Poem Analysis: We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks

The poem We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks focuses on what activities the troubled group of seven teenagers partake in to make them appeal cool. The symbolism, imagery and tone shown in, “We Real Cool” shows how losing one’s identity to become part of a uncaring group in adolescence and social norms will lead one to an early visit to the grave. Gwendolyn uses symbolism throughout her poem to get the readers to perceive the poem in an abstract way. In the subtitle, the word “golden” symbolises daytime and youth. This becomes an ironic name for the pool, because the wandering, carefree lives of the “pool players” seem to be anything but “golden” (line 1). By saying that the seven men “Lurk late,” the poem suggests that they are wandering around