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 Meaning: I thought it meant don’t stop dreaming or don’t give up. (Bennett had given up her dream of writing at one point in her life.) It might also mean dreams are important because it can be an escape from the outside world. 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. Tone: Innocent, or hopeful, or happy

6. First Stanza “Land of Night”- dreams usually occur at night, when you are asleep • “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