Ask someone to read poem.
It was written by Gwendolyn Brooks, a black lady. It was published in 1960, what was happening in
that period in America in 1960? Civil rights, segregation.
The Pool players. Seven at the golden shovel.
Different font, this resembles ‘theatre directions’
The golden shovel. = pool hall
Seven = time? Number of people? Why is it a special number? Lucky number 7. Seven deadly sins,
greed/gin/sin?
Lurk = to be hidden. Why are lurking around behind the building?
Gin = strong alcohol
Ask someone to read poem again.
Poetic devices used in poem:
Anaphora, repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a sentence. Repetition is used to
emphasize things by writers. Repetition, repetition, repetition. ‘we, we, we’
Hyperbole and exaggeration, not meant to be taken literally. ‘thin gin’ we make the amount of gin
less or smaller.
Starts off with a cool group of kids ‘we cool, we left school’ and gets more somber or serious as the
poem progresses.
Possibly tells the life story of a young civil rights activist.
‘we strike straight’ strike is to hit. Could be a reference to playing pool but more likely a political
message ‘what we are saying is true’ ‘we sing sin’ = ‘we are talking about equal rights for blacks’ this
is a sin for white people to hear.
It was risky being a civil rights activist hence the ‘we die soon’
‘we jazz June’ = the poem is a written in a jazz style, maybe shes paying homage to those artists.
‘jazz also = sex’ and June is a girl’s name. She might be talking about boys sleeping with the same girl.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55678/the-golden-shovel