The title of the poem, “We Real Cool” is the same as the first line. It allows us to realize that the speaker will be mimicking the voice of a group of seven young men in a pool hall. In the poem, Brook’s use of language and tone is extremely straightforward and precise. Her mocking tone allows the reader to envision beyond the words the author used to portray the seven pool players and the inevitable course of events leading to their dark and tragic futures, in her short poem concentrated on rhyme in a couplet format. Each line has a meaning to support it. In the first line, “We real cool” (1) supports the author in outlining the insecurities of the young men, need to be associated with something, to be in solidarity with others, and fear …show more content…
Also, in lines 5 through 6, Brooks indicates “We Thin gin” (5-6) relates that minor children are indulging in alcoholic beverages. This illustrates illegal business and events occurring as the young boys pride themselves on their behavior and bad habits. In lines 6 through 7, “We / Jazz June” (6-7) provides the reader with the idea of sexual intercourse between the young men and a female named, June. Jazz is a genre of music, but in other terms jazz is a response in slang to something that the listener does not wish to listen to. “You talking all that jazz” in other words is complete nonsense. However, outside of music the word jazz has a tarnished tone attached to it. Therefore, June is always be capitalized due to the fact that it is a month out of the year, and it can also be a name of a woman whom one can have sex with, but one cannot jazz a month. Finally lines 7 through 8, “We / Die soon.” (7-8) are intended to catch the attention of the reader because the author foreshadows the early death of the seven pool players due to the inevitable course of events that the young men are engaging …show more content…
With the use of such a sarcastic and straightforward tone in her poem, “We Real Cool”, Brook’s enforces the poem’s theme using patterned repetition. This repetition makes it apparent to the reader that Brooks is suggesting something completely opposite from what she is saying, and creates a poem with much more direction and meaning. Repetition is seen throughout the poem with, “We Real Cool”, in lines 1 and 2, “We / Left school. We / Lurk late” (1-2). The pattern proceeds throughout the stanzas in the poem, each sentence beginning with “We” and containing three syllables. Each sentence suggests a moment of pride and satisfaction. This is clear in “We Real Cool” in the very first couple lines “We / Left” (1-2) where Brooks conveys the act of dropping out of school. Even though dropping out of school may alleviate the young men’s immediate dislike for a structured schooling environment, it will affect their long-term future. Apart from its subtitle, "The pool players, seven at the Golden Shovel”, "We Real Cool" is made up of four stanzas, each of which is a two-line couplet. Each word throughout the poem contains only one syllable. Although most traditional couplets in poetry contain a rhyme at the end of the line, this poem takes rhyming to a new level where the couplets rhyme in the middle. For example, the rhyming
The next line indicates that the pool players are very rebellious. In the lines, “We lurk late. We strike straight,” (l.2-4) we are made aware that
Gwendolyn Brooks in “We Real Cool” develops an ironic, sarcastic tone through specific word choice. The poem begins with the phrase “We real cool” (Line 1) so immediately, the reader knows that these pool playing buddies define themselves as “cool”. In their minds, they are the epitomes of
...from the dullness of schoolwork to many possibilities. The next lines poke fun at the value of education and celebrate their street learning. ?Lurk late,? ?Strike straight,? ?Sing sin,? and ?Thin gin,? contradict any possibility for mental growth. Symbolism comes in the picture in the next line, ?We Jazz June,? which has many meanings. The word ?Jazz? signifies sexual intercourse. Then the word ?June? becomes a female. The tone of the poem dramatically changes when the reader learns the dropouts die soon. The group end in the last line, ?Die soon,? the final consequence of trying to be cool. Seemingly having fun in the beginning being cool, they are now completely powerless because they are dead. The poem really gives an obvious picture of what young African-American males are driven to do under the impression of trying to be cool. Since their minds are headed straight to corruption, they have no clue because they are having so much fun being cool. Leaving school, staying out late, singing sin, drinking alcohol, and having sex apparently are the only things that are important to them. With this mentality, more and more inner city males while continue hastening toward their death.
In Drea Knufken’s essay entitled “Help, We’re Drowning!: Please Pay Attention to Our Disaster,” the horrific Colorado flood is experienced and the reactions of worldly citizens are examined (510-512). The author’s tone for this formal essay seems to be quite reflective, shifting to a tone of frustration and even disappointment. Knufken has a reflective tone especially during the first few paragraphs of the essay. According to Drea Knufken, a freelance writer, ghostwriter and editor, “when many of my out-of-town friends, family and colleagues reacted to the flood with a torrent of indifference, I realized something. As a society, we’ve acquired an immunity to crisis. We scan through headlines without understanding how stories impact people,
Kevin Young’s writing is not in a specific form. But he is holding the poem together through a repetition of certain sounds: “shoes,” “doors,” “walls,” “glass,” “class,” and etcetera to emphasize his undiluted cynicism as he acts like a maverick. These words all share
Brooks employs more than one rhyming device. She exercises end rhyme in the poem. Brooks’ words rhyme at the end of each sentence. Often in rhymes, the sentence ends with the rhyming word, but not here. The poem’s sentences end in the middle of the line, because Brooks chose to create a metrical pause or caesura. The repetition of “We” at the end, helps to keep the audience focus on the gang. Brooks applies internal rhyme before the end. “We / Sing in. We / Thin gin” (5-6) shows internal rhyme. The gang is proud and boasting about their lives. This conjures up visions of the boys bad choices, but it also helps you see the connection in the lines.
In “Useless Boys” the writer, Barry Dempster, creates a strong feeling of disappointment and shame in himself and society as he looks back on his youth to when him and a friend made a promise to each other to “not be like their fathers”. Dempster expresses a sort of disgust for the capitalist society his world seems to be built around, a life where even if you’re doing something you initially enjoyed you end up feeling trapped in it. The poem is a reflective piece, where he thinks back on how he truly believed he would end up happy if he chose a different path than that of his parents. The author uses simple diction and syntax, but it’s evident that each idea has a much deeper meaning, which assisted in setting a reflective/introspective mood.
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.
Unfortunately, they are lineated the way they are because these uneducated drop out pool players have a limited vocabulary. Brooks makes great use of rhyme throughout the poem, by using words such as: "cool", "school", "sin", and "gin" (3-8). These are rhymes that appear at the end of lines, while this rhyme scheme compliments the theme, it is directly towards a young audience. Hence, why Brooks is talking about these pool players that are supposed to attend school. The poem has an up tempo beat, very similar to a rap song, making it even more appealing to young readers, as this relates back to the way the poem is lineated and thus, making the poem “cool.” Alternatively, this also refers the poem to a dialect, more specifically an African-American
In this film The Welton is a traditional educational institution. The students, especially the main character Neil Perry is expected to perform at a high level. Neil’s father has high expectations for him and has went through a lot to get him into the institution. The overall intent of this film is to get the students in a traditional setting to break away from conformity. The intent is also for viewers of the film to believe in what they want and do whatever they put their minds to. Also to get them to dig deep into the realism and romanticism of poetry. To find creativity within themselves and find some passion and creativity they haven’t seen before. They find solitude in poetry and within the “Dead Poet’s Society”. An old group their teacher
This darkly satiric poem is about cultural imperialism. Dawe uses an extended metaphor: the mother is America and the child represents a younger, developing nation, which is slowly being imbued with American value systems. The figure of a mother becomes synonymous with the United States. Even this most basic of human relationships has been perverted by the consumer culture. The poem begins with the seemingly positive statement of fact 'She loves him ...’. The punctuation however creates a feeling of unease, that all is not as it seems, that there is a subtext that qualifies this apparently natural emotional attachment. From the outset it is established that the child has no real choice, that he must accept the 'beneficence of that motherhood', that the nature of relationships will always be one where the more powerful figure exerts control over the less developed, weaker being. The verb 'beamed' suggests powerful sunlight, the emotional power of the dominant person: the mother. The stanza concludes with a rhetorical question, as if undeniably the child must accept the mother's gift of love. Dawe then moves on to examine the nature of that form of maternal love. The second stanza deals with the way that the mother comforts the child, 'Shoosh ... shoosh ... whenever a vague passing spasm of loss troubles him'. The alliterative description of her 'fat friendly features' suggests comfort and warmth. In this world pain is repressed, real emotion pacified, in order to maintain the illusion that the world is perfect. One must not question the wisdom of the omnipotent mother figure. The phrase 'She loves him...' is repeated. This action of loving is seen as protecting, insulating the child. In much the same way our consumer cultur...
The most noticed literary element is alliteration. Alliteration is found when the speaker says “Pool Players” (line 1), “Lurk late” (line 5), “Strike straight” (line 6), “Sing sin” (line 7), “Thin gin” (line 8), and “Jazz June” (line 9). These alliterations sets the entire ambiance of the poem. The speaker’s word puts the reader in the mindset of the cool 1960’s jazz vibe by adding rhythms into the words. Alliteration is also used to draw attention to certain parts of the text and since this poem is so short Brooks has grabbed the reader’s
Australian poets Bruce Dawe and Gwen Harwood explore ideas and emotions in their poems through vivid and aural poetic techniques, the poets also use symbolism to allow the readers to relate to the text. In Dawes “Homecoming”, the poet explores the ideas in the text using language techniques such as irony, paradox and visual imagery to construct his attitude towards war and the effect. While in Gwen Harwood’s, “The violets”, she uses prevailing imagery and mood to emphasize fertility and growth. Contrastingly, In Bruce daws, “Life cycle”, the poet uses the idea of sport to symbolise and represent religion with the use of clichés and juxtaposition to convey his ideas of religion, myths and Christianity in the language use, similarly Harwood poem
As the poem went on about the Jazz June through the research the music was from the roots of slavery days where the slave sang sound through communication without their owner knowing what they talking about. The June was the summer time it felt like freedom every day of their life. For them, it was a chance to discover doing the season due to the crop of people who swindle in for June. The last part talks about the lifestyle that leads to death for them but no seem to care about their life for early death. The freedom characterized itself not knowing for the is right or wrong. they assumed responsibility due to actions of ending results of death. The life of the boy may be with excitement and danger with the choosing
Gwendolyn Brooks’, “We Real Cool”, is a poem about seven pool players that are assumed to be friends. The poem talks about how the players are doing things, while they are living; such as, skipping school and staying out late, which also signifies that the players are still in their youth. There is a bond of loyalty within the players because there is a repetition of “We”, which signifies unity of a group of people, used throughout the poem. Brooks’ attitude towards the players is very encouraging because she is trying to tell them that they only live once, so enjoy life while you can. Her attitude also tells the seven players to believe in themselves and be different from everyone else. The poem also represents the mindset and culture of African American men back when times were difficult.