We Real Cool Figurative Language

621 Words2 Pages

The poem “ We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks demonstrates many elements of poems including various figurative languages and theme to rely the strong message of the poem. The poems theme is enhanced by the usage of poems element of figurative language, by using musicality and identification. The usage of both elements helps the reader understand and imagine the actual setting, while reading the poem. The author of the poem relies a multiple combination of uses of figurative language including using alliteration, assonance, and usage of parallel structure. Alliteration was presented multiple times through the poem, with the usage of musical rhythm and the flow of the overall writing. The usage of alliteration made every stanza stand out to create a flow with reading the poem. The first type of alliteration that is present in the poem is the repeated sounds in the beginning …show more content…

For example, “ Strike Straight” (Brooks) and “ Sing Sin”(Brooks) in the poem make the actual theme of the poem stand out more, by the usage of music. Assonance is another type of figurative language used in the poem, where the reappearance of vowel sounds are used within some of the words. Like alliteration, assonance is used to establish a sense of flow through the poem. In the poem, “We Real Cool”, assonance was used in majority of the stanza’s including, where it stated, “ We real cool. We left school” (Brooks). In that those lines, the use of using the “ool” in the ending of each ending of the sentence creates a flow through the reading. Another example of assonance being used in the poem is in the line, “ We sing sin. We thin gin” (Brooks). The usage of the sound of “in” being used at the end word for the sentence puts a sense of flow through the poem, which makes a beat like flow. Parallel structure is used in the poem by the repeated usage of the word “ we”.

Show More
Related

  • The Beginning Of The Song That Diverts The Heart Summary

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    The alliteration used is to emphasize rhythm in the poem. On the other hand, the poet also depicts a certain rhyme scheme across each stanza. For example, the first stanza has a rhyme scheme of this manner a, b, c, d, e, a. With this, the rhyme scheme depicted is an irregular manner. Hence, the poem does not have a regular rhythm. Moreover, the poet uses a specific deign of consonance, which is present in the poem (Ahmed & Ayesha, p. 11). The poet also uses the assonance style depicted in the seventh stanza, “Seven whole days I have not seen my beloved.” The letter ‘o’ has been repeated to create rhythm and to show despair in the poem. On the second last line of the seventh stanza, the poet uses the style of consonance, “If I hug her, she’ll drive illness from me. By this, the letter ‘l’ is repeated across the line. The poet’s aim of using this style of Consonance is to establish rhythm in the poem and add aural

    Read More

  • The Inspiring Rhyme of Gwendolyn Brooks

    773 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “We Real Cool,” by Gwendolyn Brooks, one can almost visualize a cool cat snapping his fingers to the beat, while she is reading this hip poem. Her powerful poem uses only a few descriptive words to conjure up a gang of rebellious teens. Brooks employs a modern approach to the English language and her choice of slang creates a powerful jazz mood. All of the lines are very short and the sound on each stop really pops. Brooks uses a few rhymes to craft an effective sound and image of the life she perceives. With these devices she manages to take full control of her rhyme and cultivates a morally inspiring poem.

    Read More

  • Poet, Gwendolyn Brooks Uses Social Issues to Connect with the Reader in “Fight First, Then Fiddle” and “We Real Cool”

    663 Words  | 2 Pages

    The poem “We Real Cool”, by Gwendolyn Brooks was a great piece. I chose this poem because I could relate to the choice of words the author had chosen to use. The choice of words the author had chosen led me to believe the teens that the author described in her poem had to be a part of an African American. I understood this by the cultural similarities that I have often shared. A lot of the time in my culture we have a tendency to shorten many words, which are identified as “slang”. I felt this poem was a powerful piece by the author’s choice of words that captured the cultural sound. The phrase that she used was “ We Real cool”. I felt that the author focused cultural references such as language to catch the attention of the youth within the African American communities. Brooks wrote “We would skip school, yeah we real cool.” identifying that it is a young crowd because they are skipping school and chanting “We Real Cool.” I figured the characters she is talking about are younger because as an adult you often do not refer to being “cool” and skipping school and going to play pool.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of We Real Cool

    758 Words  | 2 Pages

    “We Real Cool” poem proves you can give a lot of personality and insight to a group of characters in eight lines. With the lines “We real cool, We Left school (Lines 1-2)” it tells us that these kids left school to chase after their perception of cool. The poet reveals the fact that these boys are also uneducated, rebellious and arrogant. This poem will be the prime example of quality.

    Read More

  • Allusion In Trouble With Poetry

    540 Words  | 2 Pages

    Behind this form of allusion there is also examples of vivid image that make the poems come to live. Right away, in the first sentences I can picture the speaker performing

    Read More

  • Richard Wilbur A Fire Truck

    576 Words  | 2 Pages

    The essence of this poem is the author’s mastery of sound and rhythm and his excellent use of figurative language. Richard Wilbur purposely chose words that have few a syllables and require little to no change in mouth size and tongue movements to appease to the reader when read aloud. There is an ABAB rhythm scheme

    Read More

  • Children By Gail Gibbons Literary Devices

    749 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Lorax is a narrative poem that was used to discuss the important subject of environmental protection to children in the ways that they can understand. The engaging stories were not only accessible to the target audience but were delivered with unique ideas and concepts that only Dr. Seuss could create. An analysis of the texts and rhymes of this narrative poem revealed that alliteration was the principal devices used to accomplish this goal. Alliteration is a poetic device that involves the repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of successive words. An example from the Lorax is the sentence: “Grickle-grass grows and the wind smells slow-and-sour when it blows and no birds ever sing excepting

    Read More

  • letter from john foulcher to editor

    818 Words  | 2 Pages

    The use of alliteration, tone, mood, theme and other elements that construct a well balanced poem are in this piece of literature.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of The Poem We Real Cool By Brooks

    714 Words  | 2 Pages

    First, I am more drawn to “we real cool” by brooks because of the theme’s in this short poem. I

    Read More

  • Macbeth

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    Alliteration, or the repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables (The Free Dictionary 2011), is used in the play Macbeth to get an actor’s point across in a powerful and intense fashion.

    Read More

  • Violence In Beowulf

    1568 Words  | 4 Pages

    The verses also have a recurring scheme that makes it sound like words are merged together. Furthermore at times in poems such as this was used commonly in the form of song. This is used as a means to capture the action of the poem and attracts the audience. The specialized vocabulary in this excerpt is used most through the kennings. It can be seen when the author talks about ice melts and frost he calls icicles “water-ropes” (p.76, line 1610) to describe the item or gives a imagery for the audience. Moreover, it is elevated speech due to its alliteration combined with

    Read More

  • The Sleeper Literary Analysis Essay

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    The first literary device that can be found throughout the poem is couplet, which is when two lines in a stanza rhyme successfully. For instance, lines 1-2 state, “At midnight, in the month of June / I stand beneath the mystic moon.” This is evidence that couplet is being used as both June and moon rhyme, which can suggest that these details are important, thus leading the reader to become aware of the speaker’s thoughts and actions. Another example of this device can be found in lines 16-17, “All Beauty sleeps!—and lo! where lies / (Her casement open to the skies).” These lines not only successfully rhyme, but they also describe a woman who

    Read More

  • Daddy

    834 Words  | 2 Pages

    The absence of a specific rhyme pattern also contributes chaos to the tone. The structure of the poem is abstract, much like the characters thoughts and feelings. The rhymes are all over the place and the rhythm is often broken up with words that make it unbalanced and add tension. Another technique the author uses is lots of repetition. This helps to add emphasis and give a more dramatic effect to certain phrases. “Ich, ich, ich, ich,” (932) adds emphasis to her being unable to speak. At some points the repetition sounds a bit childlike showing her inner child. This is evident when she says “and get back, back, back to you” (933). The repetition along with the abundant use of “--oo” sounds and when the author uses terms like “achoo”, “daddy”, “freakish”, “neat”, and “gobbledygoo,” seems to create a Dr. Seuss effect on the poem. It is apparent the naïve child within her is influencing her thoughts and writings. Then, when the dark metaphors and the negative connotation towards her father are added, the tone is set. The internal conflict becomes apparent between the child who loved her “daddy” and the woman who has learned to see the man for what he truly was, a monster.

    Read More

  • Eve’s Apology

    1033 Words  | 3 Pages

    To begin, the poem, “Eve’s Apology,” uses many different poetic devices such as alliteration, assonance, rhyme scheme, and simile. The author uses a great number of alliteration, which is the repetition of constant sounds generally at the beginnings of words. Alliteration can be seen in the words “what” and “weakness” in line 3. Some more examples of alliteration throughout the poem are “subtle serpent’s” (23), “he had him” (24), and “with words which” (30). Assonance, the repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds in stressed syllables that end with different consonant sounds, is another poetic device that the author uses greatly. Some examples of assonance are found in lines 10 “ The ‘p...

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis: It Couldnt Be Done By Edgar Guest

    1125 Words  | 3 Pages

    The ABAB rhyme scheme is a pattern that can be recognized by many individuals; therefore, it relates to the message that motivation is needed by everybody. Two ABAB rhyme schemes make up each stanza, which symbolizes the positivity and negativity that battle throughout the poem. Guest breaks the rhyme scheme once by rhyming “failure” with “you”. This strategic action emphasizes the different methods that negative individuals use to destroy a person’s ambition. Internal rhyme is included in many lines of the poem to create fluidity and sound pleasing to an audience. The poem is composed of a qualitative iambic meter, giving the syllables a sound of da DUM. A pleasing flow is observed through the fairly consistent line length and line syllable number. The lines throughout the poem end in both stressed and unstressed syllables, referencing the battle between discouragement and

    Read More

More about We Real Cool Figurative Language

Open Document