“Ballad” is a lyric poem by American poet/activist Sonia Sanchez, from her 1984 blues-influenced poetry collection Homegirls and Handgrenades, winner of the American Book Award. Called “a lion in literature’s forest” by fellow Black Arts Movement poet Maya Angelou, Sanchez began publishing collections of poetry in 1969; therefore, this collection shows her influences, values, and life experiences from her maturing existence. “Ballad,” which was inspired by the writing of Langston Hughes, addresses the universality and feminine perspective of love, as remembered and experienced by a woman from an older generation talking to a woman from a younger generation. Sanchez views writing as a political and personal action and has shown interest in fusing both traditional and experimental forms of poetry, inspiring future poets. Sanchez’s written words and oral interpretations of her own work have inspired singer/songwriters, including Jill Scott and Mos Def.

Poet Biography

Wilsonia Benita Driver, professionally known as Sonia Sanchez, was born in 1934 in Birmingham, Alabama. As a result of her mother’s death when Sanchez was only one year old, she began to live with her grandmother who encouraged her to read at four years old. When she was six, her grandmother died, leaving her with personal trauma and a stutter that compelled her to read even more and examine language and its sounds. After transferring from relative to relative, Sanchez finally moved to Harlem to live with her father when she was nine years old. There, she managed her stutter, especially when she started taking creative writing classes at Hunter College and focusing on the sound of her poetry. She became a self-described “ordained stutterer” and known for her compelling public poetic readings.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in political science, she started to take courses at New York University where she also formed a writers group, called the Broadside Quartet. The group included prominent artists, such as Nikki Giovanni, from the Black Arts Movement, often considered the second Harlem Renaissance.

In the early 1960s, Sanchez joined Congress for Racial Equality (CORE), a Black organization at the forefront of the civil rights movements. At the time, she was an integrationist thinker. In fact, she taught 5th grade at the experimental, racially-integrated Downtown Community School in New York City. When she met Malcolm X through CORE, Sanchez became more interested in her own Black culture. In 1966, she brought a Black studies course, including Black women’s literature, to San Francisco State University, the first of its kind offered to a majority white student audience. Her search for Black identity and expression in the United States along with influences from other predominantly Black artforms fueled her writing. In 1969, Sanchez published her first poetry collection, Home Coming: Poems, which augmented her reputation as a prominent artist of the Black Arts Movement. Alongside writing poetry and political essays, which were published in Negro Digest and other publications, she began writing plays, one of which, Sister Son/ji, was produced off-Broadway in 1972 by the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater. Also in 1972, Sanchez joined the Nation of Islam, a Black religious and political organization founded in 1930, but its views on women did not meet her expectations, prompting her to leave.

In 1976, Sanchez moved to Philadelphia, where she became chair of Temple University’s English department until retirement in 1999 as well as the city’s first Poet Laureate.

Over the course of her career, Sanchez has taught at eight universities and guest lectured at more than 500 colleges, including Howard University. She has tried her hand at multiple genres, including short stories and children’s books. Her voice has led to spoken word recordings, one with Diana Ross called “Hope is an Open Window,” and readings of her work across the globe. For her contributions to poetry, she has received the Robert Frost medal among many other accolades.

Sanchez was married twice, with her first husband giving her the professional name “Sanchez,” and raised three children.

Poem Text

Sanchez, Sonia. “Ballad.” 1984. Academy of American Poets.

Summary

In this first-person poem, the speaker is of an older generation talking to someone of a younger generation. In the first stanza, the speaker wants to laugh because of how confident the younger person feels about love, yet the speaker establishes the premise that both of them are unable to learn about love because of their respective ages.

The second stanza brings in images of nature and their connections to love. Again, the speaker reiterates the premise: “you are too young / for love / and i too old” (Lines 11-13).

In the third stanza, the speaker reminisces about a past love, in particular a sexual experience that “wiped away” (Line 21) all aspects of the speaker’s being.

The final stanza has the speaker smiling once again and reiterating how both of their ages make them incapable of learning about love.