Gwendolyn Brooks
Achieving Goals and Behind Irony “We Real Cool” is a poem wrote by Gwendolyn Brooks in 1966, which is one of the popular poem she did. She’s an African American born in Topeka, Kansas and raised in Chicago. She is the author of numerous poetry, including “Blacks” (1981), Annie Allen (1949), for which she received the Pulitzer Prize, and the “Children Coming Home” (The David Co., 1991). She also wrote several other books such as, “Negro Hero” (1945), “Maud Martha” (1953), “In the Mecca” (1968) and many more. Brooks was named Poet Laureate of congress during 1985-1986; she then became the Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress during 1985-1986. Brooks also conducted in the National Women Hall of Fame. Brooks also receives various awards and achievement such as, the first African American won the Pulitzer Prize, American Academy of Art and Letters award, the Frost Medal, a National Endowment for the Arts award and many more. She died on the 3rd day of December 2000.
We Real Cool
BY GWENDOLYN BROOKS
The Pool Players.
Seven at the Golden Shovel.
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
Brooks conveys her message in an ironic manner, which is shown in the title of the poem “We Real Cool”. Just the title itself grabs most peoples ' attention. After reading the title "We Real Cool" we would expect that the poem is about a group of people who are luxurious and live a flamboyant lifestyle. However this is not the case for the "seven players" in Brooks 's poem. After reading the entire poem, numerous times I manage to understand the poem a bit. "We Real Cool" focuses on the life of "seven players" who drop out of school. Their daily life is carefree and consists of playing pool, drinking alcohol, and using vulgar language. Brooks elucidates that this "cool" lifestyle only leads to death. Also I conclude that during 1960’s African American are insecure about their role
We Real Cool
BY GWENDOLYN BROOKS
The Pool Players.
Seven at the Golden Shovel.
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
Brooks conveys her message in an ironic manner, which is shown in the title of the poem “We Real Cool”. Just the title itself grabs most peoples ' attention. After reading the title "We Real Cool" we would expect that the poem is about a group of people who are luxurious and live a flamboyant lifestyle. However this is not the case for the "seven players" in Brooks 's poem. After reading the entire poem, numerous times I manage to understand the poem a bit. "We Real Cool" focuses on the life of "seven players" who drop out of school. Their daily life is carefree and consists of playing pool, drinking alcohol, and using vulgar language. Brooks elucidates that this "cool" lifestyle only leads to death. Also I conclude that during 1960’s African American are insecure about their role
Cited: http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/brooks/werealcool.htm http://www.poemhunter.com/gwendolyn-broooks/ http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/17315