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.
Brooks’ selection of single syllable words helps set the rhythm of a jazz mood. The monosyllable words provide a rhythmical tool for generating a snappy beat to her tale. Her repetition of rhyming words close together adds unity to the poem. By placing the one syllable words close together: “cool / school” (1-2) and “sin / gin” (5-6), it emphases each word. The feelings and imagery are clear in this poem. The rhyming lines in her verse contain only three words, and it keeps the poem’s rhythm moving. The short verse makes it easy to remember. The short lines speed it up, but the sound on each stop really stands out. Only the subtitle is longer, which Brooks utilizes to encompass the setting. Her careful use of short words keeps the beat and describes what the boys are doing, like leaving school, or staying out late. These simple
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words represent the gang’s lack of language skills. This symbolizes uneducated boys talking. She does it with such vivid verse and ethnic slang that it gives this poem a unique style.
Brooks employs more than one rhyming device. She exercises end rhyme in the poem. Brooks’ words rhyme at the end of each sentence. Often in rhymes, the sentence ends with the rhyming word, but not here. The poem’s sentences end in the middle of the line, because Brooks chose to create a metrical pause or caesura. The repetition of “We” at the end, helps to keep the audience focus on the gang. Brooks applies internal rhyme before the end. “We / Sing in. We / Thin gin” (5-6) shows internal rhyme. The gang is proud and boasting about their lives. This conjures up visions of the boys bad choices, but it also helps you see the connection in the lines.
It is very clear that the narrator is aggravated with the ignorance of some people as they assume she is supposed to sound different than she does because she is black. To emphasize her agitation throughout the poem, the narrator asks rhetorical questions such as; "Was I supposed to sound lazy, dropping syllables here, there, not finishing words but slurring the final letter so that each sentence joined the next, sliding past the listener? Were certain words off limits, too erudite, too scholarly for someone with a natural tan? And Does everyone in your family speak alike?"
Rhyme-The last words of line one and line three of each stanza rhyme. The last words of line two and line four of each stanza also rhyme. The rhyming words contribute to the rhythm and flow of the poem.
Rhythm helps to move the poem along and keep the reader alert, which is exactly what Forbes is doing. Most poets use rhythm by having certain lines rhyme after each other; which gives the poem a wispy sensation, causing the reader to stay intrigued.
Gwendolyn Brooks was an extremely influential poet. Her poems inspired many people. Brooks’ career started after publishing her first poem Eventide. This poem started Brooks’ career as a well-known American poet.
When I read poetry, I often tend to look first at its meaning and second at how it is written, or its form. The mistake I make when I do this is in assuming that the two are separate, when, in fact, often the meaning of poetry is supported or even defined by its form. I will discuss two poems that embody this close connection between meaning and form in their central use of imagery and repetition. One is a tribute to Janis Joplin, written in 1983 by Alice Fulton, entitled “You Can’t Rhumboogie in a Ball and Chain.” The second is a section from Walt Whitman’s 1,336-line masterpiece, “Song of Myself,” first published in 1855. The imagery in each poem differs in purpose and effect, and the rhythms, though created through repetition in both poems, are quite different as well. As I reach the end of each poem, however, I am left with a powerful human presence lingering in the words. In Fulton’s poem, that presence is the live-hard-and-die-young Janis Joplin; in Whitman’s poem, the presence created is an aspect of the poet himself.
For example, the people in Santa Ana and the surroundings around her . Also, about her losing many people . One of the symbols is the poet uses is “ Schoolyard boys “ . The symbols represents the young men that have died in the early days . Evidence in the poem that suggests this meaning is found in stanza #2 which says “ The schoolyard boys underneath the ground “ . This means that the schoolyard boys died .The author has a upset feeling about it . As a symbol this represents something negative about the city . For example death and gangs in the city
In Conclusion, Billy Collins use of irony in both the setting and the description of the stereotypical students helped strengthen the allusion of the poem. The students in the poem are in an eternal school lifestyle as opposed to being in a normal town environment. Aspects of the setting, such as the landscape being made out of paper and the night sky being compared to a blackboard painted a descriptive picture in the mind of the reader, making the allusion more believable and relatable. Also, the use of stereotypes in this poem added on to the allusion of the school environment, giving life to the society in the town created by Collins. At first, the poem may seem like only an allusion, but with a closer look, you can see the reality behind it all.
The informal language and intimacy of the poem are two techniques the poet uses to convey his message to his audience. He speaks openly and simply, as if he is talking to a close friend. The language is full of slang, two-word sentences, and rambling thoughts; all of which are aspects of conversations between two people who know each other well. The fact that none of the lines ryhme adds to the idea of an ordinary conversation, because most people do not speak in verse. The tone of the poem is rambling and gives the impression that the speaker is thinking and jumping from one thought to the next very quickly.
Rhymes are two or more words that have the same ending sound. Songwriters and poets often times use rhymes to help their piece flow better, or keep the audience or readers engaged. Billy Joel’s song “We Didn’t Start the Fire” is filled with rhymes, with a rhyme in almost every single line: “Brando, the King and I, and the Catcher In The Rye / Eisenhower, Vaccine, England’s got a new Queen / Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye” (line 6-8). Billy Joel uses the rhymes to move from one topic to the next, and the song is even in chronological order from 1950 to 1989. The rhyme schemes of the song are end rhymes as well as perfect rhymes. On the other hand, the poem is completely free verse, or without a single rhyme. This makes the poem less artistic and harder to remain engaged and interested. In addition to rhyming, allusions are another way of displaying artistic
Roethke’s poem has a regular rhyme scheme that can be expressed as “abab”. The only exception to this scheme would be the first stanza as the words “dizzy” (2) and “easy” (4) are slant rhymes. Only the end syllables of the two words sound the same. As a result, the use of a consistent “abab” rhyme scheme allows the poem to reflect the
The Message of Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Are Real Cool" "We Real Cool" is a short, yet powerful poem by Gwendolyn Brooks that sends a life learning message to its reader. The message Brooks is trying to send is that dropping out of school and roaming the streets is in fact not "cool" but in actuality a dead end street. 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.
...the reader to think in a different mindset. By creating this mindset Hughes and Brooks communicate thousands of years of black history as the speaker of “The Weary Blues” has the singers blues echo through his head so too do we have the weary thoughts of generations past echo through ours. Their creative use of words creates connection between performer and audience through the style of communication. Hughes doesn’t just use the grief of the singer’s lyrics; he uses the moan of the piano to express sorrow. Brooks doesn’t just ponder the life choices of the young boys; she forces the reader to think from their point of view. Brooks creates a connection between the speaker and the reader through the style of communication. By using these styles Hughes and Brooks prove that creating connections is less about what is said and more about the music that drives the poetry.
“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.
We Strike straight. We” (5-6). The frequent use of alliteration has a percussive effect, similar to crashing ciphers or the boom of a dual bass, “Sing sin” (7), “Jazz June” (9). These lines also symbolize their music tastes, as the pool players seem to know something about the deep jazz culture. Imagery is also used in this poem, as it also creates an image of their intensive dancing and self-indulgent enjoyment of life which distracts them from the final sentence of the poem, “Die soon” (11). This explains that there is a cost to such enjoyment of life and why it cannot be ignored at the end of the day. Nonetheless, as there are no direct examples of figurative language in the poem, some of the descriptive details as being implied metaphors in their demonstration of young
“We knew he’d begun” (Guest, 12) is a line containing a common “e” sound, which helps emphasize the importance of listening to one’s personal decisions. Next, lines with internal rhyme, such as “with a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin”, contain intertwined consonance to draw attention to the meaning of the entire line. The reoccurring “n” sound puts prominence on the cheerful spirit that the character maintains after experiencing a lack of support. Another example of consonance is in the line “it couldn’t be done”. This common “t” sound appears in the title and many lines throughout the poem to show the little impact that these diminishing words had on the main character. The word “chuckle” is an example of onomatopoeia, which adds interest and a dynamic energy to the poem. It also contributes to the dialogue and the art of story telling in the first stanza.