We Real Cool a Poem by Gwendoly Brooks Essay examples

Reflections Within is a non-traditional stanzaic poem made up of five stanzas containing thirty-four lines that do not form a specific metrical pattern. Rather it is supported by its thematic structure. Each of the five stanzas vary in the amount of lines that each contain. The first stanza is a sestet containing six lines. The same can be observed of the second stanza. The third stanza contains eight lines or an octave. Stanzas four and five are oddly in that their number of lines which are five and nine.

Although there are a number of different facets regarding the careers and works of Gwendolyn Brooks and Robert Frost, there are a number of similarities between their respective poems "We Real Cool" and "Nothing Gold Can Stay". These similarities become all the more apparent when one attempts to compare the imagery of these poems. A careful consideration of this comparison indicates that the imagery of each of these poems is preoccupied with the concept of time in various aspects of its ephemeral nature, which ultimately reveals itself in a common theme of the untimely transition of youth to a state of death.

The poem is formed of eight stanzas, each one is six lines long except for the fifth stanza which is an octet. The stanzas are formed of sets of three rhyming couplets in the

In the poem “We Real Cool,” I think the speaker and the poet are not the same; the speaker of the poem is the group of young men. I believe they are not the same because the poet wanted to share her better intentions of what she can see across the society at her

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.

African American boys are doubly displaced among society. Ann Arnett Ferguson says, “they are not seen as childlike but adultified; as black males they are denied the masculine dispensation constituting white males as being “naturally naughty” and are discerned as willfully bad”(page 80). These African American boys are thought of being two things, either a criminal or an endangered species. They are not allowed to be naughty by nature according to society, but rather there naughtiness is a sign of vicious, inherent, insubordinate behavior. African americans are seen as endangered victims, which makes them criminals. Ferguson states, “It is their own maladaptive and inappropriate behavior that causes African americans to self-destruct”(page 82). There are two versions of childhood that are contradictory to each other. A real child would be seen as a “little plants” ready to grow up accordingly which is what white men were like to educators. On the other hand the African American boys were seen as children who are powerful, self centered, and have an agenda of their own. These black boys are seen as adults from such a young age, they don’t have time to be young and grow up because others make it seem like they are already fully grown. This drives them in the path to do bad things and make bad decisions.

To show first hand to the whites the inequality’s and hardships that the blacks face, the entire first section is in a narrative and a descriptive format. The use of these types of essays lets the readers feel more involved in the story and feel things for themselves. Split into two sections within itself, this first paragraph juxtaposes two stories — one about a “young Negro boy” living in Harlem, and the other about a “young Negro girl” living in Birmingham. The parallelism in the sentence structures of introducing the children likens them even more — despite the differences between them — whether it be their far away location, or their differing, yet still awful, situations. Since this section is focused more towards his white audience, King goes into a description of what it was like living as an African American in those times— a situation the black audience knew all too well. His intense word choice of describing the boy’s house as “vermin-infested” provokes a very negative reaction due to the bad

     Gwendolyn Brooks is the female poet who has been most responsive to changes in the black community, particularly in the community’s vision of itself. The first African American to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize; she was considered one of America’s most distinguished poets well before the age of fifty. Known for her technical artistry, she has succeeded in forms as disparate as Italian terza rima and the blues. She has been praised for her wisdom and insight into the African Experience in America. Her works reflect both the paradises and the hells of the black people of the world. Her writing is objective, but her characters speak for themselves. Although the

As time continues, the boy struggles with what to make of himself and his future. His musical aspirations begin to hold more weight in his decisions, but are still rather questionable. Whenever he seems to be making the steps to pave his future, he seems to continuously be redirected from his intended path. His inability to fully strive for a profession can be directly related to his inability to choose how he wants to be viewed, or rather who he wants to be viewed as, by society; he lacks the confidence to potentially make the “wrong decision.” The narrator becomes increasingly likely to make a career of music, and is greatly inspired by spirituals he hears at a church service. As he leaves to “settle down to work” (Johnson 133) , he witnesses a gruesome and cruel scene. A black man was to be hanged in town, but instead a white mob burns the black man alive. The narrator is terrified and scarred, committing to live his life as a white man. Shame is what the young boy now feels, for whether he lives as a white man, he is indeed a black man. Shame is responsible for the choice he made, because he wished not to be “identified with a people that could with impunity be treated worse than animals" (Johnson 139).

As the poem begins, the reader is introduced to the subjects of the poem, “The Pool Players. Seven at the

3. The first identified population is the black youth in the neighborhood. One of the reasons for their high risk factor is the role models shown in the film. At the basketball court, during the scene when the young black male shows his "mentor," where Daniel is pointed out as "the one" who is slated to be shot, the victimization of the impressionable youth is apparent. If my "hero" is talking about "he ain't nothing," then for sure that is where my mind is going to be. By not having role models that portrayed societal norms, these youths are placed at risk If no one I know behaves in a manner that conforms with society, how can I be expected to understand what society expects. In the bathroom scene, when Daniel stands up to the three black youths, and tells the beaten white youth he has to stand up for himself, he is a marked man.

In Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem “We Real Cool” the speaker describes the life of seven troubled teenagers and the dire consequences that result from living a risky lifestyle. Brooks illustrates the lives of these teenagers using a variety of poetic devices and a unique form. The poem is quite short; only four stanzas, each being a two line couplet. Brooks’ intention was to send an important message to teenagers, her target audience for this poem.

Richard Blanco is a Cuban- American poet who was given the oppurunity to write an inaugaration poem for Barack Obama's second swearing-in. He wrote a poem titled "One Today" that praised the good and unique things about the United States and also the everyday people who's daily routines help to make America the proud country that it is.

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.

During the course of the year, students read books that show how racial stereotypes can have a negative effect on a person’s upbringing. The text A Lesson Before Dying follows the struggles of a southern black community in the 1940s. In the text, a teenage boy named Jefferson is sentenced to death after he witnesses a deadly robbery. Though he did not commit the robbery, he was charged with the crime due to corrupt police officers. The