Gwendolyn brooks biography we real cool meaning
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The majority of the poem consists of the choral "We" listing the various vices in which they engage, implying a link between the performance of "coolness" and vice which ultimately leads to misfortune.
The first stanza, "We real cool. We / Left school. ..." implies a direct correlation between truancy or dropping out and "coolness," or being hip, admired, and respected by one's peers. This also places coolness in direct opposition to institutions and power structures like the education system.
The pool hall's name, "Golden Shovel," underscores the notion that these young men are "digging their own graves" with their gilded displays of resistance. In other words, the shovel with which they dig their own graves is "golden" because their vices make them feel good and cool in the moment. Drinking gin, playing pool, and staying out late are displays of independence and hedonism; but the final line demonstrates that these players understand that while these may be their golden years, they are nonetheless driving them to their graves.
Though there is nothing in the poem to tell the reader explicitly that all seven pool players are young men, we can contextualize the poem in the time it was written and know that women rarely stepped into pool halls, let alone played pool. If historical context isn't enough, we can take Brooks' own word for it; she has said in interviews about the poem and in speaking about the inspiration behind the poem that she was writing about a group of young men in her community.
Coolness relates to the concept of masculinity, in this case, the masculinity of young, Black men in urban settings, in the sense that they are both performances which demonstrate resilience in the face of institutionally imposed adversity. Brooks has said that when she encountered the group of boys playing pool during school hours, she resisted judgment and instead tried to think abo Gwendolyn Brooks, a teacher, poet, and author, was born in Topeka, Kansas. Topeka is famous for the landmark case of Brown vs. The Board of Education, in which racial segregation in schools was ruled unconstitutional, and as a teacher herself, Brooks valued education. Much of her writing focuses on black identity, solidarity, and pride. Her skill as a poet is featured in her ability to express the internal struggles of her subjects. Gwendolyn Brooks was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1950, and has the distinction of being the first African-American to earn that recognition. "We Real Cool" is a brief 8-line poem, written in 1959 by Gwendolyn Brooks, and consists only of single-syllable words. It's written in the first-person plural using "we", and it's from the collective perspective of seven youths or "pool players". By using the first-person plural, Brooks gives the rebellious youths a voice and lends the poem an element of intimacy. The subjects of the poem are speaking directly to the readers and providing a first-hand account of their decision. Identified in the poem's subtitle as "pool players," the individuals have little else to do during school hours—implying they are either skipping school or they have dropped out—so they spend their time at a pool hall called "The Golden Shovel." Lacking work skills and education, the players spend their time loitering, drinking, and singing. The group maintains a collected and cool persona, underscored only by the stark realization that the road they have chosen may end abruptly. In first-person plural point of view, the narrator tells the story using the pron 31 pages • 1 hour read Gwendolyn Brooks Gwendolyn Brooks Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1960 A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement. Download PDF Gwendolyn Brooks stands among the foremost American poets of the 20th century. A master of poetic form and portraiture, she explored black life in Chicago, where she lived for the majority of her life. The poem “We Real Cool,” Brooks’s most famous work, appeared in her 1960 collection The Bean Eaters. As a fledgling writer, Brooks combined early influences from the literary era of modernism, defined by poets like Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, T.S. Eliot, and Gertrude Stein, with her mastery of traditional forms like the sonnet. Brooks’s style and content transformed when the poet came under the influence of the Black Arts movement in Chicago, which included poets Amiri Baraka, Toni Morrison, Nikki Giovanni, Lorraine Hansberry, and Brooks’s friend, the writer Haki R. Madhubuti. An offshoot of the Black Power movement, the Black Arts movement encouraged black artists to celebrate and advocate for their racial identity, which Brooks increasingly did in verse and in life. “We Real Cool” became Brooks’s magnum opus; it was a favorite among English classrooms and at the poet’s public readings. The poem, inspired by a group of young men Brooks once saw at a pool hall in her Chicago neighborhood, memorializes itself in readers’ minds for its snappy rhythm, expert rhyme, and haunting final lines. Brooks was born June 17, 1917, in Topeka, Kansas, but her family moved soon after to Chicago, Illinois. Brooks knew the South Side of Chicago intimately and began writing poetry inspired by her ne Gwendolyn Brooks 1960 Author Biography Poem Text Poem Summary Themes Style Historical Context Critical Overview Criticism Sources For Further Study Gwendolyn Brooks’s “We Real Cool” first appeared in Poetry magazine in September of 1958 and was later published in her fourth volume of poetry, The Bean Eaters (1960). This short, poignant poem is perhaps Brooks’s most famous and is characterized by its use of vernacular and the way its short, staccato lines and internal rhyming pattern quickly carry the work to a crisp, startling ending. The locale of “We Real Cool” is a pool hall called The Golden Shovel. The poem’s action is recounted by the collective voice of seven pool players who, although their race is unspecified, are generally thought to be black because of their language and because the poet, herself, is African American. While “We Real Cool” could be read as a boast, the distinctive way that Brooks breaks the lines transforms egotistical display into momentary candor as the players realize the struggle of being outsiders or misfits. Neither moralizing nor maudlin, the pool players reflect on their situation but give no indication that they will change their behavior in any way. In this way, the poem is realistic and avoids a quick and easy fix. “We Real Cool” ends on an unsettling note, as the players’ predict their own fate. Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1917. Her father, David Anderson Brooks, the son of a runaway slave, was the only child of twelve to finish high school. He wanted to be a doctor, but after a year of college, he was forced to become a janitor at a music publishing company because of money problems. Before Gwendolyn was born, her mother, Keziah Wims Brooks, was a schoolteacher and was studying to be a concert pianist. She would, however, settle in to become a Methodist Sunday-school teacher, a wife, and mother. Mrs. Brooks encouraged her daughter to continue with the r
We Real Cool at a Glance
Poem "We Real Cool" Written Gwendolyn Brooks Published 1960 Structure A subtitle and 4 couplets, using only single-syllable words Poetic devices Symbolism, diction, enjambment, alliteration, internal rhyme Tone Assertive, arrogant Theme Rebellion We Real Cool Summary
We Real Cool
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We Real Cool
Author Biography