ENGLISH - LITERATURE ASSIGNMENT

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.

Please, write down your understanding on the above poem.

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By Todd Scates
“We Real Cool” Analysis

I chose to read a poem written by Gwendolyn Brooks, titled “We Real Cool”. The
poem is from the perspective of a group of seven pool players, and it’s about living
fast and dying young. At first, they seem like they are satisfied with the alternative
lifestyle that they outline throughout the poem, but that defiant mood abruptly ends at
the last line, when their death seems to be an effect of all the responsibility they had
been putting off over the years.

The title of the poem is “The pool players, seven at the golden shovel”. This title
shows that the poem is about a group of seven pool players. The “golden shovel”
could be the name of a place they play pool at (like a tavern or casino), or a name for
the cue stick. It seems to be symbolism for the fact that they are burying their
problems “with a golden shovel”, but their problems can’t stay buried forever. It also
tips the reader off to the last line of the poem. Shovels are used to dig graves, and the
last line is “we die soon.”

The first line of the poem is “We Real cool, We Left school.” This shows that the
narration of this poem is from the point of view of a group of young people who
decided not to go to school anymore, and they think they’re really cool. It’s also written
in a seemingly “street kid” dialect, and the grammar is incorrect on purpose, to try to
emulate a certain group of people.

The next lines are “We Lurk late. We Strike straight.” This shows that the behaviors
these kids are partaking in are primarily negative, because there is really nothing
positive I can think of that “lurks” and stays out late. Striking straight is talking about
being good at aiming and striking with pool cues, because they are pool players.
However, another connotation that comes with the word “strike” is violence, whether
it’s crime in the present, or foreshadowing violence in their futures, it makes me think
that maybe these kids could even be dangerous. Also, notice that these are the first
lines of the poem where the author incorporates alliteration; “lurk” and “late” both start
with “L”, and “strike” and “straight” both start with “S”.

The lines after that are “We Sing sin. We Thin gin” We sing sin basically means that
these guys are celebrating the fact that they sin. They don’t have any moral
obligations, and sinning is just fine by them. I wish the poem had specified what
exactly “singing sin” is referring to though, because there are many possibilities. It
could mean casual sex, outright violence, or even just drinking and gambling,
because, back when this poem was written, drinking and gambling were also seen as
fairly sinful. “We thin gin” just means that these kids who are supposed to be in school
are diluting alcohol before drinking it. This shows that they do basically whatever they
please, and they probably aren’t receiving proper guidance.

The second to last line is “We Jazz June”. This can be interpreted many different
ways. It can mean that these pool players live their lives as if every day is summer,
like in June, complete with all the fun of the Jazz Age. Or, if you interpret it with the
original meaning of “jazz”, it could mean that the boys make love to the summertime,
because they act like all year is summer. This would also add another facet of
rebellion to the poem, because pre-marital sex was considered uncommon and sinful
at the time the poem was written.

Finally, the poem ends with “We Die soon”. This, as the last line of the poem, harshly
discontinues the lilting alliteration and rhyming schemes. It brings the reader back to
the reality that fun does not last forever. Interestingly, the author leaves it up to
interpretation whether the fact that their deaths occur early should be seen in a
positive or negative light, and there is not even a trace of judgement in the author’s
voice throughout the poem, or at the end. The pool players could be okay with the
reality that they live short, or they could feel trapped, or maybe they are just indifferent
to it. We will never exactly know because the author does a remarkable job of keeping
emotion out of the last line; even as jovial defiance is obvious throughout the rest of
the poem.

I think this poem was an amazing insight into the types of lives some people live, and
how nothing irresponsibly enjoyable can last.