The poem We Real Cool was written by Gwendolyn Brooks. The poem expresses the quality of life in the city for young African-American men in the early 1960`s. This poem is short but has a powerful message behind it. The poem is about troubled teens who enjoy being in the streets and that if they continue this lifestyle they will end up dead. The boys are not too fond about attending school so, they skip and go to a pool facility. The poem makes it seem as if the boys do not care about their education and want to live a bad lifestyle. The poem gives the reader an idea about how the author feels about young pool players. Throughout the poem the author uses symbolism, imagery, irony and tone. The title of the poem is ironic, “We Real Cool” contradicts the last …show more content…
The number seven is used as a symbol to represent the luck as the pool players, and the gold represents perfection. However, the shovel makes the reader think of death. When she says the seven “Lurk late,” the poem suggests that they are sneaking around at night, which makes the reader believe that they are involved in criminal activities. Throughout the poem the author reveals the ignorance of the pool players in their speech. For example, “We real cool,” is missing the verb “are.” Gwendolyn does this to show that the players are uneducated because they have dropped out of school. They sing, drink and play. The teenagers will do anything to capture the feeling of ecstasy that they want. The tone throughout the poem is very upbeat; however the tone dramatically changes at the end of the poem with the statement “We Die Soon.” She implies that the street people will