On Giles' Critique “a song in the front yard”

On Giles' Critique “a song in the front yard” Ron Giles (Cited in Lynn, 2004) states that Gwendolyn Brooks “a song in the front yard” tells the story of a young woman who is waiting for the day she can break free of the constraints of her upbringing and live a wild, fun-filled life. Giles further states that this young girl in the poem has already had a taste of that life, and is not simply engaging in the conflict of the innocent upbringing and the urges of puberty; she is longing for the day she can completely break free of her mother's rule. Giles begins his critique by offering the arguments for the Freudian interpretation. He tells what other critics have offered, such as Ronald Janssen's claim that the poem is an id/ego conflict, a young woman's mental exploration of sexuality, and then details his own claim that it goes even further (Giles, cited in Lynn). Using lines from the poem, Giles attempts to support the claim that the girl has already had some experience, some knowledge of the wilder life; Giles claims she has already had “a peek” at it, a sample of it which makes her want more. Giles compares different interpretations, not taking it so far as Shaw (Cited in Lynn) who suggests she is willing to endure spiritual death, but believing that she has already made the choice to experience life without the constraints of morals or propriety, and is merely waiting for the change to complete her transition. In reading the poem multiple times and looking specifically for Giles' indication that the girl/young woman has already made her choice and already tasted a little of the wild life, I have to disagree. The first line of the poem is very clear: “I've stayed in the front yard all my life” (Brooks, cited in Lynn, 2004) She didn't say she has lived there, which would suggest that she might have ventured away to the wilder side from time to time only to return, but plainly that she has “stayed” there. Further, the difference between wanting a peek, as the girl states, and actually experiencing, is significant. The girl says “I want a peek.” She doesn't wish for another peek or a longer peek, or anything to suggest she has already been there. She sees it, but she has not yet experienced it. Giles' uses the line, “A girl gets sick of a rose” to support his claim that she is worldly, citing the use of third person as an indicator of greater maturity, that it requires “sophistication” to know the rose is a symbol of wholesomeness and that “gets sick of” is “winking sarcasm,” In this analysis Giles is making broad assumptions within a poem that in reality talks very plainly. Giles offers nothing to support that use of third person is a sign of maturity. A teenage girl is easily going to be aware of a rose as a symbol of romance rather than sex. Finally, there is no inherent sarcasm in the phrase “gets sick of;” the girl has already made it clear that she doesn't want the pure and safe life, she wants the wild and uncertain life. Janssen's and others' (Cited in Lynn, 2004) id/ego interpretation which Giles' claims does not go far enough, is supported, because the poem speaks of desire not-yet-experienced. The girl says, “I want to be a bad woman, too” and “I want a good time today.” These are expressions of desire, but there is no indication of activity. She has been invited, as suggested when Johnnie “sold our back gate,” which symbolically gives easier access to the world she wants, but she doesn't indicate in any way that she has passed through that gate or been to see Johnnie, only watched and wanted. She is waiting, as Giles' states, for the chance or the courage to venture through the opening that Johnnie has provided, but she's still only watching.

References

Lynn, S (2004). Literature: Reading And Writing. New York: Longman.