Writing about Literature –Com 1102

September 28, 2011

“We Real Cool”

“We Real Cool” is a very short poem that can have a different meaning and theme depending on the reader. I did some background information on Gwendolyn Brooks, the author of this poem, and I realized that knowing some of her background information really helps the reader. By knowing this information the reader can understand and appreciate her poem and its message. During a public reading Mrs. Brooks is known for saying, “I wrote [We Real Cool] because I was passing by a pool hall in my community one afternoon during school time, and I saw, therein, a little bunch of boys – I say there in this poem, seven – and they were shooting pool. Instead of asking myself, “Why aren’t they in school?” I asked myself, ‘I wonder how they feel about themselves?’ and just perhaps they might have considered themselves contemptuous of the establishment…” (Shmoop Editorial Team) This quote helps the reader understand the thought process of Brooks and helps define the general message of how the boys were wasting their time.
“We Real Cool” has astoundingly only a subtitle and eight lines. The first sentence we read which is the subtitle says, “The Pool Players. /Seven at the Golden Shovel.” (860) Brooks starts the poem by introducing seven pool players at a local pool hall called the “Golden Shovel”. (860) I found the name of the pool hall intriguing because it means much more than a shovel that is gold. Gold can imply the positive tone of youth, adventurous and valuable. Shovel, on the flip side, implies a kind of negative tone of hard work, digging, or being dirty. This simple sentence can lead the reader to wonder what is so “Golden” about the pool hall. Most activities are not positive and “Golden”; there are usually a lot of betting, arguing, alcohol, and drugs being passed around. These activities mixed together can make a dangerous concoction that is not safe for youth to be around. “Shovel” is appropriate for the name of the pool hall since it does symbolize hard work and dirtiness. Most of the time, this is where blue collar hard working dirty men can be found hanging out. The subtitle can edge the reader on to analyze the poem and to intently try to figure out the mystery of the poem. “We real cool. We/ Left school.” (860) these are the first and second line the reader encounters. The first lines supports the title, it echoes the boys outlook of feeling “cool”. The tone of this one line introduces the reader to a calm poem however, the reader feels some sort of alarm when “We Left school” is mentioned. The expression “cool” is a characteristic slang word that can either mean no tricky or everything is fine. Brooks emphasizes the calmness of “Real cool”, as if the boys are not really bad kids just lost. The boys feel it’s alright “cool” to drop out of school and run the streets. The word “We” is mentioned eight times throughout the whole poem. “We” characterizes the unity of the boys and the loyalty they have with one another to stick together. The boy’s feel invested as a group, boy’s generally want to belong in society and not feel out casted. In a public reading, Brooks gives clear guidelines on how the poem should be read. “The “We”(emphasis on We) – you’re supposed to stop after the “we” and think about the validity; of course, there’s no way for you to tell whether it should be said softly or not, I suppose, but I say it rather softly because I want to represent their basic uncertainty.” (English. Illinois) The second line of the poem changes the tone of the poem. To some the tone changed to being defiant and rebellious and to others free and adventurous. It depends on how the reader perceives the poem. The reader can either see them as rebelling by skipping school or by being free by leaving or graduating school.
The following third and fourth lines endure this defiant or free tone. I felt that it was a defiant tone. The lines read, “Lurk late. We/ Strike straight. We”. (860) The third line illustrations the group of boys breaking the rules of curfews that the boys might have. This is rebellious to all city authorities and guardian figures. The fourth lines indicates that the boys have talents and are experienced in playing pool for some time since they can strike the ball straightforward. This line emphasizes the third line of them lurking out late at the pool hall, which is why they have skills at playing pool.
The fifth and sixth lines of the poem read, “Sing sin. We/ Thin gin. We”. (860) the group of boys remains consistent with the theme and rebellious tone of the poem. “We” gives more emphasis to the empowerment of the boys as a group and the unity of their actions in the remainder of the poem. The expression “Sing” implicates music is being introduced to the poem. People usually sing when they are having a good time or when they are listening to enjoyable music. The fifth line says they “Sing Sin”. This can mean they are singing and enjoying all of the sin they are doing or it can mean they are singing along with songs about sinful actions. The sixth line indicates that they are drinking so much liquor to the point where the pool hall has to thin down the gin to have enough gin to go around.
The final seventh and eighth lines say, “Jazz June. We / Die soon.” (861) “Jazz complements the music theme from the previous lines of the poem. When reading the poem in a Jazz music mind set, the poem fits perfectly. The reader can envision jazz music in the background, while the boys play, sing, and snap their fingers along to the music. During Brooks’s public reading she explains the meaning and message of her seventh line. “Jazz” means music not anything sexual and that “June” is referencing to a nice time of the year as “fragrant”, and not as the name as a woman. The final line of the poem gives closure to the composure of the theme has reality finally set in on the boys’ consequences of their rebellious actions. The boys carefree attitude towards what they are doing with their lives can bring death upon them sooner than what they would hope for. This last line appropriately ends the poem to what the reader might expect what is going to become of the boys.
The poem “We Real Cool” is a short choppy story that has a lot of meaning between the lines. The poem focuses on the lives of young boys who choose to drop out of school, hang out at pool halls and drink alcohol. Brooks’ message unravels when it becomes clear of what she is expressing while she is watching the boys waste their lives roaming the streets. She feels sorry for the boys nonetheless she then asks herself, “I wonder how they fell about themselves.” (Shmoop Editorial Team) The boys as a group can relate to each other’s situation since they are from the same neighborhood and dropping out of school was “cool” at the time. The lifestyle of the young rebels portrays a carefree and eventually a tragic fate in this poem. Brooks life learning message is that lack of education, lurking late and drinking late at night can only lead to death in the streets.

Works Cited 1. Brooks, Gwendolyn. “We Real Cool” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s. 2008. 860-861. Print. 2. Shmoop Editorial Team. “We Real Cool Summary.” Shmoop.com. Schmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov 2008. Web. 28 Sep 2011
<http://www.schmoop.com/we-real-cool/rhyme-form-meter.html>