First Fight. Then Fiddle.

Have you ever heard of the term, work before you play? It’s meaning is broad but it closely connects with First Fight. Then Fiddle. An example of work before you play would be that one must finish one’s essay before that person can go to hang out with their friends. The meaning behind both the poem and the saying have a much deeper meaning than just the literal meaning but clearly emphasize that you must prioritize activities and complete what needs to be done before you can do what you would like to do.
Throughout the entire poem, Brooks jumps around between fighting and fiddling but always maintains a clear message that you must work before you play. The final sentence in the poem, “Rise bloody, maybe not too late for having first to civilize a space wherein to play your violin with grace” has a deeper meaning than just what it literally means. Why is it that Brooks changes fiddle, which he uses throughout the entire poem, to violin at the end? This question must be analyzed a little bit before answering it. The first seven lines are dedicated to playing music while lines eight to twelve focus on fighting which is odd since the title encourages that you must fight first, I will discuss this in detail later. This is where the last sentence in the poem comes in. It speaks of peaceful times where you can play music and not worry about fighting. Violin is used rather than fiddle because violin sounds very close to violence. This brings the poem full circle, first talking about fiddling, then fighting, followed by fiddling again and finally a reference to violence, which symbolizes fighting.
There are many words and phrases within the first seven lines where Brooks closely relates the fighting lines in the fiddling lines. For instance, bow and silks to arms and armor, ‘with hurting love’ to ‘carry hate in front of you’, ‘the music that they wrote’ to ‘be deaf to music’. These are only a few relations that I noted, but there are several more. In connecting these antonyms or puns the way that Brooks does, he makes the poem flow better as well as scattering messages in areas where you wouldn’t expect them. With hidden messages throughout the poem and by using polar opposites gives the poem a little bit of a kick and really brings everything together.
Brooks is using certain words in the music section that strongly describe war and fighting. Simply skimming over the poem you will not realize this, but after analyzing and looking words up, it is pretty clear that some words in the first seven lines were meant to describe both music and war. Muzzle is used on the second line, it has many meanings, but for some reason the first thing that comes to mind is the muzzle of a gun, the open end or barrel of the fire arm. This is odd that he would use a word that has a potential meaning of being a part of a gun. It is interesting that the way Brook describes playing the fiddle sounds a lot like someone using a bow and arrow. It almost seems like he could be referring to this in the first seven lines. The sentence “Devise no salt, no hempen thing for the dear instrument to bear” sounds like a sentence talking about fighting. It seems that salt represents blood and the instrument being used is a bow (as in bow and arrow). Brooks also says bow on line seven, right before he changes the topic from fiddling to fighting. It could be that Brooks is changing from music to fighting on the fifth line rather than the seventh, but he is being very discrete about it.
Lines eight to twelve seem pretty straightforward in that Brooks is describing war, violence and fighting. In these few lines, Brooks makes several references to ‘work before you play.’ The sentence on lines nine and ten states, “Carry hate in front of you and harmony behind.” When you are waging war and fighting for what you love, you must fight with all of your heart before you can become peaceful and fiddle. In this case you must “carry hate” in order to win the battle which will ultimately bring harmony and peace. Lines eleven and twelve enforce the work before you play statement as well just on a literal level. The thirteenth line, “…having first to civilize a space…” really emphasizes the saying, ‘work before you play,’ because it says straight up that you must first work to find a place to play your instrument. You must put the things that you want and love behind you while you are carrying out your work and/or responsibilities. Once you have accomplished your goal, then and only then, may you become civil again and ‘play’ or ‘fiddle’.
There are many cryptic entities within this poem that you will not find glancing over the poem once or twice. To fully understand Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem First Fight. Then Fiddle. the reader must reflect upon this poem and what each line truly means to say. Many times Brooks will play with words to give certain sentences multiple meanings. There is much more to this poem than just a literal meaning. There is one clear message that the poet is giving us. You must work before you can play, or in Gwendolyn Brooks’ terms, first fight, then fiddle.