Poetry allows people to express ideas and get across messages in a unique way. Well-known known poet Gwendolyn Brooks wrote many poems during her lifetime. These poems include “We Real Cool” and “The Mother.” Alliteration and repetition are two examples of poetic devices used in these poems. As with many poets, the works of Gwendolyn were highly influenced by her life and the time she grew up in.
Poet Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas on June 7, 1917. She died on December 3, 2000 at the age of 83 (Gwendolyn). Her father wanted to be a doctor, but, due to money problems, had no choice but to become a janitor. Her mother was a Sunday school teacher. At a young age, she was encouraged to pursue her love of writing poetry. For example, at age seven, her mother encouraged her to write. Langston Hughes, a famous poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist, read several of the poems she wrote, and encouraged her to pursue writing poetry as more than a pastime. Gwendolyn often wrote about being female and black in America because she could easily relate to that topic (“'We Real' Analysis”). This allowed her to go on to be the first African American woman to win the 1950 Pulitzer prize (“Gwendolyn”).
“We Real Cool” is a poem about seven young men who skip school to go to a pool hall. At the pool hall, they participate in prohibited activities, such as gambling and drinking alcohol. They believe that engaging in such activities makes them “real cool.” Although the boys boast about participating in these activities they seem to realize that they are not really cool at all and they will die soon because of their improprieties. Alliteration is a poetic device used in the poem. “Lurk late” (3), “sing sin” (5), “jazz...
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...ems, the choices made by the characters can be controversial. In “We Real Cool”, one could argue that the boys had a choice whether or not to skip school to go to the pool hall. Concerning “The Mother”, some people might say that abortion is wrong and the mother in the poem should not have had an abortion regardless of her problems.
As with many poets, the works of Gwendolyn were highly influenced by her life and the time she grew up in. The poems discussed are connected in that they both deal with people who are poor making decisions. They both discuss issues that are as relevant today as they were when she first wrote them. Perhaps one day, the need to discuss the differences in socioeconomic situations will be irrelevant as people will have the same choices no matter what their situation. Then again, if that was true, these great poems may have never come about.
Miguel Castaneda is the narrator and main character of the story “We Were Here”. Miguel is a young teenager from Stockton, California. He is dark complected because of his Mexican background but he does not have the personality to do the work like that of his Mexican relatives. I know this because in the story it says, “Told us we might be dark on the outside, but inside we were like a couple blonde boys from Hollywood.” He is very different from the rest of his family in terms of being able to handle situations that are put in front of him and completing the task at hand.
Justin Torres Novel We the Animals is a story about three brothers who lived a harassed childhood life. There parents are both young and have no permanent jobs to support their family. The narrator and his brothers are delinquents who are mostly outside, causing trouble, causing and getting involved in a lot of problems and barely attending school, which their parents allowed them to do. The narrator and his brothers were physically abused by their father, leading them to become more violent to one another and others, drinking alcohol and dropping out of school. Physical abuse is an abuse involving one person’s intention to cause feelings of pain, injury and other physical suffering and bodily harm to the victim. Children are more sensitive to physical abuse, they show symptoms of physical abuse in short run and more effects in the long run. Children who sustain physical abuse grow up with severely damaged of sense of self and inability. The narrator and his brothers were physically abused by their father and showed long run symptoms of Antisocial behaviors, drinking problems and most importantly they becoming more violent themselves. Many psychological and sociological studies such as “Childhood history of abuse and child abuse potential: role of parent’s gender and timing of childhood abuse” and “school factors as moderators of the relationship between physical child abuse and pathways of antisocial behavior can be used to prove the argument that children who sustain physical abuse grow up with criminal and antisocial behaviors.
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.
Looking back at the narratives and the significance of the poems in them is that many of the poems are inspired by nature around the authors. Also, the poems provide more of the voice of the authors instead of just the voice of the narrator and helps present the emotional tones of the characters in the narratives to the reader so that there can be more of a connection to it when it is being read. The poems make for a simple addition to the narrative and allows for a much more meaningful experience for a reader and makes for a much more engrossing story, thus adding to the to experience as a whole.
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by the name of Langston Hughes. A well-known writer that still gets credit today for pomes like “ Theme for English B” and “Let American be American Again.”
"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.
Both poems inspire their reader to look at their own life. In addition, they treat the reader to a full serving of historic literature that not only entertains, but also teaches valuable lesson in the form of morals and principles.
In her work, “This is Our World,” Dorothy Allison shares her perspective of how she views the world as we know it. She has a very vivid past with searing memories of her childhood. She lives her life – her reality – because of the past, despite how much she wishes it never happened. She finds little restitution in her writings, but she continues with them to “provoke more questions” (Allison 158) and makes the readers “think about what [they] rarely want to think about at all” (158).
Fulfilling the roles of both mother and breadwinner creates an assortment of reactions for the narrator. In the poem’s opening lines, she commences her day in the harried role as a mother, and with “too much to do,” (2) expresses her struggle with balancing priorities. After saying goodbye to her children she rushes out the door, transitioning from both, one role to the next, as well as, one emotion to another. As the day continues, when reflecting on
Despite the differences between the characters in the poems, I will also go on to say how the preoccupation with death and violence all seem to stem from the apparently unstable minds of the characters; from the instability brought on by varying emotions such as grief, jealousy, resentment, guilt and madness, and the fact that these emotions may lead to paranoia.
Poetry is a versatile avenue from which waves or ripples can be made potentially. A writer of poetry has the ability to make their readers feel a while wide array of emotions and situations synonymous with the human condition. I, at first, was completely turned off to the idea of poetry at first because all I was exposed to early on by way of poetry were bland professions of love or lust or seemingly simple poems I was forced to process down to a fine word paste. Edgar Allan Poe was interesting, but it was a tad bit dry to me. But, after reading poems the Harlem Renaissance gave me a bit of hope for poetry. To me, the poetry written during that time period has a certain allure to it. They have serious depth and meaning that I, myself and empathize
While it can be misconstrued to have an overall bitter, somber tone towards these young adults, empathy and understanding of societal connotations is essential. While Brooks does not particularly condone the pool players dropping out of school and hanging out in a pool hall, it is due to their looming uncertainty of identity, rather than stereotypical youthful rebellion. We Real Cool inherently addresses institutional racism by the societal repression inflicted on these young adults; in the historical connotations of the era in which this poem was written, African Americans were not treated equally in the least. This institutionalization of racism embedded the idea that the pool players thought they were not “cherished by society,” as put by Brooks. The fatalism exhibited by the pool players was portrayed throughout the poem in ways such as the hushed pronunciation of the repeated “we,” to the jazz-like musical element of the correct recitation of the poem itself. Even in the way We Real Cool is recitation, it addresses identity through its jazzy, rhythmic recitation, and its hushed pronunciation of “we.” While this poem was written in 1960, the repercussions of this institutionalized racism echoes from the past to current day, and inherently, this poem still depicts an accurate representation of the result of institutionalized racism on youth. Its overall message is to embrace identity, and not to fall into a futile attempt to rebel against “June,” or the establishment, which only repeats the cycle of institutionalized
In “We Real Cool” written by by Gwendolyn Brooks, Brooks adds to the meaning and tone of the poem by showing a theme that doing rebellious things gets you no where in life, even if it is considered “cool”. Brooks’ poem is about a group of people who do bad things like “leaving school” and “lurking late”. In the end of the poem, they say “We die soon”. In “We Real Cool”, Brooks is communicating that even if you’re “cool”, bad behavior ends up hurting you more that helping you. In the beginning of the poem, Brooks follows up after saying “We Real Cool” with “We Left School”. This helps establish the tone of a lostness because the narrorator is revealing that the only way he/she felt they could ‘be cool’ was to leave school with his ‘group’. Continueing
...t social injustices (Weidt 53). Because of her quest for freedom, she gave way to writers such as Gwendolyn Brooks and Countee Cullen. Countee Cullen wrote "Heritage," which mixes themes of freedom, Africa, and religion. It can be said, then, that he gave way to writers such as Gwendolyn Brooks wrote "Negro Hero," which is about the status of the African American during the 1940s. Clearly, these poets followed the first steps taken by Phillis Wheatley towards speaking out against social issues, and today's poetry is a result of the continuation to speak out against them
Gwendolyn Brooks once said “I felt that I had to write. Even if I had never been published, I knew that I would go on writing, enjoying it, and experiencing the challenge”. For some, writing may not be enjoyable or easy, but for Brooks writing was her life. Gwendolyn Brooks not only won countless awards, but also influenced the lives of several African Americans.