Reexamining Gwendolyn Brooks’ “A Song In the Front Yard”: A Tri-Layered Interpretation

The authors examine Gwendolyn Brooks' "A Song in the Front Yard," and destabilize the notion that the narrator is innocent and naive. The authors use a tri-layered analysis module: the “epidermal” literalist examination illustrates the girl is not as na ve as she may seem, the “dermal” metaphorical analysis of the literalist examination reveals underlying race and class issues, and lastly “subcutaneously” distinguishing the significance of the symbolism in the poem contextualized in the era it is written offers the poem as an indictment of intra-racial segmentation and preliminary modes of integration.