Introduction

What is the price of freedom and safety? Can peace exist without conflict? Gwendolyn Brooks presents these questions in her poem “First Fight then Fiddle” when discussing the sacrifices that need to be made in order to accomplish a goal. The speaker in the poem begins by giving instructions on how one should play the fiddle. The instrument is associated with delicacy and sophistication. It is given a peaceful quality and has a very gentle eminence. The poem takes a dramatic change when the speaker begins to describe what must be done before the music can be created. The speaker describes what must be done in war in a similar way that the creation of music was described. However, war represents the hate and chaos that exists in the world. “Be deaf to music and to beauty blind.” (11) The speaker contradicts the earlier lines when the situation changes. The poem has qualities that can be associated with recruitment. It seems as if the speaker is inspiring people to arms by describing the grand prize that would be won at the end of a bloody struggle.
The poem makes the statement that peace cannot exist in the absence of war. The ultimate goal of war is to establish peace, in the favor of whichever side one is fighting on of course. However, another conflict always seems to come around that erupts in war. The speaker in the poem realizes this challenge, and approaches it in a realistic way. The lines in the poem make it clear that peace is something that needs to be working for. The poem also realizes that this is grim situation. “Carry hate in front of you and harmony behind” (9-10). It is not a pretty thing, but it’s the truth. This struggle does not have to apply exclusively to war, but to all goals that people struggle for. The poems message is to work and suffer so that, in the end, one can live in peace.