FantasyBy Gwendolyn Bennett

Meagan Quinn

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

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

FantasyI 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 lavender hues,

And you were strange with your purple hair

As you sat in your amethyst chair

With your feet in your hyacinth shoes.

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 title says it all: this is a fantasy, a dream.

Rhyme scheme: ABAB, ABAAB, AABB

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.

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.

Tone: Innocent, or hopeful, or happy

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”

“Land of Night”- dreams usually occur at night, when you are asleep

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

Third Stanza

“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”

Imagery

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