I.
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15433
II. Gwendolyn Brooks wrote “We Real Cool” in 1960, and it’s about seven youths hanging out at a pool hall, enjoying themselves. The poem is very rhythmically structured, possibly in part to the reference to jazz in line 6.
III. I especially like this poem because of the players’ attitude towards themselves. They’re obviously social deviants, maybe even a gang, but the poem reads arrogantly enough to make the reader believe they’re good at whatever it is they do. It reminds me of when my friends and I used to hang out at a pool hall and drink underage and get into fights and believe that no one could touch us.
IV. I link Brooks’ poem with David Mason’s “Song of the Powers” by the shared tone of the personas in each. Both share a confident tone that escalates in the persona’s voice until the final few lines. The similarities end there, as in Brooks’ poem the speaker never has a doubt about the subjects’ actions, maybe even inferring that they do not care they will die young. In Mason’s, the speaker shows in the final lines that the game of rock paper scissors is useless in the end, that it is played in vain because no matter what happens, you’ll “all end alone”(22).
2 comments:
BA #3
This poem is short and sweet. I do get the comparison to Mason's poem however, this poem almost reminds me more of Chappell's poem, "Narcissus and Echo" not with what the poem is saying but more in form. I noticed how when listening to the poem the author paused between the periods and the "we" each time she said it.
Which is just like the slight pause in Chappell's poem, "Shall the winter not remember Ember" (line 1). Also, in each short stanza there are good examples of perfect rhyme.
I agree completely. This poem is short, but has a sense of longevity in it because of the tone. These youngsters, I assume, are living the party life and are rebels. The repetition of the word "We" is meaningful because it shows that the bond the group has is very strong. Even though they are not following the rules in the book, they are in it together. I don't understand why the speaker says, "We / Die soon."(8) Maybe because they all know they are doomed to get caught?
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