We Real Cool - encyclopedia article about We Real Cool.

We Real Cool is a poem written in 1959 by African American poet Gwendolyn Brooks and published in her 1960 book The Bean Eaters, her third collection of poetry.

It consists of four verses of two rhyming lines each. The last word in most lines is "we". The next line describes something that "we" do, such as play pool or drop out of school. Brooks has said that the "we"'s are meant to be said softly, as though the protagonists in the poem are questioning the validity of their existence.^[1] The poem has been featured on broadsides, and is widely studied in literature classes and re-printed in literature textbooks.

The last line of the poem "We die soon" indicates the climax.

External links

Poem and audio clip of Brooks reading "We Real Cool"
An interview with Brooks about "We Real Cool" and poem interpretations

References

1. ^ "An Interview with Gwendolyn Brooks" in Contemporary Literature 11:1 (Winter 1970). Available on-line: On We Real Cool.

Poetry (from the Greek "ποίησις", poiesis, a "making" or "creating") is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible
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1959 1960 1961 1962
1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962
1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s in poetry|1980s |
19th century 20th century 21st century
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African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.^[1] In the United States the term is generally used for Americans with sub-Saharan African ancestry.
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A poet is a person who writes poetry. This is usually influenced by a cultural and intellectual tradition. Some consider the best poetry to be, to some extent, and universal, and to address issues common to all humanity; others are more absorbed by its particular, personal and
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Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an African American poet.

Biography

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas to Keziah Wims Brooks and David Anderson Brooks.
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In poetry, a 'stanza' is a unit within a larger poem. (The term means "room" in Italian.) In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse" (as distinct from the refrain, or "chorus").
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rhyme is a repetition of identical or similar sounds in two or more different words and is most often used in poetry. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes.
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broadsides or broadsheets. Over time, the name came to refer to any printed matter confined to one side of a single sheet of paper, such as handbills, advertisements, posters, etc.
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