We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks Analysis

“We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is a poem with both explicit and implicit meanings and messages that intertwine. The award-winning author and poet got her inspiration from a group of boys she saw playing pool as she walked by a pool hall one afternoon- during school time. The poem was written in 1960, and the poet was born in 1917; Brooks being middle-aged upon writing, gives an insight to her attitude toward the boys skipping school. She had raised a son and was raising a daughter at the time. However, instead of asking herself “Why are those boys not in school,” she internally questioned “I wonder what they think of themselves?” Brooks stated perhaps the boys thought of themselves as “contemptuous of the establishment.” The reader, having no knowledge of the poet’s background, could infer that teenagers tend to bear a stubborn, rebellious streak that would result in a smug attitude, the

One of the main ones is that every action has consequences.Brooks demonstrates this by emphasizing the actions of the boys, as well as the last line “Die soon,” which causes the reader to reflect on the actions shown in the poem and infer that they result in death. The importance of education is another message exuded in the text; the grammatical mistakes and explicit statement “[We] left school’ tells the reader that the pool players are uneducated. Holding true to your own morals and beliefs is also projected. The young men are so busy trying to act “real cool,” they do not see that they are going down a dark path. Brooks promotes not pretending to be someone that you are not.
“We Real Cool” demonstrates how bad decisions can have a tragic impact. Brooks deliberately paints a picture of seven young men that make these bad choices. She shows their arrogance, how it demoralizes and controls the pool players. Using unique strategies throughout the poem, she clearly and effectively illustrates her points and