Brooks' poem "We Real Cool" addresses the theme of mortality, especially in the context of destructive behaviors. While other topics present themselves, the varying crafts included in the essay point to the fast-burning flame of the speakers. Using identifying phrases with multiple interpretations, a short and to-the-point meter, and lyrical alliteration and assonance, Brooks tells a compelling tale of seven ill-fated youth. Gwendolyn Brooks, an African-American poet, likely wrote "We Real Cool" about
Gang life is portrayed as tough, cool and dangerous, showing that many people in gangs had thick skin and could fight well. However in reality gangsters were always at risk of being harmed or killed. Both in the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks and the article “What’s it Like to be a Gang Member?” by Bill Lee, portray the risks gang members faced and their everyday lives. Both passages also illustrate the terrible outcome of what happens when being part of a gang. The article represents life
"We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks portrays the plight of the rebellious youth in all their glory. In this poem, the author utilizes unique meter and verse to add to the story she's conveying. The pool players in this poem are rogue youths and Brooks attempts to understand their lives. The tone conveyed in the poem adds a slightly ominous tint to the picture of the pool players. Brooks uses this poem to convey the plight of the pool player’s existence and urge the reader to see the fun the pool players
The poem “We Real Cool,” written by Gwendolyn Brooks in the late 1950s. The poem set in a popular pool hall called the Golden Shovel, in this time era pool halls and the Civil Rights Movement were very popular. The Civil Rights Movement was a movement where desegregation, protest, and social identity was an issue. In the poem, Brooks uses literary devices such as connotation, tone, alliteration, rhymes, and repetition to give us a quick view into the rebellious lives of seven young boys who all seem
I viewed Diahann Carroll’s performance of a heartfelt love song, “The Music That Makes Me Dance” from Funny Girl. The song is written by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill. Carroll’s recording was made in 1968, four years after the role of Fanny Brice had been made famous by Barbra Streisand. I view Carroll as a confident artist for putting this song out into the world after such a groundbreaking, well known performance of it circulated. All of this being said, her performance was spectacular and showed
have a higher chance of getting into tough situations just to be noticed. In Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool”, she describes what she believes seven young pool players perceive to be cool by using their perspective as the speaker of the poem. Popularity and peer-pressure play a huge role in youths immature actions. Brooks appears to mock the seven young men and deduce that they are in fact not cool. Instead, the message left is that the young men are defiant, uneducated, and careless. Normally
We Real Cool The poem “We Real Cool” is written by Gwendolyn Brooks the poem is about seven young men at a pool hall trying to convince themselves and others that they are truly cool. They are trying to do all of the things that people that they deem as “cool” do. The poem is comprised of five, two-line, stanzas and is written from the perspective of seven young men. The rhythm of the entire poem resembles the basic rhythm of a jazz tune. This emphasizes the fact that these seven young men are
We Real Cool is a poem with a very powerful message behind it. Poet, Gwendolyn Brooks, illustrates the essence of seven reckless teenage dropouts playing pool at a pool bar, celebrating the bad things they do but realizing they could get killed. This poem was published in 1960 and during that time, many movements were in place such as the civil rights movement, women's rights movements, and black arts movement. The black arts movement had a major impact in theater and poetry, which helped influence
Analysis of “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks When I read out loud the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks, the first point, which caught my attention, was the author’s title. I read the title and I felt it would be about the positive feeling of the seven pool players because of the first sentence “We real cool.”(Brooks 497) While reading and listening to the all the stanzas of the poem my thoughts changed because I understood that this poem is just not about the positive feelings. However
Although Mother to Son by Langston Hughes and We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks take two opposing views on life, they effectively explain the importance of living life lawfully, ethically, and dedicatedly. The first poem illustrates what happens when caution is used, while the other warns against what happens when it is not used. Lawful living is an integral part of these poems' themes. Petty crimes lead to loss of morality, as in We Real Cool. Without a sense of morality, there is no low to the depths
“We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is a poem with both explicit and implicit meanings and messages that intertwine. The award-winning author and poet got her inspiration from a group of boys she saw playing pool as she walked by a pool hall one afternoon- during school time. The poem was written in 1960, and the poet was born in 1917; Brooks being middle-aged upon writing, gives an insight to her attitude toward the boys skipping school. She had raised a son and was raising a daughter at the time
We Real Cool – Gwendolyn Brooks Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem, We Real Cool, is a poem written in simple, everyday language. Gwendolyn Brooks wrote We Real Cool in 1959. It is a very short poem consisting of four verses of two rhyming lines each. All of the lines in the poem end in the word “We” (Brooks lines 1-7) except the last line. This poem has a subtitle, “The Pool Players/Seven at the Golden Shovel”. The subtitle lets the reader know the characters and the setting. The poem is about seven boys
“We Real Cool” is a poem by Gwendolyn Brook’s which describes a group of young men currently skipping school to hang out at the pool hall and partake in delinquent activities. The persona is a single member of the group, however he represents the group’s actions as well as aspirations. Moreover, the poem is delivered in four short stanzas, each of which are 2 line couplets, and every word has only one syllable. The poem takes a satirical approach to delinquent behavior committed in pursuit of being
The poem We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks focuses on what activities the troubled group of seven teenagers partake in to make apeal cool. The symbolism, imagery and tone shown in, “We Real Cool” illustrates how losing one’s identity to become part of a uncaring group in adolescence and social norms will lead one to an early visit to the grave. Gwendolyn uses symbolism throughout her poem to get the readers to perceive the poem in an abstract way. In the subtitle, the word golden symbolises summer
“We Real Cool” and “Mending Wall,” are poems written by Gwendolyn Brooks and Robert Frost respectively. These two poems show the readers the social order that is followed by two different types of people in American society and how they feel about this particular value. “We Real Cool,” shows the reader how life is a better experience when living without boundaries and rules. On the other hand, “Mending Wall” shows the readers how following traditional social rules and order can hinder the individual
school. In “We Real Cool,” Gwendolyn Brooks uses rhyme and repetition along with imagery and metaphors to convey her message. Brooks wrote this poem one day when she was walking through her neighborhood in Chicago. She passed a pool hall and saw a group of young boys playing pool. She described them as young and “cool” or more accurately “trying” to be cool. Brooks uses her poem to illustrate what one day of skipping school or listening to peer pressure can come to. “We real cool,” in simplest
beginning of oppression to victory they teach others personal and individual respect towards new ideas that have changed the world for the better. Using Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston and We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks; we will see the powerful endurance and the potency of their message; revealing the individuals that reach out into the community they are standing for. Giving stamina to his cause, Martin Luther King Jr. shows in his letter from Birmingham
We Real Cool Teenage dropouts has been one of the most problematic conflicts in the United States. This unreasonable act has disastrous effects. In the poem “We Real Cool”, Gwendolyn Brooks utilizes repetition to emphasize the consequences of discontinuing school. Brooks repeats “We” to create a direct approach to those that are teenage dropouts of school. The author states “ We real cool We left school”. The narration of this verse comes from a young perspective. These irresponsible teenagers whom
by Bill Lee, and the poem We Real Cool, by Gwendolyn Brooks, portray this message using different methods. The texts both describe an aspect of danger, and also a cycle that gang members fall into that can affect them for the rest of their lives. Each time a new stanza in the poem, We Real Cool, by Gwendolyn Brooks occurs, the author moves onto another aspect of his life as a gangster. He does this to get across the message to the reader, for example, “We real cool. We left school.” tells the
there are many things that schools can do to ensure this success. In order for special education pupils to succeed, schools need to create inclusion in the classrooms and with peers, so that SEN pupils can interact with other students and experience real world classroom time. For students with disabilities, schools need to take some necessary steps in order for a beneficial transition to take place. Schools need to provide students with resources such as an RA or SNA (Special Needs Assistant) to students