Fantasy
By Gwendolyn Bennett
Meagan Quinn
Gwendolyn Bennett
 Born July 08, 1902 – Died May 30 1981
 Poet, Author, Editor, Artist
 Known for her sensuality and visual imagery in her poems or writings
 recognized as a talented artist and significant figure in the Harlem
Renaissance
 Born in Giddings, Texas
 Spent most of her early childhood in Wadsworth, Nevada, her parents
taught on the Paiute Indian Reservation (Indian Service for the Bureau of
Indian Affairs
 Family relocated to Washington D.C. in 1906
 In 1910, her parents divorced, her mother winning custody
 She was then kidnapped by her father, taken to Harrisburg, PA, and then
settled in Brooklyn, NY
 Attended Brooklyn High School for Girls
 Became the first black member of the school’s Literary and
Dramatic Societies
 Graduated Columbia University, then the Pratt Institute
 Hired as an Assistant Professor of Art at Howard University
 Studied art at the Sorbonne in Paris
 Became assistant editor of the Opportunity and was author of “the
Ebony Flute” literary column
 Wrote poems such as “Heritage”, “Song”, “Hatred”, and “Wind”
 Married Dr. Alfred Joseph Jackson in 1927, Jackson died in 1936
 Remarried into a interracial marriage with Richard Crosscup
 Served as a member of the Harlem Artists Guild in 1935 and
directed the Harlem Community Arts Center for 1939-1944
 Early 1940s, was active on the board of Negro Playwright’s Guild
 Retired to Kutztown, PA and opened an antique shop
The title says it all:
this is a fantasy, a
dream.
Fantasy
I sailed in my dreams to the Land of Night
Meaning:
I thought it meant don’t
stop dreaming or don’t
give up. (Bennett had
given up her dream of
writing at one point in
her life.)
It might also mean
dreams are important
because it can be an
escape from the outside
world.
Where you were the dusk-eyed queen,
And there in the pallor of moon-veiled light
The loveliest things were seen ...
A slim-necked peacock sauntered there
In a garden of lavender hues,
And you were strange with your purple hair
As you sat in your amethyst chair
With your feet in your hyacinth shoes.
Tone: Innocent, or
hopeful, or happy
Rhyme scheme: ABAB,
ABAAB, AABB
Oh, the moon gave a bluish light
Through the trees in the land of dreams and night.
I stood behind a bush of yellow-green
And whistled a song to the dark-haired queen ...
The bolded white
words in this stanza
all deal with the color
purple. You could infer
that maybe
Gwendolyn Bennett’s
favorite color is
purple.
First Stanza
“Land of Night”- dreams
usually occur at night,
when you are asleep
 “I sailed in my dreams to the Land of Night
Where you were the dusk-eyed queen,
And there in the pallor of moon-veiled light
The loveliest things were seen ...”
Imagery:
“dusk-eyed queen”
“moon-veiled light”
Second Stanza

“A slim-necked peacock sauntered there
In a garden of lavender hues,
And you were strange with your purple hair
As you sat in your amethyst chair
With your feet in your hyacinth shoes.”
Hues: The property of
colors by which they can
be perceived as ranging
from red through yellow,
green, and blue, as
determined by the
dominant wavelength of
the light.
Or simply: shades and
tints
Third Stanza
Imagery
 “Oh, the moon gave a bluish light
The use of more colors:
“bluish light”
“bush of yellow-green”
“dark-haired queen”
Through the trees in the land of dreams and night.
I stood behind a bush of yellow-green
And whistled a song to the dark-haired queen ...
Work Cited
 http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19693
 http://www.biography.com/people/gwendolyn-bennett40863
 http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/bennettGwendoly
n.php