Gwendolyn Brooks We Real Cool

Gwendolyn Brooks observes a group of youngsters in a pool hall in the poem “We Real Cool.” The poem is written in 4 stanzas and 8 lines, if you don’t count the subtitle: “The Pool Players./ Seven at The Golden Shovel.” Technically, every line rhymes in this poem, but every line (save for the last) also ends with the same word. Each line has rhyming words within, also: “Lurk late. We/ Strike straight. We/.” It is not the “typical” poem you might read because of this. All words in the poem are mono-syllabic, and there are a couple spots where Brooks uses alliteration. By using very few words, the imagery present in the poem weighs even more heavily, giving each word more meaning. At first glance, I assumed the poem’s theme to be about the youth of Gwendolyn Brooks’ time, and how irresponsible partying led to an early destruction. The poem literally paints us a vivid picture of a group of kids who think they’re cool by acting rebellious. One can assume the speakers are young teenaged men who are only concerned about their image. They skip school, sing songs of their defiant deeds, stay out late and party, and drink watered-down liquor. Their story is literally
brought to an end abruptly when they talk about dying soon. There is a sarcastic undertone present in the story; a sort of sly commentary on how these kids might think they’re cool, but they really aren’t. Any factual statement made in the poem stands out from the speakers’ own thoughts of themselves (“Left School,” “Die soon.”) Though these kids are having fun being “bad,” they realize (albeit at the very end of the poem) that this life will put them in an early grave. Because of the way it was written in the poem, I looked up the word “jazz” in context of the time period and found that it had a more lewd meaning than a type of music. Jazz at first meant making love to someone, so I took that to mean they are out making love to the summer or enjoying the weather. It could also mean they have relations with women, too. “Strike straight” on a figurative level means they never miss, which is also an example of the overconfidence the group feels. Though they enjoy rebelling, this not-so-glamorous lifestyle will not last long if they keep it up. Gwendolyn Brooks was a Chicago native, and I assume she observed groups like this often when going out. After reading this poem, I assume that a good amount of young black youth in Brooks’ city were only concerned with revelry and fun. The theme is when you live fast, you die young. I have a pretty sarcastic sense of humor, and often say “you’re cool” when someone speaks too highly of themselves.
In this way, I might be a little biased toward believing the author wrote this poem with a sarcastic tone. I see the poem as a sort of warning to youth in her day. By using this tone, people who relate to the speakers probably re-evaluate their lifestyle. Every teenager experiences feelings of wanting to be rebellious, of course. Most teens and young adults party and eventually pass that phase, as I have. Eventually, I realized that image isn’t everything, and partying won’t get you anywhere in life. “We Real Cool” basically reinforces this belief, and I’ve seen friends in the position of the speakers in the poem make nothing of themselves while being overly obsessed with partying every
weekend.