Analysis Of We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks was an American author, poet and teacher. Her works reflected and were based off of struggles and celebrations of individuals in her community. One of her poems, We Real Cool, is quite short but has much substance. Although it was written in 1959, some can say that this poem can also be set in the Prohibition Era. The poem lines, “We real cool. We / Left school. We / Lurk late,” the narrator is saying how cool they are and also shows some type of excitement are because they are in a pool hall when they should be in school getting an education and they are failing to live up to their potential. The poem starts in a pool hall, Golden Shovel, with the seven pool players, seven being viewed as a lucky number - even though they