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Poem Analysis Of We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks

912 Words4 Pages

"We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks portrays the plight of the rebellious youth in all their glory. In this poem, the author utilizes unique meter and verse to add to the story she's conveying. The pool players in this poem are rogue youths and Brooks attempts to understand their lives. The tone conveyed in the poem adds a slightly ominous tint to the picture of the pool players. Brooks uses this poem to convey the plight of the pool player’s existence and urge the reader to see the fun the pool players have and also the looming consequences.
The speakers of this poem are all pool players gathering at a bar to indulge their rebellious side. They are found at the "Golden Shovel", a seemingly contradictory name that is reminiscent of both the …show more content…

This poem has many playful phrases that glorify their rebellious actions. “Strike straight” conjures up an image of youthful fun and power. “Sing sin” also creates a picture of youthful fun, but with a slightly darker tone as the pool players rebellion intensifies. The alliteration of these two phrases makes them stand out and celebrate their anarchistic actions. The ominous nature of the tone in the poem is furthered with phrases like “left school” and “lurk late”. The sadness hidden within each phrase shows what the pool players are only subconsciously aware. The foreboding final sentence, “We die soon”, seems to seal the grim future the pool players will face. Perhaps they are aware of now their lives may be cut short because they never really had a chance to live. Little is known about the actual identity of these pool players except for what they do. Perhaps they were some of the many impoverished African Americans living in Chicago that Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about. There’s a strong sense of “live fast, die young” throughout the poem, however an early death seems inevitable for these pool players, so why shouldn’t they live in the

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