a song in the front yard- Gwendolyn Brooks

p. 348

Two literary devices utilized in this piece are narrative voice/point of view, and diction.

The speaker in this poem is a young girl who is bored with her quiet life in the "front yard", a symbol for people of a higher class than those in the "back yard." The speaker wishes to join the children in the "back yard" and take part in their (perhaps questionable) activities. She wants wants "a good time today" and thinks that these "charity children" "do some wonderful things" and "have some wonderful fun." These sort of vague statements that use words like "wonderful" show the childishness and immaturity of the speaker. Though she may be young and naive, however, the speaker does seem to possess a sense of acceptance that adults like her mother don't have, as they look down upon, judge, and "sneer" at the kids in the "back yard." The overall naivety and curiosity of the child is portrayed through her voice towards the end of the piece when she says, despite her mother's warnings that the back yard children will grow up to be "bad" women or go to jail, "But I say it's fine. Honest, I do. And I'd like to be a bad woman, too, and wear the brave stockings of night-black lace, and strut down the streets with paint on my face." The speaker looks up to these other kids and wants to have the fun and excitement they seem to have, without realizing the dangers of what they're doing; and this innocence ultimately comes through through the use of narrative voice and point of view.

Another important element to examine in this piece is diction. As I mentioned before, the use of words like "wonderful" help to show both the immaturity of the speaker, and how she views the shady activities of the more experienced children, because she doesn't know any better. The terms "brave stockings of night-black lace" and "paint" make symbols of mature femininity like stockings and makeup seem wonderous and almost magical, which is how the inexperienced child views them.

I personally really like this poem. I'm a fan of the overall tone and the idea of a child being bored with being so well-behaved, and in their innocence, thinking of the misguided ways of the more hardened, experienced kids as a sort of game. Not knowing any better, she thinks that there is something wonderful and exciting and playful about the way they act, which I find pretty interesting.