Analysis Of We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks

1097 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Analysis of real cool by gwendolyn brooks

We Real Cool
“We Real Cool” is a famous poem which is concerned with the African American experience written in the year of 1959 by the poet Gwendolyn Brooks. This poem presents the reality that a lot of the African youth have to be faced with. As one of the most outstanding poems which are about the confusion and miserable destiny for the African Americans, this poem uses the simple words as well as the sentence structures to present and explain her deep thoughts.(Dickson, 1983) “We Real Cool” is quite worth reading for the readers who have the desire tohave an understanding about the identity of the young blacks in the United States.
This poem is very short which only has eight lines in all. The words and sentences are also very simple as well as easy to understand to a large extent. In the surface, the poem is justdescribing some young black boys playing at the pool named as the “The Golden Shovel”, which seems very simple. However, it is very complicated than what it seems to be in the surface if the readers cannot connect the background with the poem together. This poem has the deep meaning under theseemingly simple words. This poem was written in the year of 1959 which was among the period of the civil right movement. (Cummings, 2005)Thesegregation of the schools for theAfricanAmericas still has the big influence on the black youths. Thesegregationhas not only separates theblack youth and the white youths, but also makes them feel quite frustrated about their social identities and their future. This poem deals with this topic under this topic. The poem describes the scene that a gang of black youth is playing at the pool. They sing and dance. All of these happened after they decided to drop out of their school. They...

... middle of paper ...

...s to show the authors’ deep meaning. I always feel surprised and amazed when I read the poems which can takes advantages of the several words to either create a vivid picture in the readers’ mind or convey the deep meaning, or encourage people to do something meaningful and never waste the valuable time.A good poem should tell peoplesomethingimportant.

Reference
Brooks, Gwendolyn. "We Real Cool."The Norton Anthology of Poetry.Ed. Margaret Ferguson.New York: Norton, 2005. 999-1000.

Cummings, Allison. "Public Subjects: Race and the Critical Reception of Gwendolyn Brooks, Erica Hunt, and Harryette Mullen." Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 26.2 (2005): 3- 36.

Dickson, L. L. "'Keep It in the Head': Jazz Elements in Modern Black American Poetry." Melus 10.1 (Spring 1983) 29-37.

Smith, Gary. "Brooks's We Real Cool." Explicator 43.2 (1985) 49-50.

Show More
Related

  • Gwendolyn Brooks' We Real Cool

    1359 Words  | 3 Pages

    The poem 'We Real Cool' by Gwendolyn Brooks is a stream of the thoughts of poor inner city African-Americans who have adopted a hoodlum lifestyle. Though many can have different interpretations of this poem, it is fair to look at the life and career or the works and influences of Gwendolyn Brooks.

    Read More

  • The Inspiring Rhyme of Gwendolyn Brooks

    773 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “We Real Cool,” by Gwendolyn Brooks, one can almost visualize a cool cat snapping his fingers to the beat, while she is reading this hip poem. Her powerful poem uses only a few descriptive words to conjure up a gang of rebellious teens. Brooks employs a modern approach to the English language and her choice of slang creates a powerful jazz mood. All of the lines are very short and the sound on each stop really pops. Brooks uses a few rhymes to craft an effective sound and image of the life she perceives. With these devices she manages to take full control of her rhyme and cultivates a morally inspiring poem.

    Read More

  • Tales of Ise and The Tosa Diary

    1768 Words  | 4 Pages

    The poems make for a simple addition to the narrative and allows for a much more meaningful experience for a reader and makes for a much more engrossing story, thus adding to the experience as a whole.

    Read More

  • Lanston hughes comparison of two poems

    825 Words  | 2 Pages

    In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by the name of Langston Hughes. A well-known writer that still gets credit today for pomes like “ Theme for English B” and “Let American be American Again.”

    Read More

  • The Message of Gwendolyn Brooks' We Real Cool

    550 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Message of Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Are Real Cool" "We Real Cool" is a short, yet powerful poem by Gwendolyn Brooks that sends a life learning message to its reader. The message Brooks is trying to send is that dropping out of school and roaming the streets is in fact not "cool" but in actuality a dead end street. Brooks conveys her message in an ironic manner, which is presented in the title of the poem. Before actually reading the 10 line poem, the first thing that grabs the reader's attention is the title. After reading the title "We Real Cool" one would assume that the intent of the poem is going to be about a group of people who are fortunate and live a flamboyant lifestyle.

    Read More

  • Death and We Real Cool

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    Brooks, Gwendolyn. "We Real Cool." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 6th ed. New York: Harper, 1995. 740.

    Read More

  • African-American Leadership, Politics, and Institutions

    3048 Words  | 7 Pages

    Amadu, K. (2007). African Americans and U.S. Politics: The Gradual Progress of Black Women in Political Representation. New York: Prentice Hall Publishers.

    Read More

  • Rock n Roll & 20th Century Culture

    1464 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Albert Murray, the African-American musical tradition is “fundamentally stoical yet affirmative in spirit” (Star 3). Through the medium of the blues, African-Americans expressed a resilience of spirit which refused to be crippled by either poverty or racism. It is through music that the energies and dexterities of black American life are sounded and expressed (39). For the black culture in this country, the music of Basie or Ellington expressed a “wideawake, forward-tending” rhythm that one can not only dance to but live by (Star 39).

    Read More

  • The Negro Speaks Of Blues Analysis

    813 Words  | 2 Pages

    The four poems by Langston Hughes, “Negro,” “Harlem,” “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” and “Theme for English B” are all powerful poems and moving poems! Taken all together they speak to the very founding of relations of whites and blacks all the way down through history. The speaker in the poem the, “Negro” and also, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” tells the tale of freedom and enslavement that his people have endured, and it heralds their wisdom and strength. The poems “Harlem” and “Theme for English B” speaks to the continuous unfair treatment that the blacks have received at the hands of white people throughout the years.

    Read More

  • Stressing African American Importance Through Poetry

    879 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Lucille Clifton.” Poets.org. The Academy of American Poets, 1997-2014. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. http://poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/79 .

    Read More

  • The Black Arts Movement

    1704 Words  | 4 Pages

    Smith, David Lionel. “The Black Arts Movement and Its Critics.” American Literary History. 3.1 (Spring 1991): 94-109.

    Read More

  • Black Music in Toni Morrison's Jazz

    1730 Words  | 4 Pages

    As it mentioned above, the title itself, draws attention to the world-renowned music created by African Americans in the 1920s’ as well as to the book’s jazz-like narrative structure and themes. Jazz is the best-known artistic creation of Harlem Renaissance. “Jazz is the only pure American creation, which shortly after its birth, became America’s most important cultural export”(Ostendorf, 165). It evolved from the blues

    Read More

  • Black Poetry

    2173 Words  | 5 Pages

    Over the course of the century chronicling the helm of slavery, the emancipation, and the push for civil, equal, and human rights, black literary scholars have pressed to have their voice heard in the midst a country that would dare classify a black as a second class citizen. Often, literary modes of communication were employed to accomplish just that. Black scholars used the often little education they received to produce a body of works that would seek to beckon the cause of freedom and help blacks tarry through the cruelties, inadequacies, and inconveniences of their oppressed condition. To capture the black experience in America was one of the sole aims of black literature. However, we as scholars of these bodies of works today are often unsure as to whether or not we can indeed coin the phrase “Black Literature” or, in this case, “Black poetry”. Is there such a thing? If so, how do we define the term, and what body of writing can we use to determine the validity of the definition. Such is the aim of this essay because we can indeed call a poem “Black”. We can define “Black poetry” as a body of writing written by an African-American in the United States that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of an experience or set of experiences inextricably linked to black people, characterizes a furious call or pursuit of freedom, and attempts to capture the black condition in a language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm. An examination of several works of poetry by various Black scholars should suffice to prove that the definition does hold and that “Black Poetry” is a term that we can use.

    Read More

  • Poetry Closed Reading Assignment:Billy Collins

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    In other words, the words used by the poet are very powerful to give a vivid imagery of the poem to the readers which persuade them for the deep interpretation of this poem.

    Read More

  • I am a rock

    1264 Words  | 3 Pages

    When reading or listening to poetry, the main objective for me is to feel moved. Happiness, longing, sadness are some of the feelings that can be achieved just by listening to others’ words. It is within these words that creates another world, or separates us from our own. Words all have a certain kind of attachment to them, so if used properly an author can stimulate a reader beyond belief.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks

Open Document