The Sonnet-Ballad By Gwendolyn Brooks (Grade 10+)

Gwendolyn Brooks was a prolific poet and the first Black woman appointed Poet Laureate of the United States. Her poem "the sonnet-ballad" is a meditation on those who are left behind; the spouses, children and parents who migh never come back from the front. Not only that, but in 14 lines, she also introduces the changes that happen for those who leave.