Gwendolyn Brooks We Real Cool Analysis

In Gwendolyn Brooks “We Real Cool” we are given a four stanza couplet that shows the daily activities of seven young men that dropped out of school. What I found really fitting in this poem was how the rhythm of the poem related well to the lifestyle of these young men. Each line comes at the reader quickly. Much like the rapid fire delivery of the lines in the poem, these characters also live life quickly both literally and metaphorical. The poem is spontaneous as are the characters and each line reveals more and more of the counterculture lives that these men live.
Not only does the rhythm of the poem relate well to the characters but so does the ending. When reading this poem I felt like I was really just starting to get into the story until suddenly the ending hits me like a brick wall. The ending comes fast and unexpected with the line “die soon” and I feel like the death of these characters came to them unexpectedly as well. I cannot help but feel like Brooks did this on purpose to
prove a point that reckless actions have consequences. While I admit that I enjoyed reading about the rebellious actions of these young men, that enjoyment was forcibly cut short when I was humbly reminded that the lifestyle that these men have chosen have the ultimate consequence—death. Brooks proved her point.
What I also found interesting and I think Brooks did this on purpose as well is that there are a couple of the lines that could have a double meaning. For example, early in the poem the reader is told that these seven young men play pool at the Golden Shovel so the line “We strike straight” could easily be a pool reference to them playing pool or that they get into fights. Then we learn that this group also “Sing sin” which could mean that they are singing songs about sin which would make sense since this poem came out in 1960 and rock n roll is starting to become popular in the 1960s or that they are also bragging about all of the sins they have committed.
Besides using the rhyme, ending, and some double meaning lines in her poem to advantage, Brooks also uses symbolism in this poem as well.
One instance of symbolism is that they play pool at the Golden Shovel. While it just seems like a cool fun name for a pool hall it is also is a symbol for what these men are doing to themselves. This group does not see that their actions will have detrimental consequences and they feel like they are living a golden lifestyle by just having fun and doing whatever they want to do. However, with that being said these young men are digging their graves with their actions so the Golden Shovel represents the group as a whole. I would also say that Brooks chose the number seven for the number of boys and lines in the poem to represent the seven deadly sins. Whether it is pride in stubbornly doing whatever they want or lust in actions like jazzing June, these boys are committing sins that will ultimately lead to their premature
demise.
In the end, this poem is a warning that one can also end up like these seven young men if one decides to live recklessly. While the live fast die young lifestyle has its glitz and glamor it is not practical and will eventually led to dying at a young age. Brooks point is that this is not something young people should strive for because there is so much living left to do that these young men will not have the opportunity to do so learn from them and their mistakes.