Poetry Reading Journal: "We Real Cool"

INSTRUCTIONS

In your Poetry Reading Journal document, answer the following questions, giving examples/quotations from the poem to support or explain your answers.  Remember that when you quote from a poem, you give the line numbers in parenthesis.  If quoting two or more lines, use a slash to indicate a line break.  Example:  "And you laugh back nor can you ever see/The thousand little deaths my heart has died"(7-8).

Create a heading with the title of the poem.  Then answer the questions below.

 

QUESTIONS

  1. Who are "we" in this poem?  Go into detail.  You can look at their age, their actions, their attitudes, etc.
  2. In your opinion, why has Brooks decided to use a plural speaker (we) rather than a singular speaker (I)? That is, why has she decided to focus on a group of young people rather than focus on just one young person?
  3. Do you think that the speaker and the poet share the same idea of what is "cool"?  Explain your answer.
  4. What is the significance of the last lines: "...We/Die soon" (9-10)?  Does this convey the perspective of the speaker (the young people in the pool hall)? Does this convey the perspective of the author (Gwendolyn Brooks)? Does it convey the perspective of both the speaker and the author?  Explain your answer.