Gwendolyn Brooks We Real Cool

The poem “We Real Cool” is a very powerful poem, although expressed with very few words. To me, this poem describes the bottom line of the well known “ghetto life”. It describes the desperate and what they need, other than the usual what they want, money. Without actually telling us all about the seven young men, it does tell us about them. The poem tells of the men’s fears, their ambitions, and who they think they are, versus who they really are.

“We Real Cool," by Gwendolyn Brooks is a fervent short poem that tells a story of teenage rebellion. This poem is a formal verse ballad which uses simple sentences that create a steady meter giving the poem a catchy jazz like quality. Although the poem is short, it packs a powerful message about youth. Gwendolyn Brooks centered her works predominately around the African American consciousness. During the 1960’s when the poem was written, many teens especially young African-American men felt misunderstood and like the world was set up for them to fail. On the surface, it appears this poem is a mere description of young adults that are misjudged. The deeper message of this poem addresses the dangers of peer pressure, and its detrimental effects to self-identity because of the disconnect between society and youth of that time.

She also presents a slight rhythm to the reading that allows for smooth reading. In keeping with her open form, there is no set scheme to the rhyme pattern. However, there is a single ending sound constantly repeated without a set pattern throughout the work. She also connects pairs of lines at random just for the sake of making connections to make that particular stanza flow. At the same time, she chose blatantly not to rhyme in certain parts to catch the reader’s attention.

The poem is separated into two parts, each with sixteen lines, and is loosely based on an iambic pentameter metre. The rhyme scheme is ABAB throughout the poem, with the noticeable exception of the last four lines of part II, in which it changes to

The poem also uses end rhyme to add a certain rhythm to the poem as a whole. And the scheme he employs: aabbc, aabd, aabbad. End rhyme, in this poem, serves to effectively pull the reader through to the end of the poem. By pairing it with lines restricted to eight syllables. The narrator creates an almost nursery-rhyme like rhythm. In his third stanza however, his last line, cutting short of eight syllables, stands with an emphatic four syllables. Again, in the last stanza, he utilizes the same technique for the last line of the poem. The narrator’s awareness of rhyme and syllable structure provides the perfect bone structure for his poem’s rhythm.

with a cadence which holds true through out the whole poem (Team, Shmoop Editorial). Service’s application of literary devices like alliteration enhances the flow of the poem; “roam 'round, cursèd cold, foul or fair, half hid, and brawn and brains” (Service).

Besides using certain rhythmic devices to create the fragrant timeline of the poem, James Wright also uses other rhythmic devices for different purposes. These details finally established a subtle rhyme scheme. For example, the only use of alliteration in the poem is third line’s “spare his suffering”, where the “suffering” seems to be really spared by its initial consonant sounds. In the thirteenth line, “flesh” and “flayed” connect the two sentences, enabling a much more smooth tone of the last sentence with a feeling of a tragedy ending. Some consonances are also interesting. Besides what have already been mentioned before, “victim beaten” in ninth line uses the “en” sound to imitate the stuffy voice of beating someone. Assonance is also used in the twelfth line “ when I remembered bread my flesh had eaten”; “ bread” here is used as a metaphor of Jesus, so along with this assonance, a relation ship between “bread” and “flesh” is clearly shown. When talking about rhymes, what James Wright did also adds more subtlety to the poem. Usually in a sonnet a nice formatted rhyme is already enough; however, James Wright tried to add counterpoint relationship to end-rhymes, making the whole poem more complex

24). This rhyme helps to flow the emotion from the speaker to the reader. The reader senses the

Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool” explores the ethnic identity and its underlying relation to poverty. Although the seven boys’ relationship initiates at the local pool hall, it is their parallel financial status and ethnic background that allows them to understand each other. As a coping mechanism, they act in unison to face the racial discrimination that defines their hometown. They eventually understand, as African American men, their lives hold no value. Consequently, they decide what actions to take because it is the only aspect of their lives that they are able to control. The death of these boys is left unexplained, much like their lifestyle. Throughout the poem, the characters never provide the reader with explanations for their actions; they simply act. In parsing the lines that follow the epigraph, it becomes clear enjambment mimics the suspenseful lifestyle of the pool players while creating a hypercritical which demonstrates the negative manner in which their actions where perceived. Furthermore, enjambment encapsulates the speakers’ struggle to find hope in his situation and the consequent realization that he will not be treated with equality.

Within the text of (Hear.) a multitude of free verses can be found. In one example in the poem Whitman will, express, “The wood-cutter 's song, the ploughboy 's on his way in the/ morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,...” (Whitman Lines 11-12). Found within this text is Whitman’s clear usage of free verse. One sign of this usage of free verse can be found in the fact that Whitman does not make his lines rhyme in any way; instead, he simply writes what he thinks and pays no attention to rhyme. In addition to this the lines also could pass as everyday normal speech, something that is a clear sign of free verse. To create a connection to Whitman, Hughes also used free verse in his poem (Too.). By using Whitman’s style of free verse Hughes was able to create a sense of connection between his poem and Whitman’s, truly driving the relation to be seen as legitimate. In one portion of Hughes text he will explain, “But I laugh,/ And eat well,/ And grow strong” (Hughes Stanza 2, Lines 1-3). In this text presented by Hughes it can clearly be seen the author 's usage of free verse, as in fact the lines are similar to normal speech. The line presented hold very little rhyme, in fact, none at all; in

One of the first things you notice is the usage of an almost perfect rhyme scheme. Dunbar uses this frequently through the entire poem, using the AABB method. I personally think that Dunbar uses this to fit in well with other poems, so peers understand that it is, in fact, a poem.

Furthermore it rounds the stanza out, concluding his point of view. Rhyming, another component of charm, can be found in the stanza at the end of each double line: “… while we are in our prime… follie of the time,” (ll. 57, 58). The stanza attains a rhyme scheme of AABCDDEEFFGGHH. The use of this scheme helps the poem to flow, causing it to be smooth to read. You are virtually able to sing along to the poem due to the predictable sound.

The poem contains six quatrains, and does not follow any consistent rhyme scheme. Every line starts with a strong beat and ends up with a weak beat. The first and third lines in each stanza have iambic tetrameter, but the second and fourth lines do not contain any consistent meter. The feet generate a rhythm

the first few lines, there seems to be similar word patterns. Not every poem needs rhyme as

For example, end rhymes in the poem alternate lines with very few variations, implementing frequently repeated, and alarmingly simplistic rhyming words such as: "Lee," "sea," "me," and "we."