We+Real+Cool

=**We Real Cool**= Gwendolyn lived from 1917-2000. She was born in Topeka, Kansas and died in Chicago. At the age of 16 her father died of a drug over-dose after abusing Gwendolyn throughout her childhood. Racism greatly affected her in her younger life, as she attended and was suspended from three different high schools for being black, one being all-white, another being all-black, and the third being integrated. During her lifetime she authored more than twenty books of poetry, as well as other novels. She had been named Poet Laureate for the state of Illinois and reigned as the Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She was a recipient of prizes such as the Pulitzer Prize of Poetry.
 * 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. Bibliography: "Gwendolyn Brooks." //Wikipedia //. Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Mar. 2014. Web. 01 Apr. 2014. "Gwendolyn Brooks." //Poets.org //. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
 * Theme || * "we real cool" to "we die soon" || * the entire poem is about the pressure many black students felt during the time of the civil rights movement. this pressure led many of kids to drop out of school and live a life on the street filled with the harsh reality of an early death.
 * The majority of the poem is upbeat and youthful, just as most kids are when they're doing what they want and not thinking of the consequences.
 * The last line depicts the actual harsh reality that lies under all of the carefree fun these seven pool players are having as they drop out of school. Eventually their carefree lifestyles will become harsh and filled with death if they continue on the path that society pressured them to take. ||
 * Imagery || * Seven at the Golden Shovel
 * Jazz
 * Alliteration: "pool players" "lurk late" "sing sin" "Jazz June" || * The subtitle itself is a contradiction due to the placement of seven and golden with shovel. Seven and Golden are both happy and upbeat terms, representing luck and youth, which the boys feel throughout the poem. The term shovel often represents death and other unpleasantness, which is shown in the last line that signifies the typical end of street life.
 * The auditory imagery that Jazz provides signifies the era and the carefree youth that accompanied most Jazz music, especially in pool bars at the time. Jazz and Blues were a huge part of the community during the civil rights movement.
 * The line about " jazz june" also represents a deeper meaning, viewing jazz as a verb, allowing the boys to be acting as though the free and lazy month of June is their entire life. Another interpretation of this line is that June represents the authoritative government and the boys are disrupting it with their Jazz and their carefree actions.
 * The poem is filled with alliteration that provides a type of Jazz or musical element to the reading of the poem. ||
 * Meter || * four stanzas with 2 couplets each.
 * Rather than rhyming at the end of each line, the middle words rhyme creating an AA, BB, CC, DD rhyme scheme. || * The different rhyme scheme places emphasis on the middle word, possibly highlighting the progression of what happens once kids choose the street life rather than going to school.
 * The overall simplicity to the rhyme scheme, the couplets, and the stanzas highlights the un-educated speak that the kids would most likely have. ||
 * Emotion || * The mood begins as youthful and nonchalant and happy, yet as the poem continues the tone becomes more serious and real.
 * The diction is low level and monosyllabic || * At first the speaker is living the youthful life he thinks he belongs to, yet the ending of the poem hints to the fact that if the boys continue to live the path that they have chosen by dropping out of school they will end in an early death and no accomplishment.
 * The diction provides evidence that the speaker is not educated because he left school, representing the directionless street life him and his friends will live. ||

Shmoop Editorial Team. "We Real Cool: Stanza IV Summary." //Shmoop.com //. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.