Never quite so simple

As I sought to accomplish my learning goals throughout this poetry week, I stumbled upon a poem to focus on for this specific post. I am not very knowledgeable in this particular genre of literature, so it was hard for me to choose the right poem. I then proceeded to seek help from my best friend, who is very acquainted with this genre. She suggested that I take a look at one of her favorite poems, 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.



The Pool Players.

Seven at the Golden Shovel.

These introductory lines describe who the poem will be referring to, and it gives hints to where the poem takes place. We can draw from these lines that the narrator is going to talk about seven pool players at the "Golden Shovel." There is symbolism displayed by the name of the place. Golden is often used to indicate an age of greatness, often meaning the years in which one is at the best age. We can assume then that the poem refers to seven young players. The number seven also carries significance, since it is often portrayed as the lucky number. This further suggests that there is gambling occurring amongst the young characters.

We real cool. We  

 Left school. We

The poem is then followed by four couplets, in which the narrator (presumably one of the seven boys) describes his group as being "real cool," due to the next line that says they "left school." The diction in the poem affirms this statement as it practices slang language, in which the narrator is not using correct grammar.

     
Lurk late. We 

Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We  

Thin gin. We

In the following stanzas, the narrator further characterizes the group of seven boys by describing their questionable activities. She says that they "lurk late," which provides evidence that these boys are involved in illegal activities. The line saying that "they strike straight" can mean that they carefully go about their activities so as to not get caught. The next stanza can depict the fact that the boys are proud of their criminal activities, as they boast about them. The fact that they "thin gin" or dilute their drinks points to the fact that they are poor and perhaps of a minority background. I begin to see a picture here drawn of these young boys are portrayed to be indolent, irresponsible, and threatening to society.

 Jazz June. We 

 Die soon.

However, this next stanza forces the reader to dig deeper into these characters. They are said to "Jazz June," which can be interpreted as one looks at what these words represent. Jazz was a rebellious kind of music when the writer wrote this poem, and June is the time when school gets out, so the boys would be free. They experience this "Jazz June," though, everyday because they most likely often skip school. So the boys are probably saying that they find ways to be free always. The last line is one of the most meaningful and haunting lines. I researched the author, Brooks, and found that she wrote this poem in the 50s in America, when racism ran deep. I love this last stanza because it reveals a lot about the characters. I interpreted these lines as the characters saying that they sought freedom everyday (from school and the prejudice that they experienced there) because they figured that they were going to die soon anyway, due to the path they chose in life directed by the feedback they received from society: that they were somehow worth less than others.

I really enjoyed delving into this poem, and I learned so much! When I first read this poem, it looked so simple and empty. As I took time to analyze it, though, I found that it was everything but!

Have any of you had a similar experience?