External Form: First Fight. Then Fiddle. By Gwendolyn Brooks

The title Gwendolyn chooses for her poem creates an interest for the reader in why she has put the order of events as so. Her poem flows, yet the ryme scheme is a little different then the typical sonnet. Brooks chooses the pattern of: a b b a, a b b a, c d d c, e e which is not common, but acceptable. Her sonnet has fourteen lines, and does conclude with the couplet which ends and defines her poem.

The title goes to summerize the plot of the poem in the very first line: "First Fight. Then Fiddle." which is pretty straightforeward, yet many rewordings occur during the poem to convey the message: "Carry hate/Infront of you and harmony behind". The tone changes around line eight, where "malice and murdering" is the first violent image the arises during the poem. The reader is left to question Brooks's motives, where in her couplet she says "For having first to civilize a space/ Wherein to play your violin with grace." She believes that music is not to be heard in a place of warcraft, and in celebration for a victory and peace music is to be played.