives very happy even though when she did not go to college. On the poem this girl called Sadie had two babies before getting married and her family specially her parents where very disappointed and died of shamed. I consider that on this part of the poem “ Maud and Ma and Papa Nearly died of shame” the author is trying to say that Sadie’s family were shame and scared of what the people were going to say about his daughter bad decision taken.
ReplyDeleteWell it seams like everyone agrees with this poem and the point is rather forward. Go make the best of life. I feel that in no way this poem is saying college is bad, but its saying follow your own heart, and do not conform your dreams just because society tell you how to live. Sadie might have made some bad decisions such as not going to college or getting pregnant with two kids, but she never regretted making those decisions. I feel that Maud could perhaps be happier if she would just take that fine- tooth comb and enjoy life little more and get our of the house and become a roaring lion opposed to the little brown mouse.
ReplyDelete