What Does The Poem The Bean Eaters Mean

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Fawn Weaver once said, “Marriage: Love is the reason. Lifelong friendship is the gift. Kindness is the cause. Til’ death do us part is the length.”. In the poem “The Bean Eaters” by Gwendolyn Brooks a very short three quatrain line poem, which helps the reader to dissect the poem easily is about a couple in poverty who eats a lot of beans. The use of poetic devices throughout the poem gives off the meaning of the poem. The poem is full of symbolism, metaphors,and rhyme and meter in which Gwendolyn brooks use of these devices conveys a message of the couple being proud, satisfied, and humble even under there circumstances . Gwendolyn Brooks is a female poet who published “The Bean Eaters” in 1960. Although, only an eleven line poem, it is written…show more content…
Brooks uses a lot of symbolism throughout the poem. The title itself is very symbolic, because it gives a visual of the type of poverty the couple of the poem is in. Beans are considered a very inexpensive type of food product. As a reader we see that the couple eats them very often and that they have come to be referred to as bean eaters. At the beginning of the poem the elderly couple is described as an "old yellow pair.” The poem then goes on by telling the reader what the elderly couple eats for dinner, which is beans as if it was "a casual affair.” In the poem, the couple doesn't seem to have very much as they eat their dinner on “plain chipware on a plain creaking wood.” As the reader, continues reading when the second stanza is reached it tells the reader that the couple is "Mostly Good” and is said that they have experienced a lot in their lives and their days are numbered here on earth. But instead of giving in, they live on by "putting their clothes away and putting things away.”(Brooks6-7) By the third and final stanza the reader is informed on just how much in poverty the old couple is. The poem continues by telling the reader that the elderly couple is living in a "rented back room,” which indicates the severity of their poverty in which the couple does not have much to show for. (Brooks 9) In this tiny room that they occupy it “is full of beads and receipts and dolls and cloths, tobacco crumbs,…show more content…
The couple is referred to as a “yellow pair,” confirming the notion that they are of age. (Brooks 1) They have yellowed as old paper would do with time. The poem also describes the couple as having “lived their day” and who “keep on” doing the same things, such as “putting on clothes and putting things away”. (Brooks 5-6) These lines are metaphorical to the determination and weariness that the couple has. The couple continues the same routine of their everyday life, but isn’t making any progression. These two line reinforces there age and just how in poverty the couple is in. The casualness and simplicity of the couple's lives is reflected in the rhyme and meter of the poem. There is a very simple rhyme scheme -- AABA BCDC EFDF -- in which the second and fourth lines rhyme. There is no formal meter to the poem. The casual structure complements the simple nature of the couple's lives. Were they aristocratic or highly educated, a more formal meter or complex rhyme scheme might be
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