Poem Analysis: We Real Cool

292 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Analysis of gwendolyn brooks poems

“We real cool” It’s obvious that these children were school age children who were rebellious and went against rules. The focus was African American Youth which most of Gwendolyn brooks poems main focus was. What I did notice was that “WE” was repeated show that they were a group that stuck together and had a group identity. They obviously were very rebellious children and they wanted to be noticed they weren’t noticed any other way so they did bad things in order to be noticed. “We die soon” (Gwendolyn Brooks) was letting the readers know that even though these children were living the way they wanted to live this rebellious behavior will eventually lead them into death as young African Americans . “We Real Cool” From this part of the poem

Show More
Related

  • Useless Boys Poem Analysis

    644 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Poem We Real Cool

    1294 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Black Counter-Culture in We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks

    2020 Words  | 5 Pages

    In conclusion, the author uses other devices to help point the way to understanding. For one thing, she uses repetition in the word "We" to emphasize the separate nature of the group. But, repetition also emphasizes rhythm in the poem?s reading. When one reads the poem, the "We" should be emphasized as its own separate syllable, when it is at the end of a line. And speaking of rhythm, the poem also exhibits a unique rhythm that goes against the convention of stressed and unstressed syllables. In the poem, the words are stressed syllables and the unstressed syllables come with the periods and at the end of the lines. And so the poem itself is a statement by Brooks that the African American voice is coming into being. It is counter-culture, counter-convention, and it is steadfast to the death of all who hearken to it.

    Read More

  • The Message of Gwendolyn Brooks' We Real Cool

    550 Words  | 2 Pages

    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. This is not the case for the "seven players" in Brooks's poem. After reading the entire poem, the true meaning is revealed. "We Real Cool" focuses on the life of "seven players" who drop out of school. Their daily life is carefree and consists of playing pool, drinking alcohol, and using vulgar language. Brooks elucidates that this "cool" lifestyle only leads to death.

    Read More

  • We Real Cool Analysis

    539 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gwendolyn Brooks captures the reality of America’s youth with her poem, “We Real Cool.” Growing up in Chicago, Brooks was inspired to write “We Real Cool” while catching a glimpse of a group of teenagers playing pool during school hours (On “We Real Cool”). The poem portrays a group of young people dodging the responsibilities of life in order to do whatever is considered “cool” to them and their peers. The poem allows the audience to make their own judgements about the pool players, because Brooks gives no opinion. However, the last line of the poem gives the audience the impression that the pool players’ actions are wrong because it shows that their destiny is an early death date. Brooks made the speaker of the poem to be defiant, since he is rebelling against what is expected of the youth by “lurking late” and “striking straight” (3-4) in order to give the audience a realistic view of teenaged dropouts.

    Read More

  • Americanized: Poem Analysis

    1050 Words  | 3 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Poem Analysis: We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks

    273 Words  | 1 Pages

    The line “We Sing sin. We Thin gin.” is in the middle of the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks. Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1917, but moved to Chicago when she was young (“Gwendolyn Brooks”). Brooks was a well known poet and also a teacher; She was the first black author to win the Pulitzer Prize. Throughout her career, she received many honors and awards. Many of Brooks’ work displays a political consciousness, especially from the 1960s and later, several of her poems reflect the civil rights movement. The poem “We Real Cool” is completely different and it’s quite short with only four stanzas. It describes the modern youth and what the “cool” kids typically do. In the second line

    Read More

  • Analysis Of We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gwendolyn Brooks We Real Cool and Joan Murrays We Old Dudes were written at two different time periods in United States history, and affects two very different groups of people, yet both seem to use the same type of technique to describe the events that happened when they wrote their respective poems. Brooks poem takes place in the Middle of the Civil Rights Movement, while Murrays take place during the 2006 midterm election, when the democrats gained control of both the House and the Senate. While Brooks and Murrays poem are directed towards two groups of people, they both describe the feelings of their respective group of people.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of We Real Cool By David Brooks

    549 Words  | 2 Pages

    The constant repetition and utilization of “ We” shows the theme of pride of the young boys and how it relates to people in our society. In almost every line, there is an emphasis on the word “We.” This emphasis of “We” shows how the friends are proudful of themselves in what they are doing. This accentuation is showing pride because it is there like a reminder of  who is the person/group that is lurking late of singing sin. When “We” is not applied at the end and it is after death, it relates to

    Read More

  • Poem Analysis: We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks

    873 Words  | 2 Pages

    Eight line, eight line is the length of the poem “We Real Cool”, but it is loaded with literary devises and contains an underlining meaning. This poem titled “We Real Cool” is written by Gwendolyn Brooks and it was published in 1960. The title is ironic because one would think the poem would be about a group of people and their flamboyant, cool lifestyle but the poem explains that this lifestyle is a dead end that leads to death. It is also interesting to note that the vowels sounds of the title and the first line of the poem go from high to middle to low. This poem describes seven pool players who are skipping school to do things they consider to be cool, but it ends with “We / Die soon” (lines 7-8) which leaves the reader puzzled and pondering

    Read More

  • Poem Analysis: We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks

    506 Words  | 2 Pages

    The tone of this poem is somewhat upbeat. Brooks’ tone is neither judgmental nor angry. The tone she signify is concerning. The tone makes dramatic changes toward the ending of the poem. The tone she setting is more of a concern about the juveniles. The way the teens conduct themselves is very nonchalant. Instead of getting their education by attending school they are out in the streets late at night being disobedient. Previously stated the tone makes a dramatic change. The dramatic change is at the end of the poem when Brooks states, “We Die Soon”. (7/8) So she is indicating in the poem that if the seven boys continue their behavior, the outcome could result in death. The dramatic change in the tone causes symbolic

    Read More

  • Analysis Of We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks

    1470 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks

    1330 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool” (written in 1959 and published in 1960) is a lyric poem that shows a glimpse into the life of seven, young African-American men who have chosen to abandon the social norm of searching for the “American Dream” and, instead, venture into the uncertainty of life roaming the streets (slang for unsavory areas where criminal activity is frequent), where the only certainty is an early death. In a time already plagued with racial hostility, adversity in the lives of young African-Americans was a guarantee, but to freely choose a life without a formal education or employment would add unnecessary hardships. “We Real Cool” utilizes a unique combination of literary vices like point of view, rhythm, and syntax to offer

    Read More

  • Ballad Of Birmingham

    444 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • We Real Cool, We Left School Poem

    394 Words  | 1 Pages

    The first line of the poem is “We Real cool, We Left school.” This shows that the narration of this poem is from the point of view of a group of young people who decided not to go to school anymore, and they think they’re really cool. It’s also written in a seemingly “street kid” dialect, and the grammar is incorrect on purpose, to try to emulate a certain group of people.

    Read More

More about Poem Analysis: We Real Cool

Open Document