A Dissection and Analysis: “We Real Cool”

One day in her Chicago neighborhood, Gwendolyn Brooks was walking casually down the street when she saw something that intrigued her. She knew it was a school day, yet she saw a clan of young boys through the doorway of a pool hall. These boys exhibited a strange combination of character traits. They were bold and cocky. However, they also exhibited insecurity. She viewed their presence there as an attempt to look cool, as the pool hall was filled with gamblers and pool sharks. In addition, the fact that they skipped school was not working to their advantage. This sight intrigued her so much, that she decided to write a poem about it. Although the poem is constructed briefly of four couplets; it packs a powerful, morbid punch. This poem illustrates that too much carelessness can cause death earlier than expected. “We Real Cool,” she titled it.

When examining the surface of this poem, it can be inferred that the main characters are seven pool players. The gender of the pool players is not divulged. However, given the background of the poem, the players can be guessed to be young boys. During the poem, the thoughts of these players are listed as they are playing pool at a hall named “The Golden Shovel.” That seems simple enough, right? That, however, is not the case. The lines of the poem are, in fact, what the speaker believes the boys to be feeling. With that being said, the speaker thinks the boys may have dropped out of school to live a short life of drinking gin, playing pool, staying out late, and listening to jazz music. Although short, the poem relays a meaning about life that is worth recognizing. It relays the message that a carefree lifestyle will ultimately result in an untimely death.

However, the tone in the beginni...

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...apital of the blues, and this poem has jazz themes and rhythms in its core. It relays those themes with the use of alliteration like “sing sin” (5) and “Jazz June” (7).

In a nutshell, “We Real Cool” exhibits a sense of morbidity and mortality in that a group of boys who are living a carefree lifestyle will die soon if they continue to live that way. This gives a strong message about daily life that if one lives carelessly, there will be repercussions. One such repercussion could indeed be death. From this poem, one can learn that living rebelliously and carelessly will not work to his or her advantage. One can also learn to think about his or her actions more deeply as is done in this poem. Although short and simple, “We Real Cool” packs a punch that is worth taking.

Works Cited

Brooks, Gwendolyn. “We Real Cool.” Poets.org. n.d. Web. 17 February 2014.