We Real Cool and The Lovers of the Poor by Gwendolyn Brooks

We Real Cool

Introduction

We Real Cool is a poem written by Gwendolyn Brooks, which talks about today's youth that feels that they are really cool (Brooks, 1966). These youngsters skip school, stay out late, use swear words, consume alcohol and have premarital sex. They think that these things are cool and necessary to be a part of society. Brooks states that these people put their lives at risk doing these things and the consequences of their actions will lead to a tragic end.

Discussion

The first line in the line poem, “We real cool. We left school” talks about the youth's opinion on school. They feel that it is waste of their time, because there are better things to do than going to school, it is a barrier to their fun activities. The perception of the teenagers is that their time is too little to be spent in school, and they are ready to rebel against the authorities and parents.

The lines, “We lurk late. We strike straight” represents their activity of staying out late. They believe that spending time out of home, hanging out with friends till late hours is more important than devoting their time to study or do any other productive activity. Strike straight is about the game of pool where they strike the ball at the right angles. In the bigger context, it means that their life in the pool hall is a more important activity than anything else. The poem revolves around the lives of seven boys at a pool hall known as “Golden Shovel”.

The lines, “We sing sin. We thing gin”, is about sing or celebrating sin and consume adulterated gin. The singing is about celebrating their free lifestyle and having gin to enhance their experience ...