Essay on Brooks's 'Boy Breaking Glass' - ENGL 103 Assignment

This essay, written for an ENGL 103 course, focuses on Gwendolyn Brooks's poem, 'Boy Breaking Glass.' The student begins by providing a complete paraphrase of the poem, translating each sentence into their own words and attempting to capture the literal meaning. The essay then compares the paraphrase to the original poem, highlighting the qualities of the poem that are lost in the paraphrase, such as structure, rhythm, and the depth of meaning conveyed through the poet's specific word choices and imagery. The analysis delves into how the poem explores themes of art emerging from destruction and the boy's rebellion against societal indifference. The essay concludes by emphasizing the richness of the original poem in comparison to the more literal translation, underscoring the importance of poetic devices in conveying the poem's essence. Works cited are also included for academic integrity.

Running head: ENGLISH ESSAY
ENGLISH ESSAY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note
The paper is going to focus on the theme and the paraphrase of a poem namely, “Boy
Breaking Glass” written by Gwendolyn Brooks. The poem was first brought out in the year
1987 by the Third World Press, which talks about the complexity of vandalism that can take a
toll on human existence, a kind of effort from a person who had been abandoned by the
society, a sort of destruction that can be presented with an art of creation. The paper is going
to paraphrase the entire poem wherever it is possible and then it will focus on the parts where
it cannot be paraphrased entirely. The paper finally concentrates on the parts of the poem
which are different from that of the paraphrase emphasizing on the rhythms, meters and
themes of the poem.
The paraphrase of the poem:
To the boy named Marc Crawford
The instruction comes from him
The broken window of his room resembles the call of art and potential
(The achieved accomplishment twinkles carefully
As the quality of grace just the way the ironical and punishable trust)

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ENGLISH ESSAY
Is sore and undone; is musically overpowering; is experienced and the first
presentation of the art.
Our splendid blemish and extremely dreadful trinket
Our brutal, heartless and emotionless man
“I ought to compose! Even if it is not a piece of art, I should start with a dent at least
Even if it is not the initial orchestra of the opera but a quality of protecting the offence
of a person”
It is replete with the seasoning of light and aura
And saline and hours of darkness and consignments
“Do not sink into the floorboard of a political agenda
If you cannot notice any annex and progression there
Each of the elements to his misery, each corner to
His lonesome sphere and restless vengeance
My whereabouts were unknown to you and I find myself nowhere now.”
The sole normalcy can be found in a cup of beverage

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The intonation is low key
Each of the attributes
Is going through segregated withstanding condition
“I blame you for everything that you did to throw me away in the gutter!
And that is the last resort that I possess right now.”
You neither have Congress nor have crustacean, neither have the power of affection
nor the joy of a feast
The room for the administration, the Statue of Liberty,
You run away. A careless fusion
A blunder
An edge of a rock
A prayer, a trap, and an overwhelming sun
I have tried to paraphrase each and every word in the poem and written down the
entire poem in my own words. Now I have to compare how much different my paraphrase is
from that of the original poem. When I look at the poem, it appears to have a solid structure
which is missing in the paraphrase and the latter is not well-knitted therefore the essence does

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not ooze out from it until the explanation is attached to it (Stobbart 11). The paraphrase is
more like the word to word translation which fails in conveying the same meaning as
intended by the poet in his poem.
The first example can be “as elegance as a treasonable faith” might have been
replaced with “as the quality of grace just the way the ironical and punishable trust” but it is
certain that the sense that has been intended to be evoked is not even close to what has been
presented in the paraphrase. By treasonable faith the poet means the rebellion that is
generated inside the turbulent heart of the boy can be transcended into a piece of art however
it is treasonable for him because the way he is going to invite the changes might not be
acceptable by the society hence it can turn out to be punishable (Boccio 430). It will
eventually lead him to be a traitor who goes against the convention of the society in order to
immerse into the ocean of art.
The second instance where the translation seems to be very bland is “Who has not
Congress, lobster, love, luau, /the Regency Room, the Statue of Liberty” is replaced with
“You neither have Congress nor have crustacean, neither have the power of affection nor the
joy of a feast /The room for the administration, the Statue of Liberty”. It does not sound right
at all. The meaning seems to have been changed entirely. The depth that the original lines
carry is definitely missing in the paraphrased lines. The society is blamed to have been
existing without the soul and ironically the soul is missing in the paraphrase (Vrana 124).
The third place where the translation sounds awkward and cannot reach the intended
sense is when “full of pepper and light/ and Salt and night and cargoes” is substituted by “It is
replete with the seasoning of light and aura / And saline and hours of darkness and
consignments” (Hayes). This is a very dim and unintelligent translation and can be

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understood from the paraphrase that it is done only for the sake of translating. It does not
mean the same and has no similarity in the connotation.
Therefore from the above mentioned discussion it is clear that there are certain parts
in the poem which is absorbed with seriousness cannot be merely translated. The sense can be
conveyed to some extent but the word to word translation cannot reach the same depth like
the poem has. The poem discusses how the art can emerge from the lap of destruction and
how this boy raises from the heap of broken glass to retaliate against the plight of the society
that the latter is proud of. It is therefore transparent that certain parts cannot be changed even
though they are translated word by word.
It can be concluded that the poem is more enriched than the paraphrase because it has
the correct use of meters and rhythm to convey the right essence that is evidently missing in
the paraphrase. I have attempted to make a closer effort to reach as close to the poem as
possible.

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Works cited
Boccio, Rachel. "Toward the Soul of a Transformational PraxisClose Reading and the
Liberationist Possibilities of Prison Education." Pedagogy 17.3 (2017): 423-448.
Hayes, Terrance. The Golden Shovel Anthology: New Poems Honoring Gwendolyn Brooks.
University of Arkansas Press, 2019.
Stobbart, Katie. "Desecrations by Matt Rader." The Goose 15.1 (2016): 11.
Vrana, Laura. "Gwendolyn Brooks's Last Quatrain: The Ballad Form and African American
Anti-Lynching Poems." Journal of Ethnic American Literature 8 (2018): 5-131.