The Bean Eaters by Gwendolyn Brooks

The Bean Eaters

by Gwendolyn Brooks

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.

With many poets, I have 1 or a handful or even 10 or so Favorite Poems. As far as Gwendolyn Brooks, all of her poems are Favorite Poems. Whichever one I have happened to read most recently becomes the Most Favorite Poem, so today that is "The Bean Eaters."

It is a distressing poem. The beans are both literal and symbolic, and they symbolize nothing good. Poverty and old age, two people just going through the motions: eating, dressing, remembering, and "putting things away."

Things I love about this poem are the capitalizing of Mostly Good, the inconsistent rhyming, the ellipsis in the last stanza's first line as a means to mimic the act of remembering, and the barage of specific visual details. The list of the last two lines is heartbreaking, and I love the use of the word "and" inbetween items in the first part of the list and how Brooks changes it in the second part. These seemingly small things that make suck a difference is but one reason Gwendolyn Brooks is one of the greatest American poets. Don't believe me? Say those last two lines out loud--you cannot help but change pace: you start out fast and then are forced to slow down. Like life. Like this old married couple in their little rented place.

Each stanza also has 1 word/syllable repeated: in stanza 1, it's "ware," in stanza two, "putting," and in stanza 3, "remembering." These 3 words do a lot of heavy lifting in this poem. Ware--as in wearing clothes, as in wear and tear, as in worn down, besides the literal things they are in the poem.

If one is putting on clothes and putting things away, we can extrapolate that these actions are being done by rote. They aren't dressing up. They aren't showcasing collectibles. This syanza also has the repetition of the short phrase--which also rhymes--"two who." The speaker has already told us they are old, with these two lines she gives us more. Brooks could have used "they" here, but the rhyme and the rhythm of "two who" is so much better.

The "remembering" is more blatant. Over their bean dinner, surrounded by stuff, they recall their earlier days. The one small bit of joy in this poem is from these people when they reminisce--they do so with twinklings and twinges. Now, the twinges may be their old bodies reacting, but twinklings? That is a word of happiness.

Two quatrains and a cinquain--13 lines in all. Yet see what Brooks accomplishes here! Amazing. I have another Brooks poem posted on this blog and her poetry can be found all over. If you are not that familiar with her work, or if it has been a while since you read her, I urge you to do so! You will not be disappointed.