Poem Analysis: We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks

873 Words2 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 …show more content…

The repetition of the word “We” along with the fact that it is an enjambment, standing along at the end of each line, reinforces group identity. The group is the pool players and the identity is that they want to be defined by their rebellious acts. These rebellious acts are described in the following alliterations: “Lurk late” (line 3), “Sing sin” (line 5), and “Jazz June” (line 7). “Lurk late” (line 3) means they say out late because they don't have a job or school to wake up early for. “Sing sin” (line 5) refers to them flaunting their cool but sinful lives to the world. “Jazz” (line 7) alludes to freedom and dancing while “June” (line 7) could be the name of a girl referring to seduction and alcohol. All of these ideas and references displays what the pool players know to be cool but in the end this lifestyle comes crashing down in the final line when it says “We / Die soon” (lines 7-8). “We” is the group of cool pool people who do everything alike including, as this line describes, dying soon adding to the theme of mortality. Repetition and alliteration both play a pivotal role in combining ideas into relative concepts the contribute to Brooks’

More about Poem Analysis: We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks

Open Document