— Anonymous
Gwendolyn Brooks is one of the most famous, influential and popular poets in American poetry in the 20th century. Her poems reflect the life of black people living in urban areas and express her thoughts on social and political issues such as racial discrimination and civil rights. At the same time, she used poetry as a literary carrier to let people contact and understand the black culture. “We Real Cool.” It’s one of Gwendolyn’s most famous short poems. This poem is an ironic way to warn the young black male youth at that time to indulge in fun and waste their youth. They drop out of school, hang around, do nothing and make trouble. Alcohol damages their health, poverty saps their enthusiasm, and eventually they die in silent cries. The poem is short but pithy. In this short space, the poet expresses everything with concise words. The “we” in the poem is not limited to a specific group of black men, but also to all the young people in their rebellious period, regardless of gender or race. The first line, “we real cool,” has two explanations. One is that they are really cool, and the other is that these kids are really deserving of sympathy. Their coolness stems from the fact that they have the courage to skip classes, have the courage to sing the praises of sin, and seem to be fearless of everything. The line “we lurk late” means they play and wander all night outside. The last line “we die soon” is the result of the first sentence. And pity also stems from the fact that they idle away their time, do nothing, and end up being nothing at all, and died when they were young. Although slavery had been abolished at that time, there were still laws in various states, especially in the south, stating that blacks and whites did not have equal social status. For these black minors, the discrimination against them is also very serious. Maybe they think that by doing something like this, they can make people feel that they exist, and only by doing something that is opposed by the mainstream society can they win attention and get some attention. Eventually they end up losing themselves and getting closer and closer to death. In fact, it is more that they did not have the right to choose their own life circumstances and life path at that time, and they suffered from the fact and unfair treatment.