Gwendolyn Brooks We Real Cool

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The well known African-American author Gwendolyn Brooks wrote the poem “We Real cool” which challenges readers as they absorb her brief but powerful poem. Within the poem, Brooks expresses the fearless and invincible persona of the “Seven Pool Players”. These figures represent inner-city school kids on the brink of adulthood. They live their lives dangerously, which tends to bring their lives to a short abrupt end. Brooks illustrates this in “We Real Cool” by depicting the lives of these seven individuals using straight-forward language. While it can be interpreted that Gwendolyn Brooks describes the lives of African-American teens, “We Real Cool” apples to the downfall of any young male that drops out of school. Many believe that this poem …show more content…
Regardless of race, reckless living and truancy can result in a dark future. “We Real Cool” has straight-forward and blunt diction. This piece gives the reader the freedom to fill in the blanks and imagine between the lines as the author describes the Seven Pool Players and the events leading to their dark and tragic futures. Brooks’ short poem has a simple rhyme scheme in couplet format. Each line has a meaning behind it. The line “We real cool” (1) supports the Brooks in revealing the insecurities of these teens, the sentiment that they must part of something to be in unity with others, so they are not left standing alone. The line indicates arrogance amid the teens; they think that they are doing more important things than the other kids their age. The next line, “We Left school”(2), affirms that these individuals are dropouts hanging out at the local pool hall. Rather than continuing their education and developing into responsible young adults, the boys’ new attitude does not mix with attending school. The next entry “We Lurk late” (3) aides Brooks in suggesting that these teens have no such thing as “curfew”. This line is meant to be yet another example of the poor behavior in these …show more content…
It reveal the lives of a few young men who have made the sacrifice of life for reputation. The race of the boys is not verified, but the important matter in the situation is there are human lives at stake, not an ethnicity. The harm that these boys cause themselves and others will drive their lives to a premature end, with no one to blame, but
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