We Real Cool and So is This Blog
In "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks uses the poetic element of enjambment. Why do you think she does this, and how does it affect the meaning of the poem?
This poem by Gwendolyn Brooks uses the poetic element of enjambment and this has a great affect on the poem. It has a large affect on the flow of the poem making it seem more rushed and like it is one line. Enjambment affects the meaning of this poem because it makes it seem like the ending (death) comes much quicker then if it was not there. The poem is a story, starting the people thinking they are too cool for school and leave. Then they follow a bunch of events and go in a downwards spiral until it ends with there death. It tries to show a cause and effect with leaving school leads to death. The enjambment, I believe, adds to the meaning through affecting the flow and speeding it up. I think that it emphasizes that you will go downhill very quickly as opposed to a more extended period of time.
I would agree with your argument that enjambment affects the meaning of the poem. I thought that the enjambment in the poem also made it structurally more appealing because it was something I don't often see making me more interested in reading the poem.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about it speeding up the poem. The enjambment made it seem to me like life speeds up after you leave school, because as I read the poem I started reading faster and faster and then it all ended with, "We die soon."
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree, when I was readin the poem I almost read as if it was one line and a story.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: if enjambment was not used in this poem would it have a different affect on the reader?
I think that it would not have been as hard hitting if it were written in a different way.
DeleteI agree with you and made many similar points in my post, I think the enjambment really makes a difference on how the poem could be read and interpreted.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, emjambment does effect the way, the poem flows. The way she utilized the "WE" really changed the way I read the poem.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely, I wrote about this too and how enjabment makes the entire poem seem much faster
ReplyDeleteLike everyone else I agree on you with how the enjambments speed up the pace of the poem. But, I don't understand how not going to school leads to death? I mean going to school also leads to death, anything you do leads to death.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with Cole. The enjambments really speed up the process and they emphasize the fact that these people were doing these things in a group. I don't fully understand how not going to school causes death either. However, when people make bad decisions, little by little they lead up to one bad decision which could impact them greatly for the rest of their lives, or could even theoretically kill them. On another note, I like that you used Snoopy for some imagery. Although Snoopy seems very positive and lively while this poem is more about the decisions of some wreckless teenagers.
ReplyDeleteI feel as though the enjambent really does highlight what Gwendolyn Brooks was trying to communicate, that the "we" in the poem are making poor life choices that are very negatively affecting them, ultimately leading to their death like Andrew had said.
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