AP Literature
Gwendolyn Brooks We Real Cool
Guiding Questions

How does Gwendolyn Brooks' choice of line breaks in "We Real Cool" affect the poem's sound, pace,
and theme?
Learning Objectives: After completing this lesson, students will be able to:


Define and understand in context common poetic devices, such as the use of line breaks and
enjambment.
Discuss and analyze poetry via active class discussion and small group work.
1. I need two volunteers to read this out loud. While they do, consider:
 What words are emphasized? How did the reader establish a rhythm?
2. Small group discussion:
 One volunteer in the group read the poem out loud.
 Where does this poem take place?
 Who makes up the "we" in the poem? How would you describe the "we" and what are they doing
throughout the poem (consider their age and attitude)?
 How would you describe the voices, or identities, of the "we"? What three adjectives best describe the
pool players?
 Was it difficult to pause after each "we" (where the line breaks)? Why or why not?
 What about the poem stood out as you were reading the poem?
 What is the mood or tone of the poem?
 How would you describe the sound of the poem - like a song, a chant, or some other sound?
STOP. Listen to John Ulrich discussing and reading "We Real Cool" on Favorite Poems Project

What was different about your reading and John Ulrich's reading of the poem?
3. Listen to Gwendolyn Brooks read the poem, read the excerpt from an interview, then discuss:
 In her commentary, Brooks mentions "the establishment." What does she mean by "the establishment"?
 How are the pool players going against the establishment?
 What does Brooks mean when she suggests that the soft "we" indicates that the pool players have a
"basic uncertainty"? About what are they uncertain?
 How would you describe the "we" now (in relation to when you first heard the poem read by students)?
How does the soft "we" help to make the pool players seem uncertain? Are they uncertain about
themselves?
 Notice how Brooks pauses after each "we"; what effect do these pauses have on the poem as she reads
it? How do the pauses affect the poem's pace and rhythm?
4. The beauty, strength, and power of this poem are rooted in the poem's effective use of line breaks and
enjambment.
 What is enjambment?
 Rewrite the poem as in prose form, placing all "we" sentences on the same line. They should not
use any stanzas but should instead write the poem in one "block" piece of prose, such as: “We
real cool. We left school. We lurk late” (etc.)
 How does the sound of the poem change?
 How do the pace and rhythm of the poem change?
 How does the tone of the poem change?
 How would you describe the pool players now?
 Are any elements of the poem lost when the lines are presented in "natural" sounding sentences
(e.g., "We left school")?
 Is the prose poem as powerful as Brooks' version? Why or why not?
AP Literature
Gwendolyn Brooks
We Real Cool
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.
Gwendolyn Brooks We Real Cool