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An essay on gwendolyn brooks
An essay on gwendolyn brooks
An essay on gwendolyn brooks
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In “We Real Cool” written by by Gwendolyn Brooks, Brooks adds to the meaning and tone of the poem by showing a theme that doing rebellious things gets you no where in life, even if it is considered “cool”. Brooks’ poem is about a group of people who do bad things like “leaving school” and “lurking late”. In the end of the poem, they say “We die soon”. In “We Real Cool”, Brooks is communicating that even if you’re “cool”, bad behavior ends up hurting you more that helping you. In the beginning of the poem, Brooks follows up after saying “We Real Cool” with “We Left School”. This helps establish the tone of a lostness because the narrorator is revealing that the only way he/she felt they could ‘be cool’ was to leave school with his ‘group’. Continueing …show more content…
Because of saying “We Lurk late. We strike straight,” and continueing this throughout the poem, it really appeals to ethos with the audience which of whom might also be lost teens trying to ‘be cool’. This appeals to ethos because the audience can relate to, understand, and realize that the actions you make really can take a toll on you… Which is shown in the emotional shift in this poem. At the very end of the poem, they say “Jazz June. We Die soon.” Although this is a very impactful shift in the poem, it is not very unexpected. It is expected because of the short, impactful sentences, slowly leading up to the big climax (or shift) which leaves readers with a big lump in their throat. Even though the ending is not very surprising, it still has the same impact it would have on any other poem to anyone else. Overall, Brooks uses her poem to convey a lost tone with the theme that doing rebellious things gets you nowhere. Also, her poem appeals to ethos to a audience much like the narrorators, lost teens, teaching them to stay in school, continue to be an individual, and stick to their
The opening stanza sets the tone for the entire poem. Updike uses symbolism to portray the sad, disappointing life Flick ...
The poem “We Real Cool” is the story of young kids, possibly teens, who are rebellious, uneducated, and arrogant. It states: “We real cool. We left school. We lurk late. We strike straight. We sing sin. We thin gin. We jazz June. We die soon.” (l.1-8) The poem talks about the pool players and their lives. It seems as though the pool players are school aged because the poet says, “We left school.” (l.1-2) This line shows how they have no interest in school or learning. Since they choose to ditch school, they are most likely uneducated or immature therefore, their behavior throughout the poem, is not too surprising.
The poem, We Real Cool, by Gwendolyn Brooks speaks through the voice of a young clique who believes it is “real cool.” Using slang and simple language to depict the teenage voice in first person, Brooks’s narrators explain that they left school to stay out together late at night, hanging around pool halls, drinking, causing trouble, and meeting girls. Their lifestyle, though, will ultimately lead them to die at a young age. But, despite an early death, the narrator expresses that they are “real cool” because of this risky routine. Through her poem, Brooks’s shows the ironic consequence of acting “cool”: it leads to death.
The overall theme of the poem shows sadness and humor. The boy in the poem is very depressed about getting older, but there is some irony in the sadness that the boy is experiencing. He acts like getting older is a sickness. "The whole idea of it makes me feel like im coming down with somthing" (1-2). Collins does acknowledge that is hard for anyone to leave their childhood, and that it is not an enjoyable experience. However, Collins was not turning ten when he was writing the poem. Its seems as though he is making fun of how depressed the boy feels because he still has his whole life ahead of him. The little guy is not even close to being mature, and thats what is so ironic about the boy being sad. He acts like he will never have fun again, and that life will never be the same. Others would most likely agree with Collins that the boy is being over dramatic.
Gwen Harwood is a well renowned poet for her poems written during the 1950’s-90’s as she explores the realm of universal human concerns which are the source of her poetic inspiration, these include; love, friendship and memory. Today these concerns are still relevant in our society and are what connects us to each other and immortalises our sprit. Throughout many of Harwood poems she exposes her life in writing to create an intimate relationship with the paper. These documents create a personal account of the struggles and the love a woman feels in moments in changing times. This becomes evident in Harwood’s interpretation of marriage, motherhood and love. She uses symbolism and tone to hint to the undelaying meaning of the poems and the importance of them to her.
"The sluggard’s craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work" (Proverbs 21:25). The Bible makes a very clear statement in this passage as to how being lazy can be the cause of one’s death. "We Real Cool" is about seven African-American high school dropouts who want everybody else to think that they are cool. These teenagers explain how they stay out late playing pool, fighting, sinning and drinking. Though they think they have everybody else fooled, they know themselves that the destructive behavior they are taking part in will lead to their death. In "We Real Cool," Gwendolyn Brooks uses denotation and sound devices to suggest that although some African-Americans may often think of themselves as being cool for dropping out of school, they know in truth that dropping out will give them time to engage in sinful activities which will result in a broken, short life.
The novel says a great deal about humanity. It covers global topics that many if not most teenagers and even adults deal with every day. This novel represents for most of humanity, even in the face of feeling lost, or suffering grief, that there is always “hope” and personal resiliency, and a way to move on a forward. Even if we are searching for a greater meaning in life, and determining our personal beliefs of religion, that you can still celebrates someone’s life, no matter how short or long a life they live. Even if it is “prank” to commemorate someone’s life. We can always take something good away from the interactions of those that impact our life. You define who you are, but can find love, enlightenment, joy, sorrow and resiliency from the friends that become family.
From analyzing the text it’s obvious to the reader that the narrator is dissatisfied with where he’s at in life. The first stanza is an insight into the atmosphere of his high school, and the word choice and imagery play a role in depicting his disgruntled
enable us to understand the moral of the poem. Which is work hard and you will receive you goals and never give up.
Unlike the rest of the poem, these final lines are not ironicthey are serious and sad. But the impact of the plain and simple conclusion is much more effective because of its contrast with the ironic tone which precedes it.
In Conclusion, Billy Collins use of irony in both the setting and the description of the stereotypical students helped strengthen the allusion of the poem. The students in the poem are in an eternal school lifestyle as opposed to being in a normal town environment. Aspects of the setting, such as the landscape being made out of paper and the night sky being compared to a blackboard painted a descriptive picture in the mind of the reader, making the allusion more believable and relatable. Also, the use of stereotypes in this poem added on to the allusion of the school environment, giving life to the society in the town created by Collins. At first, the poem may seem like only an allusion, but with a closer look, you can see the reality behind it all.
The poem also focuses on what life was like in the sixties. It tells of black freedom marches in the South how they effected one family. It told of how our peace officers reacted to marches with clubs, hoses, guns, and jail. They were fierce and wild and a black child would be no match for them. The mother refused to let her child march in the wild streets of Birmingham and sent her to the safest place that no harm would become of her daughter.
The ironic use of rhyme and meter, or the lack thereof, is one of the devices Larkin uses to emphasize his need to break out of industrial society. The typical rhyme scheme is not followed, but instead an ironic rhyme scheme is used in the sonnet in the form of abab cdcd efg efg. Larkin writes this poem as a sonnet but at the same time diverges from what a typical sonnet is supposed to be. He is commenting on society’s inclination to form restrictions on those within it. By writing out of the accepted form of a sonnet, his writing becomes more natural because of a lack of constraints due to following certain rules and fitting a certain form. He breaks free and writes as he pleases and does not conform to society. Just as with the rhyme, ...
With this short essay Sedaris was able to appeal to our emotions as readers. When they got kicked out and they were very and almost “frozen” according to Sedaris, his images made us feel angry towards the mother. From his simply structured essay it makes you feel as an adult and as a child. It is structured in a way that would help the reader to stay with the story and builds the interest to keep reading until the end. Sedaris did a fabulous imaginative pieces that would appeal to the readers and appeals to the reader’s emotions as well. At one point he said, “Dusk approached, and as it grew colder it occurred to us that we could possibly die (Sedaris 73). He keeps his audiences remain emotional throughout the
In order to understand how this poem represents Modernism, it is important to first understand just what Modernism was, and what exactly Modernists believe in. In order to understand this we must turn to Michael Borshuk’s essay Swinging The Vernacular: Jazz and African American Modernist Literature. According to Borshuk’s essay there are several major ideas that Modernists hold dear to them. The first of these ideas is there must be individuality in an artist’s work. Borshuk begins his article by describing the opening scene of Episode Three of Ken Burn’s documentary on the history of Jazz. He writes that “Burns takes us indoors, into a cabaret... We see African American patrons in a cabaret, smoking and drinking while a small jazz combo performs onstage. The drummer juggles his sticks while he keeps time, all maverick style and undaunted poise” (Borshuk 1). It is this drummer that Borshuk seems particularly interested in as the essa...