Speech to the Young: Speech to the Progress-Toward (Among them Nora and Henry III)

"Speech to the Young” is a lyric poem. It's short and reflects personal beliefs and feelings. The names in the title’s parenthetical bolster the personal aspect of the poem. If the reader knows about Brooks' life, they might be aware that she had two children: a daughter named Nora and a son called Henry. Her children are among the young people the speech seeks to reach. Brooks asks that her kids hear this, and the request underscores the speech's sincere tone. The audience includes two young people who are an intimate part of Brooks's life, so it's logical to say Brooks is the poem's speaker. Yet Brooks doesn’t explicitly identify herself as the speaker in the poem, so, out of deference for her individual identity and the craft of poetry, it’s also fine to refer to the speaker as the speaker, so the identity of the speaker doesn’t get in the way of discussing what they say, how they say it, and the poem’s themes.

The title offers one of the main themes of the poem: youth. As the speech seeks to capture the attention of the young, the focus is on them. At the same time, there's the theme of change and development manifesting in the compound word "Progress-Toward." The speech suggests how to move toward a goal or progress to a sustainable, admirable state. Finally, "Progress-Toward" primes the reader for the inventive diction they'll encounter within the poem. The language in the poem is as unique and resourceful as the language in the title.

Speeches can be quite authoritative. Ideally, the speaker knows what they're talking about. They're topical experts and possess wisdom on their topic, so their audience should listen to them and seriously consider what they have to say. Brooks's poem starts with a commanding tone, "Say to them" (Line 1). Indeed, what follows is what someone should communicate to a young group of listeners. The speaker’s tone is authoritative. They take charge and tell the reader—the potential speech-giver—what they should communicate in a talk for a young audience.

The speaker doesn't immediately provide the speech’s content. Instead, they build suspense and pivot to a list of synonyms that describe typical behaviors and conduct attributed to young people. The imaginative compound words create a set of concise images about youthful exploits.

In Brooks's poem, there are images of the youth as "down-keepers" (Line 2), "sun-slappers" (Line 3), "self-soilers" (Line 4), and "harmony-hushers" (Line 5). The reader can envision youth upending peace, dirtying themselves, and violently taking on the sun. These images convey the brash, messy confidence of youth—it takes a fair amount of bravado to assault something as powerful as the sun. However, the first image—"the down-keepers" (Line 2)—might not be so clear, as “down” can mean lots of things—from underground to down-low or secretive. Yet the image retains its power in part because of its mix of mystery and brevity.

In Line 6, the speaker provides the speech the speech-giver should intone: "Even if you are not ready for day / it cannot always be night" (Lines 6-7). Here, the tone and diction is blunt and plain. There are no irregular compound words, although there are symbols since day and night are representative of both the literal and figurative. Night may represent fun, danger, and reflects the images of the youth in Lines 2-5. The day, then, may symbolize serious study or business, as people often spend their days attending schools or working jobs that might not be exciting or galvanizing as nighttime exploits.

As night is fun, and day isn't, it makes sense for the youth to want to stay in the night. The speaker, however, believes that it's important to tell the youth that they can't remain in the night mode and be indefinitely rebellious and raucous. Eventually, they will have to mature and face the day. If the speech-giver effectively communicates this message, they "will be right" (Line 8) and will have done a respectable job in helping young people understand that accepting the daytime is an accomplishment in itself or the "hard home-run" (Line 9).

Stanza 2 also features a commanding tone, juxtaposition, and repetition. In Stanza 1, the order "Say to" is repeated in Lines 1-2, and "the" starts Lines 3-5. The speech itself in Stanza 1 features juxtaposition since it contrasts day with night. In Stanza 2, the command to "Live" starts all three of the lines, and what to live for pairs with what not to live for to form a juxtaposition. Young people shouldn't exist for the glory of "battles won" (Line 11) or the dramatic finale of "the-end-of-the-song" (Line 12). These are sensational nighttime events—symbols representing neither equanimity nor "harmony" (Line 5). Ideally, what the young should take away after the speech is over is that they must figure out how to "live in the along" (Line 12) and accept the day as an element of their existence. Their life will inevitably run into the day, so they should peacefully approach the solemn daytime and try not to fight it too much.