In the poem “We Real Cool” written by, the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer for Poetry, Gwendolyn Brooks discusses how when she came across a group of young men at a pool hall, what she thought they were feeling. I chose this poem because I felt that Brooks does a great job of discussing issues during that time period, which mainly African Americans faced. She did so in a clear and concise way, so when reading the poem it flowed easily, and it was catchy, almost like music. At the beginning of the poem we first read the subtitle Gwendolyn Brooks wrote, “The pool players (Seven at the Golden Shovel) she describes to us the “We” of the poem, the seven young men playing pool, and the setting of the poem which takes place at …show more content…
the pool hall at night in Chicago. Brooks introduces the poem’s message that “We real cool” but this statement is contradicted by the suggestion made at the end of the poem that “We die soon.” This shows us that the author is telling us that the pool players have freedom, but due to their crazy and dangerous lifestyle they will die young. On first reading the poem “We Real Cool”, I thought it was about the writer being a part of the “We” and telling us that they ditched school that day to go hangout at the pool hall with friends, thinking they were cool staying out late, misbehaving, drinking, and dancing.
Then after reading it another time and looking into more about the background of the author and poem, I see that it is has a bigger picture of the issue Gwendolyn Brooks was trying to write about, which was that during this time period many African Americans were dropping out of school. Just a few years before Brooks wrote this poem, the Supreme Court ruled in the Brown vs. Board of Education case, that it was unconstitutional to segregate schools. However, desegregating the schools was a prolonged process, and many African Americans became frustrated. So, these students who would drop out, like the ones in the poem, felt like they had no future anymore and now chose to follow a different lifestyle. Gwendolyn Brooks does a great job as to explaining …show more content…
this. As a reader the structure of the poem appealed to me because the poem uses a couplet structure where each stanza of the poem is two lines long.
The writer also makes the poem flow and easy to read by keeping all the words just one syllable in length. Gwendolyn brooks also incorporated rhyme into the poem by making the last word of each sentence within each stanza rhyme, for example cool and school in the first stanza or sin and gin in the third stanza. She also uses slang to emphasize a difference in the way the young men speak. I read the poem by reading three beats/words and then took a pause. I stressed the words after the “we”, and then said the “we” softly because I feel that even though the author identified the “we” as the young men, it is still uncertain overall when looking at the big picture because this can be seen as a lifestyle choice, something that can apply to many
people. Though Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem is not very long she does a great job of making every word count and making us the readers find the deeper meaning. When the poem says, “We left school.” We infer from that the young men are dropouts and do not attend school anymore. In the next line Brooks writes about how the young men stay out late, hinting towards not having many obligations such as a daytime job. Also by saying they “strike straight” we can infer that they always hit the ball right into the pocket, this showing that they have had a lot of practice and probably spend a lot of time playing pool or that they go for what they want and don’t beat around the bush. In the next stanza, Gwendolyn Brooks write’s, “We sing sin. We thin gin.” From these words we can infer that she is trying to say that the young men are not innocent they commit many sins and also drink. Lastly the poem ends with a blunt ending, “We die soon.” Meaning that with the lifestyle the young men lead, they know they will not live long. I believe that the reason this poem was successful was that Gwendolyn Brooks kept it short and was able to get straight to her point on the topic. The poem is also written using “we”, which gives the feeling that it is the seven young men who are saying this poem, speaking from their knowledge. At the end the young men admit that living this lifestyle will cause them to die young.
Gwendolyn Brooks in “We Real Cool” develops an ironic, sarcastic tone through specific word choice. The poem begins with the phrase “We real cool” (Line 1) so immediately, the reader knows that these pool playing buddies define themselves as “cool”. In their minds, they are the epitomes of
Langston Hughes wrote a poem, in 1951, called “Harlem”. It sums up the play A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry: “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore- and the run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over- like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?” Lorraine Hansberry uses this poem to open A Raisin in the Sun. This dialogue suggests what happens to the African American’s dream during the Brown v. Board of Education trials. While critiquing this play I was a little disappointed that Brown v. Board of Education was not discussed directly. However, I did find the plot of the play, and the people who were attending it to be very interesting.
The girl’s descendants (presumably of mixed anscestry) are classified as black by the one drop rule (definition of a high yaller) and therefore destined to be arbitrarily segregated and grouped in with blacks by whites but cast out by blacks because they looked white. As opposed to Hughes’ era of strict division and rejection of people of mixed ancestry (such as Hughes himself), in today’s society the mixed group seems to be both ostracized and simultaneously accepted by whites and blacks alike, in some ways giving them the ability to have even greater social value or control in their own fate. The girl in the poem is conflicted because she wants
The civil rights movement may have technically ended in the nineteen sixties, but America is still feeling the adverse effects of this dark time in history today. African Americans were the group of people most affected by the Civil Rights Act and continue to be today. Great pain and suffering, though, usually amounts to great literature. This period in American history was no exception. Langston Hughes was a prolific writer before, during, and after the Civil Rights Act and produced many classic poems for African American literature. Hughes uses theme, point of view, and historical context in his poems “I, Too” and “Theme for English B” to expand the views on African American culture to his audience members.
Because of that, his writing seems to manifest a greater meaning. He is part of the African-American race that is expressed in his writing. He writes about how he is currently oppressed, but this does not diminish his hope and will to become the equal man. Because he speaks from the point of view of an oppressed African-American, the poem’s struggles and future changes seem to be of greater importance than they ordinarily would. The point of view of being the oppressed African American is clearly evident in Langston Hughes’s writing.
With the use of such a sarcastic and straightforward tone in her poem, “We Real Cool”, Brook’s enforces the poem’s theme using patterned repetition. This repetition makes it apparent to the reader that Brooks is suggesting something completely opposite from what she is saying, and creates a poem with much more direction and meaning. Repetition is seen throughout the poem with, “We Real Cool”, in lines 1 and 2, “We / Left school. We / Lurk late” (1-2). The pattern proceeds throughout the stanzas in the poem, each sentence beginning with “We” and containing three syllables. Each sentence suggests a moment of pride and satisfaction. This is clear in “We Real Cool” in the very first couple lines “We / Left” (1-2) where Brooks conveys the act of dropping out of school. Even though dropping out of school may alleviate the young men’s immediate dislike for a structured schooling environment, it will affect their long-term future. Apart from its subtitle, "The pool players, seven at the Golden Shovel”, "We Real Cool" is made up of four stanzas, each of which is a two-line couplet. Each word throughout the poem contains only one syllable. Although most traditional couplets in poetry contain a rhyme at the end of the line, this poem takes rhyming to a new level where the couplets rhyme in the middle. For example, the rhyming
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.
Reading these poems is an incredible learning experience because it allows readers to view segregation through the eyes of someone most affected by it. In the U.S. History course I took I didn’t take away the details and specific examples I did from reading and researching Brooks’ work. For example, the history textbook only mentioned one specific person who was affected by segregation, that person was Rosa Parks. The example of Rosa Parks demonstrated just one isolated incident of how black people were punished if they disobeyed the laws of segregation. In contrast, Brooks’ work demonstrates the everyday lives of black people living with segregation, which provides a much different perspective than what people are used to. An example, of this would be in Brooks’ poem “Bronzeville Woman in a Red Hat”. The speaker of this poem hired a black maid and referred to her as “it”(103). By not using the maid’s name or using the pronoun her, the speaker is dehumanizing the maid. This poem expresses to readers that white people thought that black people weren’t like them, that they weren’t even
...ites a short 33-line poem that simply shows the barriers between races in the time period when racism was still openly practiced through segregation and discrimination. The poem captures the African American tenant’s frustrations towards the landlord as well as the racism shown by the landlord. The poem is a great illustration of the time period, and it shows how relevant discrimination was in everyday life in the nineteen-forties. It is important for the author to use the selected literary devices to help better illustrate his point. Each literary device in the poem helps exemplify the author’s intent: to increase awareness of the racism in the society in the time period.
This poem is written from the perspective of an African-American from a foreign country, who has come to America for the promise of equality, only to find out that at this time equality for blacks does not exist. It is written for fellow black men, in an effort to make them understand that the American dream is not something to abandon hope in, but something to fight for. The struggle of putting up with the racist mistreatment is evident even in the first four lines:
the life of Harlem and knew that equality and freedom was definitely not present. The poem portrays
The most noticed literary element is alliteration. Alliteration is found when the speaker says “Pool Players” (line 1), “Lurk late” (line 5), “Strike straight” (line 6), “Sing sin” (line 7), “Thin gin” (line 8), and “Jazz June” (line 9). These alliterations sets the entire ambiance of the poem. The speaker’s word puts the reader in the mindset of the cool 1960’s jazz vibe by adding rhythms into the words. Alliteration is also used to draw attention to certain parts of the text and since this poem is so short Brooks has grabbed the reader’s
The poem “We Real Cool” is a short but sweet poem that, even though it only has a few words, is very deep and impactful. The author, Gwendolyn Brooks’ idea about what being “cool” really means in “We Real Cool” still has relevance for an audience 56 years later. It is interesting to see how culture isn’t very different today than it was when the poem was written. Although the poem is very short and uses the word “we” numerous times it still has a very large significance and meaning to it.
From lines 3 to 6, Langston Hughes explains how the injustice in his life doesn’t matter to white kids. To white kids, injustice is like unnoticeable, yet it does exist. Throughout the rest of the poem, Hughes questions the promises made by the Pledge of Allegiance. The promise made was, Liberty and Justice for all! This was only for the white kids where when it came to African Americans, they were ignored.
Over the course of the century chronicling the helm of slavery, the emancipation, and the push for civil, equal, and human rights, black literary scholars have pressed to have their voice heard in the midst a country that would dare classify a black as a second class citizen. Often, literary modes of communication were employed to accomplish just that. Black scholars used the often little education they received to produce a body of works that would seek to beckon the cause of freedom and help blacks tarry through the cruelties, inadequacies, and inconveniences of their oppressed condition. To capture the black experience in America was one of the sole aims of black literature. However, we as scholars of these bodies of works today are often unsure as to whether or not we can indeed coin the phrase “Black Literature” or, in this case, “Black poetry”. Is there such a thing? If so, how do we define the term, and what body of writing can we use to determine the validity of the definition. Such is the aim of this essay because we can indeed call a poem “Black”. We can define “Black poetry” as a body of writing written by an African-American in the United States that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of an experience or set of experiences inextricably linked to black people, characterizes a furious call or pursuit of freedom, and attempts to capture the black condition in a language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm. An examination of several works of poetry by various Black scholars should suffice to prove that the definition does hold and that “Black Poetry” is a term that we can use.