Lovers of the Poor : Commentary

   "Lovers of the Poor" By Gwendolyn Brooks is a poem about the Ladies' Betterment League during a meeting who have been born wealthy and have an "innocence of fear". The ladies in the League feel sorrow for the poor but do not take action for what they feel, making the title of the poem "Lovers of the Poor" sarcastic. The speaker of the poem is saying what the ladies are thinking in their heads, but not speaking out loud while they are visiting the poor's houses. The ladies give money to the poor but do not get to know the people needing help and believe that they are "perhaps too swarthy"  or  "too dirty or too dim". They believe that the people living in the bad situations are "too poor" or "not passionate." The ladies failed to help the needy people because they could not stand "the stench;the urine, cabbage, and dead beans." Gwendolyn Brooks is telling the reader that just giving money does not make them people who help those who are in need. The ladies of the Betterment League also suggest that they can catch diseases from them by saying "as they walk down the hysterical hall, they allow their lovely skirts to graze no wall." The ladies are hypocrites who do not really care for the poor but give money. The poem "Lovers of the Poor" is written during the time when homeless or poor people were taken off the streets and not treated fairly for the reason of being poor. They are assumed to have diseases and to be dirty, as the ladies in the Ladies' Betterment League believe. Gwendolyn Brooks is reaching out and wants for this part of society to change and for people to be treated fairly.