Fantasy By Gwendolyn Bennett

1. FantasyBy Gwendolyn Bennett Meagan Quinn

2. Gwendolyn Bennett • Born July 08, 1902 – Died May 30 1981 • Poet, Author, Editor, Artist • Known for her sensuality and visual imagery in her poems or writings • recognized as a talented artist and significant figure in the Harlem Renaissance • Born in Giddings, Texas • Spent most of her early childhood in Wadsworth, Nevada, her parents taught on the Paiute Indian Reservation (Indian Service for the Bureau of Indian Affairs • Family relocated to Washington D.C. in 1906 • In 1910, her parents divorced, her mother winning custody • She was then kidnapped by her father, taken to Harrisburg, PA, and then settled in Brooklyn, NY

3. Attended Brooklyn High School for Girls • Became the first black member of the school’s Literary and Dramatic Societies • Graduated Columbia University, then the Pratt Institute • Hired as an Assistant Professor of Art at Howard University • Studied art at the Sorbonne in Paris • Became assistant editor of the Opportunity and was author of “the Ebony Flute” literary column • Wrote poems such as “Heritage”, “Song”, “Hatred”, and “Wind” • Married Dr. Alfred Joseph Jackson in 1927, Jackson died in 1936 • Remarried into a interracial marriage with Richard Crosscup • Served as a member of the Harlem Artists Guild in 1935 and directed the Harlem Community Arts Center for 1939-1944 • Early 1940s, was active on the board of Negro Playwright’s Guild • Retired to Kutztown, PA and opened an antique shop

5. The title says it all: this is a fantasy, a dream. Fantasy Rhyme scheme: ABAB, ABAAB, AABB I sailed in my dreams to the Land of Night Where you were the dusk-eyed queen, And there in the pallor of moon-veiled light The loveliest things were seen ... A slim-necked peacock sauntered there In a garden of lavenderhues, And you were strange with your purplehair As you sat in your amethystchair With your feet in your hyacinthshoes. Oh, the moon gave a bluish light Through the trees in the land of dreams and night. I stood behind a bush of yellow-green And whistled a song to the dark-haired queen ... The bolded white words in this stanza all deal with the color purple. You could infer that maybe Gwendolyn Bennett’s favorite color is purple.

6. First Stanza • “I sailed in my dreams to the Land of Night Where you were the dusk-eyed queen, And there in the pallor of moon-veiled light The loveliest things were seen ...” Imagery: “dusk-eyed queen” “moon-veiled light”

7. Second Stanza • “A slim-necked peacock sauntered there In a garden of lavender hues, And you were strange with your purple hair As you sat in your amethyst chair With your feet in your hyacinth shoes.” Hues: The property of colors by which they can be perceived as ranging from red through yellow, green, and blue, as determined by the dominant wavelength of the light. Or simply: shades and tints

8. Third Stanza Imagery • “Oh, the moon gave a bluish light Through the trees in the land of dreams and night. I stood behind a bush of yellow-green And whistled a song to the dark-haired queen ... The use of more colors: “bluish light” “bush of yellow-green” “dark-haired queen”

9. Work Cited • http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19693 • http://www.biography.com/people/gwendolyn-bennett-40863 • http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/bennettGwendolyn.php