Read the poems “fear” by gabriela mistral and “the bean eaters” by gwendolyn brooks. comparing and contrasting the tone, voice, and mood represented in both poems

you must complete a minimum of five (5) total entries.

fear

i don’t want them to turn
my little girl into a swallow.
she would fly far away into the sky
and never fly again to my straw bed,
or she would nest in the eaves
where i could not comb her hair.
i don’t want them to turn
my little girl into a swallow.
i don’t want them to make
my little girl a princess.
in tiny golden slippers
how could she play on the meadow?
and when night came, no longer
would she sleep at my side.
i don’t want them to make
my little girl a princess.

and even less do i want them
one day to make her queen.
they would put her on a throne
where i could not go to see her.
and when nighttime came
i could never rock her … i don’t want them to make
my little girl a queen!

the bean eaters

they eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair.
dinner is a casual affair.
plain chipware on a plain and creaking wood,
tin flatware.

two who are mostly good.
two who have lived their day,
but keep on putting on their clothes
and putting things away.

and remembering
remembering, with twinklings and twinges,
as they lean over the beans in their rented back room that is full of beads and receipts and dolls and cloths, tobacco crumbs, vases and fringes.