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Thursday, January 3, 2019
Poems—due April 11
Which poems in the Google folder are cool? Do you like Gwendolyn Brooks's (pictured below) poem? Reply with 150+ words.
96 comments:
Anonymous
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Glen 2
I think that the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is very intriguing. I think that it pertains to teenagers because they always consider themselves to be super cool. Additionally, throughout the poem, it uses certain phrases to describe them. Such as saying, “We Lurk late/We Die soon.” Both of these stanzas portray that teenagers stay up late at night but everyone dies soon so people should live somewhat recklessly and enjoy life. Another poem that I like pertains to the Holocaust. I enjoyed reading “After Auschwitz” by Anne Sexton. It shows the different perspective that survivors of the Holocaust may think or see. Additionally, a second poem that I enjoy is called “The Hammock” by Li-Young Lee. This is because the story is a comparison based upon the hammock and the support from the main characters parents. Eventually, the younger individuals become the parents and thus support their children and so on which is why this story has a continuous ending such as the circle of life.
I liked Gwendolyn Brook’s Poem “We Real Cool”. It does remind me of how most teenagers act or how they think they act. It reminded me of a quote a friend used to always tell me, “Live fast, Die fun”. This poem is about rebellious young teenagers. In an analysis I read about Gwendolyn Brooks it says that the teenagers are said to be black. They did not have to be but it was assumed. They also may have been white or female though. Another poem that I liked was one we read in class called “This Be the Verse” by Larkin. I just liked the whole idea of it and how it is basically saying no parents are perfect, and neither will you be when or if you become a parent. You are going to mess them up the same way they messed you up.
I actually really enjoy Gwendolyn Brooks poem. She kept it pretty short and sweet, but within the context, it has a much larger story. Rhyming was throughout her poem which added a bit of detail to the story. She talked about in the poem how skipping school was the cool thing to do at the time. Along with staying out late, singing, and drinking. It talks about basically in my opinion living life to the fullest because everyone dies eventually. That is what this poem is about, living life like you don’t know when your last day will be. I don’t really understand the beginning of the poem is about when talking about some pool players and I am assuming what is a place that they meet at. I feel that Gwendolyn Brooks wrote this poem about herself how she lives her life to the fullest and these are some of the things she used to do in her younger days. But, overall I really enjoyed the poem it has a great underlying message in it that people should take seriously.
Kolbeck 7 Gwendolyn Brooks' poem genuinely surprised me. The poem is terse and makes it easy to reread once finished. The last line caught me off guard and I found myself going over the poem two more times to fully appreciate the duality of it. At first, I thought it was celebrating the modern society and their nonchalant attitude, but the next two readings saddened me as I analyzed the true meanings of their actions. I have not yet had the chance to go over all the other poems, but I have read a few that interested me. I tried to choose poems by women as the male view is sometimes trite. Sylvia Plath's "Daddy" was very confusing and the style of writing unique, but I have gotten the most enjoyment of it than all the poems I have read. I liked how I could not immediately tell who her father was or their relationship but how it was gradually revealed to you. I am looking forward to reading more "cool" poems.
One poem that I really thought was cool would be the Hammock poem by Lee. When we first read it in class, I didn’t fully comprehend it, but when I reread it, you can get more meaning from it. At first, it just sounds like a bunch of words, but if you break it down and look at it carefully, it honestly looks like a hammock. The hammock is supposed to be your life. Your life can be seen as a hammock because of your legacy. Before you are born your parents dream about you and wish the best for you. Your parents want to make sure you have a great life even before you are born. Then when you are born and you live your life and potentially have children of your own and do the same thing your parents did. After you have lived your full presence and pass away your legacy still lives on through your children. Your life starts high with your parent's dream then swoops like a U for your lifetime and then ends high with your children's legacy of you just like the shape of a hammock. You were vital before you were born and are essential after you die. Everyone has a story that can start with being written in the stars(parents) and end with written in the stars(your children and their memories of you). I think that Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem was fascinating. The way she set it up helped the reader keep attention but also get her message across. I love how she set it up and how she was trying to write for a teenage crowd. I find it easier and more fun to read when an author writes for an adolescent group.
Graber 2 I think the poems we have read thus far in class are incredible. I really like reading poems. Each author has their own way of putting their thoughts on paper. There are no rules when it comes to poetry. You can write the poems however you want to. It is interesting too to try and discover the author's purpose and reasoning behind the poem they wrote. Some are short and some are long. Some can convey their message easily and others you may have to come up with your own message. I think Brooke’s poem is interesting. I like how it is short and how she formatted it. She has different words capitalized for emphasis. It sounds like she is talking about a group of dropouts or misbehaved group of kids that are playing pool. They are the type to lurk around late at night and get into mischief. She ended it with “We die soon.” I thought that was interesting because more than likely these kids are young, but she’s talking about them dying young or soon. Maybe she’s implying that the choices they make will lead to death.
I think the poem called “The Addict.” It is written by Anne Sexton. I think this poem is written about a touchy subject with it being about mental health and drug addiction. I found this poem to be cool not because of what it says but because it is something that people during this time can relate to. I think addiction is often times tried to be covered up when in reality it needs to be looked at and studied in order for it to go away. I think the poem by Brook’s is cool because as teenagers the “being cool” is looked at like the number one goal. Also, when he writes “we real cool, we left school” is what is in the mind of kids when they leave school. I think the poems can touch everybody in different ways which is why everyone is able to enjoy them. It opens your mind and you find more symbols when you dig deep and analyze.
Reinschmidt 5 The poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is different than any other poem I have read. It is very intriguing because it represents our age group and our generation very well. It really stuck out to me when her poem said “We Lurk late. We Strike straight.” I think she is describing teens very well, but also referring to living the life you want to before you die, almost telling us to live like we are dying—reckless and with no regrets. I like how “We Real Cool” is not like an “ordinary” which I picture to be very poetic, smooth, and meaningful. While many of these were very interesting and entertaining, the poem “After Auschwitz” was very eye-opening to read. I think that we think we know how bad the holocaust, but then when it is put into words and we read it again, it leaves us speechless that that happened to innocent people. The poem starts with her describing a Nazi sauteing a baby for breakfast, again just enhancing how awful it actually was. Poems have a way of teaching us in a different way and allowing us to even infer what will happen next or what the poet is trying to say.
I think that all of the poems we have read in class are very intriguing. I think poems are one of the best ways to use literary devices to portray ideas. The author can use words that may not make sense at first glance to make the reader think and I think that is one of the coolest ways of writing. It shouldn't be easy to understand right away otherwise it isn't as good of writing. I think the poem by Brook's is also cool because it's short. A lot of poems we read have lots of stanzas that you have to look into but this one is short and sweet. I think that's why it is looked so highly upon because its different. I also like how each stanza has a different ending rhyming word. I think that makes it flow nicely. It also is a fairly happy poem until the last lines of "we lurk late/we die soon" I think it just shows that the "cool" kids don't always win in the end.
Personally I am not a big fan of some poems because they do not have a good story behind them. In order for me to like a poem or story it must have a good storyline and a good background for me to dive into it and to really spend my valuable time to read it. In Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem, “We Real Cool”, I feel as if it is not hard to write poems. People have different ways of comprehending things and turning the authors words into their own. Millions of different stories and meanings for everyone. The ending of that poem hits everyone in the same spot. “We die soon.” To me, everyone has the same understanding of this phrase and everyone will die at some point but not soon. So, to make a long story short, I am not a big fan of this poem by Gwendolyn Brooks because it is short and, to me, has no significant meaning to me.
Christensen 5 One of the poems that I found to be “cool” was “Dream” by Poe. I thought that it was a really beautiful piece of poetry. The descriptions of the dream and what it means were really vivid and intriguing. I also really liked Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem “We Real Cool”. I think that it really did a great job of capturing the wild side of all different kinds of people, especially youth today. The poem reminded me of the phrase, “live while you’re young” because it described a reckless night where you take risks and have fun. When I was reading it I imagined having the night of my life doing crazy things with my best friends. Overall, I really did enjoy this poem because I felt rebellious and intrigued while I was reading it. This poem also inspired me to take more risks and do everything that I can while I still have the chance to.
Darrington 2 After reading many poems in our folder, I think all of them are “cool.” I really appreciate the ideas behind every poem and that they can mean so much. Each poem allows for someone to tell a story, give a message, and share their feelings in an artistic way. I appreciate the way these poems make you think. In Brooks’ “We Real Cool,” it is a perfect example of a message in an artistic way. It is a very short poem that explains an entire life. The “incorrectly” capitalized letters allow for unusual emphasis, and the short stanzas give it a unique format. Another poem that I appreciate is Plath’s “Daddy.” It is hard to read and very repetitive with its ideas, but the meaning behind it and the weight that it holds for her life is fascinating. In this poem, the words are hard to understand and take some thought into what she truly means. This is intriguing and interesting to dissect.
The poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is by far my favorite one so far. I love how it is unlike any of the typical poems we have read in English classes before. I also love the natural pulse and flow that you can’t resist but feel when you are reading it. The overall message or storyline of the poem is about rebellion and going against what you are told. This is such a new topic compared to trees, nature, old people, and animals like we are very used to. This new and interesting storyline also relates to other things we have studied in class. In the novel Cuckoo's Nest and the poem “The Ticktockman,” they both talk about going against social norms and not being controlled by time or other people. They teach us important lessons to help you be more independent and be yourself, which I also feel is the theme and purpose of Brooks poem.
I was surprised by Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem “We Real Cool”. I liked that when I was reading it, I could picture the group of kids that she was describing. It was the stereotypical troubled teenager. I also liked that it was straight forward and to the point. I knew exactly what was going on the entire time I was reading it. I didn’t have to read it multiple times and look for a deeper meaning. The face value got the point of the poem across. Another poem that I enjoyed was Walt Whitman's “Oh Me! Oh, Life!”. I liked it because he was trying to answer questions that people consider unanswerable. Questions like “what is life” and “why are we here” are asked by many people and not answered. He says that we are here and contributing to the world around us. He was giving his answer to a very opinionated or unanswerable question that there isn’t one truly right answer.
I think that Gwendolyn Brooks poem, “We Real Cool” is a very interesting poem, despite how long it may be. The poem does have a deeper meaning than being only a few lines long. It is about rebellious teenagers, and how they act cool. The last stanza, “We Lurk Late, We Die soon” is very intriguing. It describes how teenagers stay out late, and that we should make the most of the time we have because life is short. It comes to show that we need to enjoy the time we have now and enjoy life. Another poem I found cool would be “The Addict” by Anne Sexton. This poem is about drug addiction, as well as mental health issues. I think it was cool by how she wrote about such a touchy subject. Also, many people these days can relate to what she wrote because it describes how it makes people feel.
Knutson 2 I think that the poems in the literature folder and very “cool” and interesting also. Poetry is so much different than other types of writing making these pieces of literature so unique. One poem that I read was called “After Auschwitz” by Anne Sexton. Telling such a deep story in a few words and still getting to the point takes a lot of talent. Sexton uses many analogies to describe the hardships the Jews faced during the Holocaust. Sexton’s poem is short but “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is even more concise. Although, this poem still provides just as much intensity as “After Auschwitz”. I think the poem by Brooks is very different from others in which it tells you a story in only five stanzas. She told a story of kids during her youth just trying to live life to the fullest. I am able to get a clear mental image and understand the meaning of the story in such a short reading. All of these poems are “cool” because they make you think in such a unique way that makes them such special forms of literature.
“We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks talks about teenagers doing the wrongs thing. Skipping school, drinking alcohol, staying out late, and getting into fights. However, it also talks about life being short. Do all those things because “yolo” (you only live once). Brooks wants teenagers to have fun because no one knows how many sunsets and sunrises they have left. She encourages teenagers to do all the things they want to do. If they want to stay out late, go ahead. If they want to skip school, be my guest. If they want to sing rap songs or drink alcohol, by all means. She ends the poem with “We Die Soon” because it’s a reminder to step out of your comfort zone. I think the Whitman poem is cool. I think that poem is about life and the questions we have for it. I think it’s about situations that people all over the world are put in.
Gwendolyn Brooks’s essay was not one of my favorites but it was very interesting. Although, I feel that all of us seniors or teenagers, in general, can relate to it in some way. It does remind me of how teenagers act in many ways. They try to act “cool” to fit in with the crowd. When I think of a poem, I think of many different stanzas or more than a few lines. But “We Real Cool” is very short, straight, and to the point. Which I prefer long more meaningful poems. Poetry is so unique to me. I love trying to discover the author's purpose in what they wrote, each telling a unique story of their own. A poem I found interesting was “After Auschwitz” by Anne Sexton. I find it very interesting to learn about the perspectives of those who are victims of the Holocaust and what they went through.
I think that Gwendolyn Brooks's poem is a great example of what happens to people who leave school. The people who think they are too cool for school can end up living a worse life later on than people who graduated. These people get into trouble and can die sooner due to getting in trouble. I find it interesting in her poem how the first and second words of each line are capitalized because the group of people in the poem do not care about grammar. Also one poem I found interesting in the folder is Lee's "The Hammock." This poem discusses going from being a child to having children of your own. He talks about not knowing what his mother was thinking and not knowing what his child was thinking, but also that life is like a hammock. The two ends are the before and after of his life with the hammock being the part of time that he lived.
Spencer 5 Gwendolyn Brooks poem was very interesting to me because it is true. We all tried to be cool (fit in) in some way in school, we graduate from school, we grow up, and make mistakes. All the things Brooks talks about are true and apply to everyone, so I find it interesting that such a short poem can relate to everyone. One of my favorite poems in the google folder is “The Hammock” by Lee. I don’t know why I enjoy the poem so much. I think it might be because of everyone worries about the same things when they get older and they can relate to it in that way. Everyone eventually asks the same questions, but like everyone else, we may not get the answers to them and all we can do is worry and hope. I like both of the poems for the reasons I said earlier, which is that they can apply to many people.
Larson 2 Gwendolyn’s poem was interesting, to say the least. Her poem is a good one for anyone to read because it allows readers to interpret her poem however they choose to. In her poem, she does not indicate race or gender so anyone can be applied to the situation. I also think her poem tries to show teenagers just being themselves having fun. I also enjoyed Plath’s “Daddy” poem because she utilized her experiences and words to create a piece of art that could impact anyone reading it. Reading her deep emotions allows us to understand what she is feeling and how those experiences she had to go through changed her and moved her emotionally. Poems are unique because there is no right or wrong way to write one. Each poem can do something different for each reader whether it be moving them emotionally or just entertaining them like Gwendolyn’s poem.
One of the poems in the Google folder that I thought was cool was “The Hammock” by Li-Young Lee. One line that I really liked from this poem was “there are stars we haven’t heard from yet”. I think this is a really cool line because it can be taken two ways. This line is talking about stars in the sky that we might not be able to see yet and at the same time talking about people being stars that we haven’t heard from yet. The end of this poem is also really cool. Talking about how he lives his life it says, “Is it a door, and good-bye on either side? A window, and eternity on either side?”. Then to answer his own questions, he doesn’t pick one or the other but instead just says yes. He says “Yes, and a little singing between two great rests.” I think this is a great end to the poem and it is the reason I like it. Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem is ok. I like how her poem tells a story, but it is so short that it’s not that much of a story.
The poem "We Real Cool" caught me off guard. It can be easily said that it is very brief and terse. I did however like this poem because of its terseness. In our current chapter analysis essay on "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel, we had to write about why "less is more" and if it is a true statement or not. I believe that this is a true statement. Although an article of writing may be short, it can hold a lot of meaning. I really like this statement when we discuss the novels in class. The length of the writing gets us thinking and brings up many questions and predictions of the article. I like how in "We Real Cool", Gwendolyn Brooks was able to incorporate a rhyme scheme. I really liked how this poem is about teenagers because it can give me something to relate too. This poem is about a teenage gang and how Brooks refers to them as "cool". I think she does this because most teenagers refer to themselves as cool.
Poetry that tells a clear story is my favorite type of poetry. Dylan Thomas’s poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” tells the story of a boy pleading to his dying father, plain and simple. While other poems, like Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Man-Moth,” are also extremely interesting, they are harder to follow and may need more research to fully understand. Bishop’s poem is very interesting once the research is done, however. I love how she took a newspaper typo and turned it into a deep and complex poem about an entirely different subject, a “man-moth” instead of a “mammoth.” Yann Martel’s poem about the sun, moon, and a drop of water was also very interesting to me. He personified objects that are often personified but made it a unique story. Following the sun’s realization also gave a different perspective of our world. To the sun, we, as humans, are merely foolish specks on a floating garden. I think what Brook is doing with her poem is interesting, but the disregard for grammar bothers me. The grammar adds to the feel of the poem, but my brain wants to fix every mistake.
I thought that Gwendolyn Brooks's poem “We Real Cool” was really interesting and intriguing. I thought this poem pertained to teenagers because most teenagers think of themselves as being “really cool.” This poem was very concise but did say a lot. It is very different than any of the other poems I have read thus far. I really liked the two likes that said “We Lurk late. We Strike straight.” These lines are the epitome of the rebellious teenage life. Another poem that I thought was cool was “The Hammock” by Li-Young Lee. This poem was slightly hard to comprehend the first time reading it but after reading it again you can really get a lot out of the poem. The Hammock is supposed to represent your life. The swinging of the hammock signals the highs and lows of your life. During your entire life, your parents always wish the best for you and try to provide you with a great life.
I hate poems. I vehemently, viscerally despise them. Dissecting every rhyme, literary device, and connotation of poetry has drained the fun out of it for me. I appreciate the concept of poetry and the freedom that it provides, but, in practice, it always falls short. Some poems are exemptions from this rule, one of which we read in this class being William Williams’s “Danse Russe”. The light-hearted and honestly hilarious nature of this work compelled me not to dislike it. I appreciated that it was to the point, void of unnecessary and non-contributing literary devices, and kept to a more comedic style. Experiencing it was a breath of fresh air, perhaps the same air that flowed around the naked dancer’s writhing body. After reading Brooks’s “We Real Cool,” I was struck with an unfulfilling urge to shrug my shoulders and say “ehh”. Nothing in the poem excites me; no lines stood out to me or caught my attention. “We Real Cool” was not something I could connect with, but I still appreciate the terse manner and literary lightness that I have in many of the poems that I do truly like.
I like Gwendyln Brooks poem more than I enjoy most poems. I think that I enjoy this poem because it is so simple. There are no words that you do not know or have not heard a thousand times before. Understanding of the poem is not limited by the words that she uses but how she uses those words. This poem becomes complex when you start to try to find what she means within the poem, this is also one of my favorite parts of this poem, Every reader of this poem can develop and find their own meaning in the simple words that Brook wrote. I also enjoy that this poem is short and straight to the point. Many poems are long with complex descriptions of simple things, but not this poem. It uses a few words to describe everything that you need to know, which, in m opinion, makes the poem less confusing and more relatable.
My favorite poem that I have read thus far is Philip Larkin’s “This Be The Verse” poem. I really appreciate how even in the 1970s, when this poem was published, Larkin held beliefs about parents that many individuals feel can relate to today. Though it is quite harsh in some aspects, I do believe that Larkin does an exceptional job of stating the simple truth that parents will always do things that their children may end up resenting them for. In regards to the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks, I was surprised when I read it for the first time. Its brevity is interesting as well as its message. Overall I would say I enjoyed it! I believe the lines “We lurk late”, and “We die soon” speak loudly to the younger generations, even as time progresses. No matter the time period, teenagers have a sense that we are “bulletproof” and therefore tend to live a little more dangerously. I believe that is what Brooks is trying to convey in her short poem.
Kocer 5 I like Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem “We Real Cool”. I like how it is short but still grabs readers attention through its rhyme and how it has a rhythm to it. Also, although it has few words, the poem tells a story that most can relate to because we were all teenagers once. I also enjoyed Emily Dickinson’s poem “There Is Another Sky”. I interpreted this poem as even if you are in a time of darkness or struggle, there is always a new day for you to start over. When I researched the poem, I learned that she sent this poem in a letter to her brother trying to get him to move. That also makes sense as she says “Austin” and “my brother” in her poem and the other sky could be where she lives. I liked Dickinson’s descriptive phrases that created good imagery throughout the poem. Readers can visualize the sunshine and the green leaves in the forest.
The brief poem "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks is interesting. In a few brief words, it tells a whole life story. It reminds me of Ernest Hemingway's baby shoe poem: "For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn." Both are able to communicate someone's whole life story in a few short, yet powerful, words. Also, I do really enjoy poetry and find it cool. Poetry is different from other literature because of how meaningful everything is. For example, in "White Elephant" everything had meaning. The clouds, the grain, the fields, the sky. It all added to the story and also had a deeper meaning. Additionally, "Signs and Symbols" by Nabokov sort of breaks the fourth wall of literature in a way. It tries to get the reader to overanalyze the book and search for symbols that aren't there to make the reader suffer from referential mania, rather than the son in the story. I just find it interesting that poetry can be so diverse and unique.
Olivier 5 Gwendolyn Brook's poem, "We Real Cool" is very brief, but efficiently gets the message of how teenagers think that they are cool drinking and going against the law, where in reality those teenagers will get involved in violence and other kinds of bad activities and end up dying, and dying is not 'real cool'. Mrs. Brooks did a splendid job with this poem, it is one of the shortest poems I have studied, but there are still literary techniques like rhyming and rhythm that help keep the poem going strong. In my opinion, the best poem that I have read for this class would be "Danse Russe" by Williams. I really enjoy this poem because it is unique. An old man admiring himself naked, it is unheard of. Also, the poem "Signs and Symbols" by Nabokov is a cool poem, it is very elusive but ends in tragedy. The poem itself is filled with signs and symbols about the ending, hence the title.
Betanzo 5 I really enjoyed "This Be The Verse" by Philip Larkin because of the message I have been able to interpret from the poem. The poem can be relatable to a multitude of people who believe that their parents have used them for their own satisfaction. In some cases that may be true. Maybe your parents have forced you to participate in sports that you never wanted to do because it wasn't interesting to you as it was to your parents because they were very “sporty” in high school. The situation is even worse when they don’t give you a say in if you want to do the sport or not. The poem also may be a warning to us that our parents may sometimes corrupt us into believing something that could be completely false. The reason they feed us this false information is that they believed it to be true when their parents (your grandparents) talked to them about it when they were children. I enjoyed "We Real Cool" because of the message it leaves behind even though the poem isn't too long. It warns everyone about the consequences that some people fall into once they starting into the habits that our superiors warned us about it.
I think that Larkin's "This Be the Verse" is a very interesting and thought-provoking poem. As known, the poem directly calls out parents of children for making them who they are. The parents of children shape and mold them, as children's greatest role models are their parents. However, not all parents are great. Some do terrible things to their children or are not present in a child's life altogether. Not only are the worst parents guilty of this, but those who are labeled as the best still mess up their children by being overprotective and not exposing children to elements that allow them to learn lessons. Over generations, this is passed down and there is only one way to avoid having children that struggle themselves. To not have children. Upon the topic of children who have no parental guidance, in "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks, seven boys are seen skipping school and playing pool. As the poem proceeds, the children get into more and more trouble starting simply by skipping school. Then they get into fights, "sing sin" or swear, drink alcohol, "Jazz June" another term for have sex, and then die. This poem is a view into the evolution of how these boys will more than likely grow up and eventually perish.
Each poem in the folder have different meanings and are unlike one another. One that I thought was interesting was "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks. This caught my attention right at the start because of the shortness of the poem. Usually, when I read a poem, it is pretty in depth and the length is more than a few lines. This poem is eye-opening. It depicts "cool people" as being high school drop-outs, curfew breakers, and underage drinkers. The end of the poem is rather abrupt. It reminds me of the saying, "I'm here for a good time not a long time". I think it is interesting that although it is very short, the meaning behind it is very important. I hope that this can get through some people's heads that being like this is going to get you nowhere in life and they are actually not cool.
Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem, in particular, has an interesting placement of words. I liked how it is set up. It has short sentences and is easy to read. Normally it has three words in each sentence except for the second line which has 5 words. This poem in my mind is short and simple. Then there is the first section which is “THE POOL PLAYERS. SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.” which could be taken differently by everyone, but I feel like it is introducing the scene. The scene could possibly be about any group of rebellious teens who enjoy playing pool and the Golden Shovel, which I guess was a pool hall. Then you see the rest of the poem, which happened to rhyme at the endings of phrases. “We real cool. We Left school. We Lurk late. We Strike straight.” this first half of the poem could tell about how the rebellious teens are thinking they are cool because they left school and they are out late, and why because they are playing pool and striking straight, or in other words hitting the pool balls hard. The next phrase I analyzed was “We Sing sin. We Thin gin. We Jazz June. We Die soon.” this meaning they sin and do things that are considered bad and what are they doing bad they are drinking gin that has a little of the alcohol in it and they also like June and likes to Jazz, which could have multiple meaning, one of them being they like to listen to Jazz music in June, but it could stand for multiple things and, because of all this they are to die soon. This ending people often think is harsh, but are they physically to die soon or is their spirit to die soon. This poem kind of gives you a choice of what you imagine and picture what is going on and it leaves you to guess, what it could possibly mean or inform you about. What is the moral or theme? Does it have one? It all depends on your point of view.
Bickley Pd.2 The poem that I found most interesting in the poetry folder was “After Auschwitz” by Anne Sexton. This poem describes a few of the terrible events that occurred during the Holocaust. The phrase, “Each day, each Nazi took, at 8:00 A.M., a baby and sauteed him for breakfast in his frying pan” makes the reader sick to his/her stomach. The author is vengeful toward the Nazis and rightfully so. She doesn’t believe that good exists in mankind, and she hates that she feels the way she does, but she has those feelings deep down. Gwendolyn’s poem “We Real Cool” is short but full of meaning. It resembles the stereotype that people have of high school students. For example, the phrase, “We Lurk late, We Strike straight” shows the long nights of high school students as well as the trouble that they can get in. I found it interesting that the verbs were all capitalized, making them nouns almost. To me, this accented the importance of each verb.
“We real cool” written by Gwendolyn Brooks is a very interesting and unusual poem. Unlike other poems I have read, this one is short and to the point. With a mere total of 10 lines, Brooks was effective with her writing. Anne Sexton’s “The Addict” is another poem I liked. She explains what it is like to be a drug addict in an effective way. I liked how some lines were only one word long. This really emphasized some parts of the poem. Anne Sexton’s other poem “After Auschwitz” is an emotional poem. She writes how casually death was given to Jews by the nazis and how it did not affect them. She writes that man is evil and should never be given that much power because he will surely become evil, as Hitler did. At the end she writes “I beg the Lord not to hear.” This may be because the “Lord” has put men in charge for all of history and she does not think it is right, but does not want the Lord to know she disagrees with this.
I find “After Auschwitz” a very “cool” poem. It seems to be a very accurate depiction of the feelings of those that were captured and help by the Nazis. It goes through many of the emotions that one might feel when they are finally released and those things that will never leave their heads. Although the horrors that happened to the Jewish people are tragic and terrifying to read about, I find myself intrigued and constantly wanting to read more. I do really like Brooks’ poem because of the simplicity of it. Although there are not many words, there is a ton of hidden meaning within the poem itself. I read it as a warning from someone who went through making bad decisions. They regret some of the decisions that they made, and came to realize the consequences that came from those decisions. Those that are older like to share their experiences with others, one of the things you always hear is that all of your actions have consequences. This poem is a prime example of that.
"We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks was a very interesting poem. I liked how it was so short, but still got a message across at the same time. This poem talked about how teenagers act and how they say they're cool. In the last part of the poem, it says "We Lurk Late, We Die Soon". This could be talking about how life is short, so you have to take chances and do risky things now while you are alive. One poem I found interesting was "The Hammock" by Li-Young Lee. I thought this poem was cool because it talked about going from being a baby to growing up and having your own children. It is supposed to represent your life and how everyone has the same questions about life that might not always get answered. I also liked the poem "This be the Verse". I think this is interesting because it shows how parents can influence your life in ways that might only show up based on their childhood.
At first, I was confused by Gwendolyn Brooks' poem. "We Real Cool' does not seem like a big poem, so at first I thought there would be nothing to analyze. But after reading it a few different times, I think I got an idea of what it is about. I got the feeling that it was about eight young adults that were close and rebellious. They talk about being cool and leaving school while singing sin. I found the poem by Anne Sexton called "The Addict" interesting. I did not expect someone to write a poem about overdosing on prescription medication. It was different how she described the pills at eight kisses goodnight. I got the feeling that she was saying that the medication helped her write and come up with ideas.
I really like Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem “We Real Cool” because although it is relatively short, it leaves an impact on the reader. I think it shows us that no matter what we do, we are all gonna die soon. It seems to relate well to a lot of our lives right now because most of us are trying to live our best lives, staying up late and thinking we are “real cool.” The last line did catch me slightly off guard when I first read it. This poem seems to be about young kids having fun, but then it snaps you back to reality that we are all going to die soon. Another poem I enjoyed was Walt Whitman’s “O Me! O Life!” His poem is kind of similar to Brooks’s because he talks about life. The last verse is also very powerful when he says we will all contribute a verse to the play that is life.
Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem “We Real Cool” is a pretty cool poem. It is not very long and it is straight to the point. It is easy to understand the meaning of it the use of a lot of words. I like the poem because I think she is thinking about her childhood and a fun thing she used to do with her friends. Going to play pool after skipping school sounds pretty fun. I feel like the poem is very descriptive despite its short length. Using words right next to each other that rhyme make the poem flow as you read it, making it more interesting. The lines she wrote saying “THE POOL PLAYERS. SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL” provides a little background of what the poem is about. It ties the whole thing together. If the poem did not have these two lines, it would be different. With the lines, I think it is about young kids skipping school to have fun and do young kid things. Without the lines it would seem morbid, especially with the line that says “We Die soon.”
I really did truly enjoy this poem by Gwendolyn Brooks. This poem made me thing of good times with friends in the summer. So in turn I also did not like this poem because I want summer right now and we still have a month left of school. So after reading it I found myself very unmotivated to right this post. I enjoy how each line of the poem is only three words. Each of the lines are short and concise; yet they are able to bring feelings of joy and happiness with friends. I also really enjoy the poem “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath. This was one of the longer ones we read in class but I found the comparisons that she put to make the poem much more interesting and made it easier to engage it throughout the entire poem. I really enjoy this poetry unit because you can feel the same amount from a poem that is eight pages and a poem that only has 3 words per line.
I find the poem “The Hammock” by Li-Young Lee is my favorite I have read so far. The way it reflects from one generation to another is intriguing because it’s done in such a smooth way that it’s almost unnoticeable. I also enjoy this poem because it discusses the importance of a parents support and how it relates to a hammock which is relatable for us as seniors right now who are reflecting on where we came from and where we are going. The poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks was also really interesting in that it uses slang and short statements that resemble students rather than a sophisticated connotation. It is a great example that less is more, in that you have to interpret on your own in how it relates to you. It also capitalized every word except “we real cool” which draws attention to that phrase in a subtle way compared to the normal emphasis of using all caps for the section you want attention drawn to.
I find the Whitman poem O Me! O Life! Interesting. It gives an interesting perspective to the question that almost all people will ask in their life: ”What is the meaning of actually being alive?”. Whitman’s perspective is interesting because it does not really give a sole purpose but it tells us that we need to exist in order to write our own verse in this perplexing story. By saying so, Whitman implicates new thinking that instead of questioning, we should act upon the gift of life, and we need to live to our fullest so that we may fulfill the meaning of our existence. I enjoyed We Real Cool. When reading it, I was struck by the shortness but also, the power that each word contained. The poem tells a story of pool players that I believe are putting themselves into dangerous situations as teenagers. They are, in my mind, a part of a gang in which they could easily fall victim to violence or are dabbling with dangerous drugs. Either way, they are gambling their lives at a young age.
Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem “We Real Cool” is concise but intriguing. The poem itself is ten lines long but tells a story of a thousand words. The simple AA BB CC DD pattern the poem follows creates a rhythm that almost makes it feel like a song. I believe Brooks is expressing the personality of the “cool” kids, leaving school early, staying out late, singing bad songs, and drinking. The kids described in the poem are left genderless and pertain to no certain race. Nevertheless, they are being rebellious and having fun. Another poem I found interesting was Emily Dickinson’s “There is another sky”. This poem speaks of another world where the sun is dark but the garden is bright. To me, this poem seems to have a godly feel to it. Saying that there is another life in the bright “bee hum” of heaven. Dickinson is speaking to another person through her poem telling him to forget the “silent fields” and “faded forests” but rather to see the good.
Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem, “We Real Cool” is a very cool poem. The poem is about a group of pool players that are living in the moment. These pool players do not go to school, instead, they go to their local lounge, The Golden Shovel, and play pool to their heart’s desire. In the poem, Brooks states that they “Lurk Late and Strike Straight”. This could either mean that they stay out late and play pool or they are very straight forward people simply living in the moment and having a good time. At the end of the poem, she says “We Jazz June, We Die Soon”, I think that this embodies what it means to be cool. To be cool, you have to live in the moment and live a lifestyle that others wish to live. Maybe this poem is what it means NOT to be cool, but I guess it is up to the interpreter to make up their mind.
Talcott 2 I like the poem, “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks because it is very simple and easy to follow. I really enjoy how smoothly the rhymes fit in the poem. Another thing I really enjoy about the poem is the formatting. I really like how Brooks was able to make every line three words and was still able to make it rhyme and flow well. I think that William Carlos Williams’s poem “Danse Russe” is really cool. I think it is funny, but I also got a great message from it. The message I received from the poem was no one can tell you how to think. You can think however you want. Another poem that I enjoyed reading was “After Auschwitz” by Anne Sexton. This poem was very powerful and eye-opening. It helped me to realize just how horrible man can be. Sexton perfectly described the feelings someone in Auschwitz could have felt during or after being in the concentration camp.
Law 2 Personally, I really enjoy the poems that make you think and analyze different signs and symbols. As a receiver, I’ve always loved being told endings and I always found it really stupid when a movie or book didn’t properly finish. Being in this class and reading these poems made me realize it is good to leave things up to your own interpretation. One of my favorites from the ones we read in class is the hammock. It talks about the thoughts and worries that go through both the child's mind and the parent's mind and how their thoughts differ or they should differ. No parent should want their kids worrying about their problems making them have to grow up faster to be able to handle those different situations or different responsibilities they feel they may have. Brooks, on the other hand, is a very unique write. When I read the poem for the first time I thought, “wow this seems like a poem I wrote in elementary school.” After reading the poem a second time I interpreted it for much more. I thought of it as the kids who drop out of school thinking they are too cool and what they are learning is worthless and has no value to them. Then putting in what I see from movies kids who drop out of school eventually drink their lives away in small-town bars, trying to drink way all their problems that they didn’t realize the world would introduce them to when they dropped out of school. Finally not being able to move out of that small town and dying at a young age from one bad decision after another that their heart, minds, and souls could no longer take. I didn’t just enjoy how short his poem was and easy to read, but rather how much it made me think.
I think that Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem, “we real cool”, is very interesting. It definitely pertains to us as teenagers. For one the poem itself is simple. I think that teenagers are more simple than most adults think we are. Like lots of us can be entertained by the dumbest things and we tend to be pretty easy going. At the same time though there are a lot of teenagers that think they are “cool”. I think this poem is about the ones that think they are cool. Besides that poem I think “This be the Verse” by Philip Larkin is really interesting. It is interesting because it speaks out against the one thing it seems we are meant to do and that is have kids and raise them the best they can. He straight up says that parents just screw their kids up so they shouldn’t bother having any. I personally don’t agree with that but I think the poem itself is very interesting.
The poem “We Real Cool” is different than the other poems we have read. It is much shorter and has a different writing style. When I looked the poem up online the "we" is supposed to be at the end of every line instead of at the beginning. I thought this was an interesting artistic choice by Gwendolyn Brooks. Which also explains why the second word in every line throughout the poem is capitalized in Mr. C’s version. Having the "we" at the end puts more of an emphasis on it making you wonder who the “we” is. The “we” could pertain to everyone since almost everyone will do one of those things in their life from drinking cheap alcohol to playing pool. The “we” could also pertain to the young adults and the teenagers of the current day. We want to have all the fun we can before we make it to working for the rest of our life. Our opportunity to be wild and crazy will die soon along with everything we know. Therefore this "we" that everyone knows will die soon.
Bunker 5 I have really enjoyed reading the poems. They are all so unique and have their own hidden meaning. The first time I read most of them I am very confused, but after analyzing it a few times I start to find the message the author is trying to send. I like the poem “We Real Cool”. I think it is about high school kids like us trying to fit in and do the “cool” thing. I think lots of people struggle with finding where they fit and end up falling down the path. Another poem I found very interesting was “Oh Me! Oh Life”. It talked about the sad, busy, foolish, and faithful life we all live. It questions what is the point of all this madness? It makes you reflect on your own life and think about how you want your story to be played out.
I think “The Addict”t by Anne Sexton is really cool. It shows us what drug use looks like from the point of view of the person overdosing on pills. It brings addiction to the forefront and shows how it is affecting her and taking control saying she takes them every night and that she is an “expert on making the trip”. She very vividly explains how the pills make her feel throughout the poem. Saying they are like a mother or “eight chemical kisses”. I also like how she explained how the pills are slowing killing her especially the line about how its a war inside of her. The way she uses single word lines is also really unique because it really highlights some things. I liked the poem “We Real Cool”. It was short and to the point. I like how she used really basic English words to make such a cool poem that is also really impactful.
Gwendolyn's Poem is a very short work. On the outside it seems like a simple straightforward story told in the form of interrupted three word phrases. The literal meaning of this story can be seen as a person who goes to the bar with friends and plays pool. While doing so they skip school, stay up late, and drink alcohol. All of this reckless behavior has led they to believe that they will not live long. Although this story tells of premature death to some pool players, the story carries a sense of swagger. A reader can see this story in two ways. The first theme a reader could see is being regretful of reckless behavior. The pool player having regret for their drinking, skipping school, and staying up late. Another way of reading this story is being lively in the face of death and regret. This story has the sad, impending result of death, but the writer still manages to story to read in a cool, pompous way. The most interesting thing about this poem to me was its double meaning.
I found the Poem “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath very interesting. It is evident that she does not like her father. Throughout most of the poem, she compares her father to Hitler while comparing herself to a Jew. This can be taken as a sign that her father did not treat her well. She uses an alluring word choice by adding random German words—this only furthers the imagery of the Holocaust. There was an obvious struggle between her and her father. She describes him as having a “Meinkampf look.” She also says her dad had “a love of the rack and the screw,” which implies her dad’s love of torture. The real question is if this implies that her dad did not treat her well. She ties up the loose ends at the end of this poem in a unique way as well. She symbolically stabs her dad in the heart after referring to him as a vampire, effectively killing him—taking him out of her life.
Geringer 1 Brooks’s Poem “We Real Cool” is a very short, but impactful poem. I interpreted the poem being about a group of teenagers, maybe, that got started on the wrong path going the wrong direction and never made it back onto the right path going the right direction. Maybe they got tangled up in some gang stuff and were killed an early age, or maybe they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong people. There are very few words that are presented in a very big way. I also find Sylvia Plath's poem “Daddy” very interesting. There is so much that happens within her poem that it left me stunned. For me, it is really hard to imagine a parent that is so awful you want to kill them. Not only did she want to kill him, but she also regretted that she was not the one that got to kill him.
Gwendolyn Brooks's poem, "We Real Cool", certainly is cool. I enjoy reading short poems like these because I find that shorter poems require each word to be powerful and hold a greater meaning. The structure of this poem is also cool. Only three words are in each line of the last four stanzas, yet the poem says so much. I do wish that shorter poems had more context, though. This poem is about kids leaving school and having fun, but why is Brooks choosing to write about this? Another poem I enjoy in the Google folder is Shakespeare's "Sonnet 75". I have always loved reading Shakespeare since I first read Romeo and Juliet in middle school. I think that reading Shakespeare's old English helps me become a better reader and become better at analyzing poems because his writing is not easy to understand sometimes. I like this specific poem because of how he describes this person he seems to love. He is the best at putting the feeling of love into words, which is very difficult to do with such a strong emotion. Reading Shakespeare makes me want to read more poetry.
I really enjoyed reading “The Hammock”. I really liked trying to decipher the meaning behind it. The hopes and dreams of his mother being there before he was there and how his child's dreams would outlast him was amazing to think about. Trying to get into the authors head a bit and wonder how he came to think and compose like that is an amazing thing to do. I enjoyed “We Real Cool”. I feel like it was about how a group of people kind of got into trouble and went down the wrong path. They originally started out with leaving school and going out late. Striking straight may be a reference to their pool skills. For someone to shoot straight they either have to be experienced in the game or it could also be a mention that they are not intoxicated at the moment. Next, it talks about them doing bad things like singing about the bad stuff and drinking gin. The last lines say that they will die soon. In conclusion, maybe all the behavior caught up to them.
Brummels 1 I liked the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks. I think it relates to us as teenagers. We think that this is the time of our lives and we think we are the coolest people there are. Even though it is such a short, simple poem, it makes an impact. I also liked “After Auschwitz” by Anne Sexton. For some reason, I find the Holocaust very intriguing. I know that it was an awful event but I like to learn about it. I like to hear different people’s stories about what happened. Another poem that I liked would be “The Addict” by, again, Anne Sexton. It is interesting to hear something of someone who is an addict or someone who is overdosing, from their perspective. Normally I am not a big fan of the poetry unit because I am bad at writing it, but I am liking this one so far.
Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem, “We Real Cool” is one of the briefest poems in the Google folder but it happens to be one of the few that I relate to the most. As teenagers, most of us often think that by doing bad things automatically makes you cool. Her references towards dropping out of school, drinking alcohol, “jazzing” June, and dying because of these decisions is the epitome of high schoolers’ actions and attitudes. The poem, “This Be the Verse” by Philip Larkin is also one of my favorites because it is a poem that no matter you background, you can still relate or agree with it. The use of vocabulary by Larkin is a necessity and it also targets young poem readers to favor the poem. Another poem I am interested in is “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath. I think it is cool to be open about your past even if it isn’t rainbows and unicorns.
The poem by Gwendolyn Brook's seems rather unique especially in the style of writing. It is very concise, yet I must admit I don't entirely understand what it means. I do not know especially what "seven at the golden shovel" means. But I like it when poems have a deeper meaning that can be interpreted in different ways. I have a soft spot for poetry because it seems to sing to individuals in a manner that can't always be done with normal text. One of the other poems I read was "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath. Again I seriously have no idea what this one was about. However, I could feel Sylvia's passion through her words. Even though I didn't quite understand what she was getting at, I could tell that it was something very important to her. She was putting her heart and soul into her writing and almost seemed vulnerable. I enjoyed Anne Sexton's poem " The Addict". I'm not sure if Anne Sexton truly was an addict, but I could sense truth in her poem. I could feel this experience that I've never felt before and I was just in awe by the final line of "Now I'm numb". Endings and lines like these hit hard. They just tie an entire poem together and bring them home in an impactful way. Poems like these are why I love reading poetry.
Kirkeby2 Gwendolyn Brooks's "We Real Cool" is an interesting poem, to say the least. While I did not dislike it but poems are not exactly my thing, so it was different than most readings. However, this poem is very relatable. and shows the flaws in high school society. Essentially this shows that for students who peak in high school by being "cool" will be nothing more than that. They will never live their lives to the fullest because they outspent their youth trying to put up a facade of being "cool". This inevitably leaves them short with the rest of their lives as they can never reach their peak again. Poems that are able to show you deeper ways to look at life are some of the most fascinating works of literature on the planet.
1 Rau I thoroughly enjoyed Gwendolyn Brooks's poem "We Real Cool" because of the simplicity and jazzy vibes it gives off. In a way, I can interpret this poem to be taking place in the Jazz age, where people were carefree and many had chosen to pursue their love of jazz music over college. Continuing on, I can picture this poem to continue on in a relevant story during the early 1900s. Because these jazz musicians typically felt "cool" and confident the way they were, they most likely tended to "lurk late" in the nights at clubs or festivities, playing their music for other people of similar interests and musical tastes. In the clubs especially, these musicians could have "[sung] sin" during the summer month of "June", continuing on their lively, colorful lives until they, finally, "die soon". All in all, I respect her poem for the amount of story Brooks can portray in such a short poem. One other poem I happened to enjoy would have to be Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night". The very description of how we should "rage, rage against the dying of the light" really caught hold of my emotions, reminding me, the reader, how we all need to fight for as much life as we can. In our dying breath, I have learned how important it is to continue to live on as long as you can, knowing how precious the light of life really is, and to not allow yourself to give up so easily when we have the chance.
Of the poems we have read so far, I can honestly say that I enjoyed "This be the Verse" by Phillip Larkin the most. I understood it far easier than the others we studied, and the mature language did not bother me in the slightest. Personally, I believe language like that is acceptable in some instances, such as being used for emphasis or shock factor (like in this poem). However, there is a point where it becomes too much. I really liked the use of the coastal shelf imagery; it perfectly portrays the deepening assimilation to one's family, along with "some extra, just for you." As for Brooks' poem, I cannot say that I enjoyed it, but I do have a massive appreciation for her use of words. There are only 32 words in the entire work, but each of those 32 words is beautifully chosen and fit together in a way that magnifies their importance to the reader.
Peyton 5 I personally enjoyed Gwendolyn Brook's poem because it is simple and has meaning. I think she is trying to relate to the youth in her poem so it was something I enjoyed. It is also the first poem I have read that is written the way it was. It is short and sweet and it also has a very mellow feel to it. I don't know what some of it means such as "Seven at the golden shovel" and "we thin gin." When I do not know certain stuff like this it makes me wonder if I am interpreting the poem right. I wonder if the author is really trying to relate to the youth or not. I also enjoyed the poem "The Addict" because it has a lot of relevance to today's world. With all the addiction and famous artists dying from it it is a poem that would benefit many people to read.
I think this poem was very meaningful. It was short and to the point but I think it was talking about something very important. I feel as though it tells the story of youthful teenagers that are out adventuring the world. Leaving school, I feel like she is talking about dropping out or maybe even just skipping for one day. They are out and taking risks doing things that their parents would not want them doing. The phrase " We sing sin we thin gin" I feel talks more about being involved in drugs and other substances. It shows that they are out doing things that are bad in the eyes of society. The ending also talks about something I think is important "We die soon" this could be taken literally. Teenagers that get involved in the bad sections of society normally die at a much younger age. Or it could be metaphorical saying that their teen years of going out and being crazy are over soon. Either way, it is showing the end of something important to these teens. I really do think this poem is powerful and meaningful. There are many poems in the google drive that are amazingly thoughtful I also like "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." This poem discusses how you should not give up or give into society or try and make them stop what you are doing.
Gwendolyn Brooks's poem "We Real Cool" is a very interesting poem that is only 8 lines with 24 words altogether. I see it as a commentary on two different people, the odd number lines are someone that has friends and family and the even lines are the other person that does not. "We Lurk Late" is meant to portray the first person hanging out with friends late at night while the next line, "We Strike Straight", is portraying the second person mugging people for money. I also enjoyed the poem: "Black Cat" by Poe. This poem gives an ominous and darker tone that most of these poems (it's Poe so that doesn't surprise me). I believe that it is about the inevitability of death and how we try to run away from it. The black cat is death, always following the main character, and when the protagonist tries to kill the cat it just keeps coming back.
Johnson 1 I really liked the Poe poem. Every one of his works is so interesting and so gory and it is fun to read. I like how Poe is so descriptive in everything that he writes because it makes it so easy to visualize what exactly he is talking about which makes it more enjoyable to read. Also, I did really like Gwendolyn Brook's poem because although it is not a very long poem, it has a very strong meaning to it even though it is short. It is also very easy to relate to her poem because it relates to teenagers so we all are able to understand what is going on in the poem easier. I think that it is cool she had them skipping school and going out and adventuring because it just shows the crazy youth doing whatever they want and this is also shown when she says "We sing sin we thin gin" because that sounds like she is talking about drugs and alcohol.
I think that a really cool poem in the Google folder is "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath, as it shows the inner struggle of Plath as she looks back on her upbringing and her father. She compares him to a Nazi, to show just how cruelly Plath was treated by her father. She says that she was scared of him and that she could never really talk around him as she was scared that he would mistreat her if she even spoke. The poem by Gwendolyn Brooks is an interesting and short Poem. Though short, it has a lot of meaning and shows that someone can live life to the fullest, doing whatever they want to, but with that lifestyle, they will die soon, or it could even just mean sooner than a normal person. I liked the poem both for the short length and for the many different ways to interpret it.
The poem I found most intriguing was "This Be the Verse" written by Philip Larkin. The obscene language paired with brutal honesty made this poem one to remember. The thought of how parents have all of the power to make or break the personality and behaviors of their children is clearly depicted within this literary work. Only, in this poem, it is depicted in an obviously negative viewpoint which brings me to question where Larkin found his inspiration for this poem. Could his past life have something to do with his urge to write a poem with such a negative opinion towards parental figures? We all know such questions will never be answered. As for Gwendolyn Brooks, her poem "We Real Cool", was very simplistic yet straightforward. Each line only containing three simple words but using those few words to hold a much larger meaning. It seems to me that she is trying to describe the troubled youth of her time. Using phrases such as "we sing sin" and "we die soon" makes this poem have a dark side to it but with a plain message, there is no fixing the troubled youth.
I really enjoyed Yeats poetry. His creativity if incredibly interesting but also creepy to an extent. The wonderful vocabulary he uses really takes the readers in. The words themselves give imagery without weighing the story down. If he were to be any vaguer or any more details I think it would lose its smooth flow that most poetry has. Also, his poems are unique in the sense that they convey a story like a legend or a prophecy is being told. Somehow in a small poem, Yeats is able to make me feel like I've read an ancient scroll that has withstood the test of time and must bring a message of warning. Another poet I admire is Larkin. His poetry is the kind that does not care for beauty and instead truth. Unlike Yeats Larkin lacks vocabulary but perfectly includes the description of human life. Larkin informs the reader about what has been right under their noses. He enlightens readers in a jokingly playful way. His poems follow an upbeat rhythm yet the topic of them is existentially grim. Larkin tells it like it is but in order to provide comedic relief he establishes a fun style short and sweet but vulgar at its heart. When it comes to Gwendolyn Brook's poems I think they are cute in the typical way poems can be. Honestly, Brooks poetry seems plain to me and does not leave its mark in my memory. Her poems simplicity I feel makes me skim over it instead of indulging in it.
The poems in the folder are super interesting I think. I like how they are all so different and all have different styles and ways that they are written. They touch on serious topics and some are more lighthearted. I have always loved poetry and I love the simplicity but also intricacy that they portray. Some are easy to understand and others not as much. But they all have a deeper meaning and convey strong emotions and that’s why I love reading them. They all have a purpose and mean something. I like Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem. It’s short and simple but I think that completely helps convey what she means. She uses simple talk and almost like slang words to show the title of her poem “We Real Cool”. Cool people seem to talk kind of different from everyone else. The poem also gives me allusions to the phrase “Live Fast, Die Young”. I get those kinds of vibes from the poem. Overall I really like poetry and I enjoyed Brooks’ poem as well.
Kellogg 2 One poem I thought was pretty interesting was “The Black Cat”. It was interesting to read the side comments that compared a black cat to a witch. Apparently a witch is supposed to be able to turn into a black cat. Someone else mentioned that witches can’t be burned or hanged and that’s why the cat never died, but instead kept coming back, but I’ve read that those are two of the only ways that witches can be killed. This story also reminded me of “The Cask of Amontillado” because of the narrator putting his wife’s dead body in a wall in the basement, and then mortaring it shut again. Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem “We Real Cool” was kind of hard to understand in the sense that each line was three words long, so it didn’t give very much explanation as to what it meant. The lines “We Strike straight”, “We Thin gin”, and “We Jazz June” do not make sense to me because Brooks does not give enough information.
One poem I think is very cool is Dickinson’s “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass”. I think this is a cool poem because it has great imagery, and it allows me to think of my own analysis of the poem. Another poem I found cool was Lee’s “The Hammock” that we read in class. One reason I think it is cool is that we read it in class and dissected it as a group. Having everyone’s opinion really allowed me to understand what Lee was trying to say. I did enjoy Brook’s poem. I wish I would have had more of a back story allowing me to understand the poem a little clearer. However, I enjoyed that I was able to think and develop my own thoughts about the poem. Poetry is a great form of writing because everyone can analyze how they want. There is no wrong answer to reading or writing poetry.
Huntimer 2 I enjoyed Dylan Thomas’s poem: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. I liked the message about living life to the fullest and to ignore death. Night time is a metaphor for death and the sun rising is a metaphor for new life that Thomas uses to symbolize everyone’s journey. The line “rage against the dying of the light” means to live the best life and be happy until you die. Thomas also makes a reference to his father dying, which is a tragic experience that we all have to face. We are our parents legacy that should rage against our own dying of the light. This poem makes me think about what I could do in my life to make sure I’m happy. We all have dreams to find a career that we enjoy and have a family we love; this poem symbolizes that you should ignore the day you would eventually die and instead enjoy the days you have. Try to live your best life, be happy, and surround yourself with positive people.
I feel like Brooks poem has something to do with the civil rights movement due to the time period that she grew up, and when she wrote the poem. She uses words like 'strike' and she talks of how they 'sing sin' which is what racist people said African American music was just sin. I thought that her using few words, but the reader still being able to get meaning from it makes it a very neat poem, and makes her a great poet. I thought that the poem "The Addict" by Sexton was a heart touching, and eye opening poem to those who know of addicts because it gives you insight in how that person feels, and what they are going through. Lee's poem "The Hammock" really stuck in my head for quite a few weeks so I would say that was one of my favorite poems because it really made me think, and gave me a different perspective on life. We are always existing in some way through our children, and because time is not day by day but always around. Time is something that exist in the future and in the now. It is confusing to think about, and try to explain but now I think of time in a completely different way.
“We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is a very interesting poem. The rhymes flow nicely and the poem is very easy to understand. It is about a group of people who skip school and go to the bar “The Golden Shovel” to shoot pool and drink gin. This group is living in the moment and having fun now and worrying later. This is shown in the line “We Jazz June We Die Soon.” This likely means that the people are living in the moment and not worrying about the consequences. This poem’s title “We Real Cool” shows that the people likely are not the smartest people, probably stemming from the fact that they skip school and only shoot pool. These people are singing bad songs and drinking alcohol. While they may not be the greatest people, they probably are a little misunderstood. Everybody has their own passions and people should not judge other people based on those passions.
One poem that I really thought was cool would be the Hammock poem by Lee. When we first read it in class, I didn’t fully comprehend it, but when I reread it, you can get more meaning from it. At first, it just sounds like a bunch of words, but if you break it down and look at it carefully, it honestly looks like a hammock. The hammock is supposed to be your life. Your life can be seen as a hammock because of your legacy. Before you are born your parents dream about you and wish the best for you. Your parents want to make sure you have a great life even before you are born. Then when you are born and you live your life and potentially have children of your own and do the same thing your parents did. After you have lived your full presence and pass away your legacy still lives on through your children. Your life starts high with your parent's dream then swoops like a U for your lifetime and then ends high with your children's legacy of you just like the shape of a hammock. You were vital before you were born and are essential after you die. Everyone has a story that can start with being written in the stars(parents) and end with written in the stars(your children and their memories of you). The poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is by far my favorite one so far. I love how it is unlike any of the typical poems we have read in English classes before. I also love the natural pulse and flow that you can’t resist but feel when you are reading it. The overall message or storyline of the poem is about rebellion and going against what you are told. This is such a new topic compared to trees, nature, old people, and animals like we are very used to.
I thought that the poem by Cummins "Since feeling is first" was one of my favorites. I think that it was removed from the poetry folder, but I remember reading it on the day that we had read the first poem. It flows really well and is worded, I think, in one of the most well thought-out ways it could have been. I believe that it was a love poem and the way that Cummings ended it left me with chills. He turned life into a sort of metaphor, comparing it to a sentence or essay/paragraph. He ended the poem with the words "life is no paragraph, and death I think is no parenthesis. I don't think that the "we real cool" poem was that cool. Maybe the poem meant more to other people, but I didn't see a whole lot of effort or meaning in it—it seemed, for the most part, pointless to me.
I thought that the Brooks Poem was very intriguing. It reminded me of how teenagers act in real life. Even though it was a very short poem, the language and how it was written made it much more interesting. The rhyming words always add a different level to the poem for me to make poems much more interesting. Plath’s poem “Daddy” was another favorite of mine. I loved her symbolism and her language that she used. She really portrayed her feels of her father and allowed the reader to understand her and how poor her situation was with her father. The way she talked about being a Jew and her father being Hitler allowed readers to relate to her story more. Everyone has studied the Holocaust and can understand the connection which makes it more accessible. Plath’s poem felt more like a story with the descriptions that she used. And to me, it made more sense with it being in that style.
I enjoy the poem “We Real Cool” because I feel as if it directly relates to kids that are my age. Teens consider themselves cool throughout their younger years, which is another reason that this poem can directly relate to teenagers. Within the poem, Gwendolyn Brooks uses the phrase “We Lurk late” which can also relate to teens because during their teen years, kids try to be out as late as they can and test their parents patience by not coming home when told to do so. Another poem that I really liked was “Dream” by Edgar Allan Poe. I really liked this poem because the imagery throughout the piece was very detailed and made it seem as if it was something that I had experienced. The poem, though, that I thought was really “cool” is “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath. I think this poem is “cool” because the author of this poem really repeats some of the ieas throughout the entire piece, but she really gets her point across. I think that the author of this poem holds some real hurt towards her father, which she displays beautifully in this poem.
Ellingson 5 I really enjoyed the poem "Daddy" by Plath. It can relate to so many people including me. Whether your dad or mom is a monster, you can relate. I admire Plath for writing a poem like this because during this time I'm sure it was quite tabu to write a poem that calls out your parents. Especially in the older generations, parents and elders were to be incredibly respected and looked up to, not judged and ridiculed by their children. In regards to the poem written by Gwendolyn Brooks, I found it interesting and relatable. I think she is accurate in saying that teenagers stay up late and ultimately get into some trouble sometimes. I think she also makes a good point in basically saying that everyone is going to die, and it is best to live your life while you have it, especially when you're young and feel bulletproof.
I personally think that a lot of the poems shared in that folder are cool. The one that stands out to me the most would have to be "There is another sky" by Emily Dickinson. This poem uses a lot of references to nature and that fascinates me. It is cool how she can relate the sky, sunshine, and forests to real life events and people that is happening. By her saying "there is another sky" she means "there is another place for you." Showing that no matter what is going on there is no need to worry because there is another place where you can live and thrive off of. Gwendolyn Brooks's poem was interesting. I am amazed by how short that poem is. I am kind of curious how a poem so short can be yet so famous? The poem literally consists of just literally a few more than 20 words. Overall both interesting poems.
Harvison 1 I really enjoyed Larkin's poem "This Be The Verse". I understand that this poem is not the happiest poem that has ever be written, but I like that. Too often it seems that there is always a happy meaning, so it is a nice mix up to get a much more "dark" poem. He seems to hold a grudge against his parents for bringing him into this world like he is bitter for having to live. I wonder if Larkin was like this in real life or if he is easily able to climb literature hurdles that may stop an author from experimenting with the writing style. For Brooks poem, I like the flow and the simplicity, but I am missing the point, I can not tell if it's promoting that lifestyle of "cool" or saying with the last line that we all die at some point and that it doesn't matter if you are perceived as cool.
I really enjoyed the poem "Daddy" and also "This Be the Verse". I liked them both almost because they are so dark. Even if you cannot relate directly to the poem, "Daddy" you can still feel the emotion that the author put into it. It is somewhat repetitive, but it still flows very nicely. "This Be the Verse" is a poem that I think our generation, especially can relate to. In class, Mr. C asked if he thought the author was suggesting the reader commit suicide, which I believe is not what he was saying at all. He is basically just pushing the reader to get out of the bad situation they are in, and then to not bring more innocent children into this terrible world. I think a lot of people in our generation have this same mindset.
I think that the poems "This Be the Verse" and "The Hammock" are pretty cool. I like the way that Larkin examines the cycle of human behavior in "This be the verse". His negative view on having children and parental figures as a whole is really fresh. I feel those who might think this usually wouldn't state it so eloquently so I think it is a really cool poem. The way it is written is also very interesting. The rhythm and rhymes of the poem really make it flow and make it an interesting read. It also sparingly uses imagery, but it is used masterfully. "The Hammock" is a stark contrast to "This Be the Verse" because it looks positively on having children. In this poem, however, Lee focuses on the potential of each child. It is also a very happy poem which breaks the mold of most being pretty dreary. I really enjoy the imagery of people being stars that are hidden by daylight and his outlook on the life of a person. I did like Brooks's "We Real Cool." it was short and to the point. I also enjoy the sarcasm used through the whole poem.
Throughout all the poems we have read in class, my favorite would have to be "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night". This poem caught my attention with the emotion behind the story. The reader is left to interpret the piece however they want. I interpreted the piece as a message to a loved one who is going to pass on. A plea from the ones left behind stating that they should not go into the good night but stay alive and suffer the cold nights with the one left behind. It is a touching plea from one that is angered at the thought of their father dying. He portrays death as a vengeful thing, not peaceful like everyone assumes hence the going gently. This poem touches my heart and leaves me sad for the narrator. It reminds me of a song by Ben Platt called "In Case You Don't Live Forever". Within this song, Ben is speaking to his uncle who is dying. He says that even if you pass on you will still stay in my life as a piece of me. The contrast between these two pieces speaks to me. The song seems to approach the passing as an inevitable but peaceful concept. The speaker in the song is sad but is okay with death because of the peacefulness behind it. However, in the poem the narrator is angered at the thought of death because although everyone says it is peaceful, the narrator argues that it is worthy of raging at. I also think that this rage could also just be the reader desperately trying to get his father to stay. Yes, death is peaceful, but if the narrator makes it seem awful, will his father potentially stay? "We Real Cool" is a bit interesting to me. Although I can't really make out what she has to say within the poem, I am open to hearing a plethora of theories from my fellow classmates. I have yet to form a solid opinion on it though.
Eichelberg 5 I, personally, like Emily Dickinson’s poems because I have read some of her works in the past and really enjoy her writing style and how she experiments with various forms of punctuation. Not only do her poems interest me, but when considering the context of her life as a shut-in in her home and her secretive lifestyle, it adds a new sense of depth to her poems and forces readers to evaluate her works with a new lens. In her poem “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass”, she describes a snake in cryptic detail, never revealing the subject of her work but is left for the reader to analyze on their own. She utilizes many metaphors that others may not consider but presents an everyday sight in her own words causing a reevaluation by readers and a new viewpoint. I personally do not like Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem “We Real Cool” simply because I do not enjoy this genre of poetry. I prefer more structured and easily interpreted poetry. Her poem contains no clear meaning and is too short for me to easily evaluate and derive meaning from. Although I do not particularly enjoy her writing style, I find it interesting and like that it requires further thought to evaluate which may improve my understanding of other works in the future. I think it is important to be exposed to a variety of literary styles so I think it’s important that one continues to read works, even though they might not be their favorites, because each piece of literature has something we can learn.
Frantzen 1 The poem "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks is very interesting to me. When poems are written in the way that Brooks wrote hers there are many ways that you can take it. The poem is only ten lines long but speaks volumes. It has a very hip style to the writing that allows younger people to read it and take it into their own understanding. She is explaining, in my eyes, a rebellious teenager who is just trying to have fun. They are playing some pool at the pool hall while ditching out on school. They are seen as the rebellious naughty kids at school. I also really like the poem, "After Auschwitz" by Anne Sexton because it gives a lot of truth into the Holocaust. It talks about how a man is very evil and kills flowers. Flowers may represent the jews or the harmless things in life.
I was surprised by the Poem “We Real Cool”. It is extremely short, but that is often some of the best poetry. For me, the poem seemed to be hinting towards the lives of teenagers. It is often a stereotype that teens think they are cool, and when the poem says, “We Lurk late…We die soon”, I saw a description of the fun teens have at that time in their life. Teens are often thought of to stay up late, and they are enjoying their life before they “die soon”. By having a short poem, Gwendolyn Brooks made a great impact. The conciseness allows readers to think deeper about the true meaning. “The Addict” by Anne Sexton was another poem that stood out to me, due to the topic it addressed. During the time period Sexton wrote this poem, mental health and drug addiction were not seen the way they are today. These are topics that should be addressed and not overlooked or covered up. The addiction is described as a “journey”, a way of “staying in shape”, a “marriage”, a “war”, and even an “innocuous occupation”. By describing it this way, Sexton is addressing the topic to slightly fit the time period.
Each poem allows for someone to tell a story, give a message, and share their feelings in an artistic way. As teenagers, we really don't think much about poetry. It may not be interesting, but there is always a life lesson hidden within the poetry. Being in this class and reading these poems made me realize it is good to leave things up to your own interpretation. My favorite short story would be the "Black cat". Reason being it has a horror-ish side to it. It had so much suspense and scary build up with the most unpredictable actions continuing on in the story. All poems or short stories make you dig deep to figure out their main message. They have so much thought, emotions, and feelings being tossed into a piece of literary art. Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem is indeed very intriguing. It is filled with short but yet simple thoughts to convey the overall message to the readers. I think that completely helps convey what she means. She has a slang way of describing things in her poems which targets us teenagers being "hip" as most people call it. We can relate easier or in different levels/ways.
I believe that each piece of poetry is cool in its own way; although, in my opinion, some poems have too much going on and are too intense. Anne Sexton surprised me with how intense her pieces of poetry are. In her piece, “After Auschwitz”, Sexton goes off of the title and takes twists and turns to the conclusion that all men are bad and deserve to die. At first, I did not think that her poem was a good reflection of all that she had to offer, but after reading the addict, I found that Anne is just a different type of woman. In “The Addict”, I was completely surprised. I did not expect Anne to be a drug addict; however, it did make her pieces of poetry make more sense. I really enjoy when a piece of poetry relates to the author’s life and we can get a closer look into what that entails.
I don't like Gwendolyn Brooks's poem. I hate rhyme, and I don't like when authors and poets use as few words as Brooks uses in her poem. To me, you can see her style, but not her flavor. To get an author's flavor, I need to have enough words to understand the way she writes and who she is. I can tell where she is from and her culture, but not her personally. Contrarily, I can tell a lot about Anne Sexton from her poem "After Auschwitz", which I really enjoyed. You can really tell that Anne feels like part of the problem of the events that have unfortunately happened to her in her lifetime. You can tell that she feels bad morally for the hatred she is expressing towards mankind, but I love how she gives the reader a chance to sympathize with her, and I do. She puts her life experiences into this poem and the feelings she has because of them. I really respect that and the difficulty that it probably took to make that poem.
I really enjoyed the poem "After Auschwitz" by Anne Sexton. Sexton mentions some extremely grotesque actions throughout the poem, most notably the sauteing of a baby each morning for breakfast. Including these graphic images early causes the reader to feel disgusted and become emotionally invested straight away. I also think that the last lines of this poem were particularly powerful. The reader can tell a lot about what Sexton is feeling inside. She hates the Nazis for what they have done, and rightfully so, but extends that anger throughout the remainder of the human race. This animosity towards those outside of the Nazis is causing her guilt and shame. She says these things about how she wished death upon them and follows up by saying she wishes that God doesn’t hear them. This poem evokes so many emotions within the reader that I believe most will be able to connect with at least one of them if not more.
I really enjoyed the poem “After Auschwitz” by Anne Sexton because it had so much meaning in it even though it was short. The one-word sentences really added a lot. It showed her anger towards Hitler and also mankind. My favorite part in the poem was when she compared mankind to a flower. I portrayed this as men are looked at like a flower they are perfect and good at everything they do. Then she also made the comment that they should be burned. She also didn’t want God to know she was saying these comments about men because she feared that she would be punished. Being a woman at that time was very hard because you were looked at as useless. The Nazi men were very brutal towards women and children. The part that was most disturbing about this poem was how she said that man would eat a baby for supper. This made me think that men had no soul or heart back in these times.
I personally really enjoy a lot of different types of poetry. I feel like poetry can be taken in many different directions and does not necessarily need to rhyme or have a certain rhythm for it to me “cool”. I really enjoyed Gwendolyn Brooks's poem. This poem reminded me a lot of teenagers these days. To me, this poem focuses on the youth, acting crazy but having fun before our time runs out. I also really liked the Man-Moth poem by Bishop. This poem is really dark and shows a part of her life that she wishes she could conceal. I feel like this poem relates to Bishop’s alcohol addiction and what she was really going through. I think this poem should be considered “cool” because she has the bravery to admit she needs help to the public. She is admitting her fault and her trial and error to fight her addiction. I typically like poems that talk about things that people do not like to discuss and to draw attention to things others might not understand.
96 comments:
Glen 2
I think that the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is very intriguing. I think that it pertains to teenagers because they always consider themselves to be super cool. Additionally, throughout the poem, it uses certain phrases to describe them. Such as saying, “We Lurk late/We Die soon.” Both of these stanzas portray that teenagers stay up late at night but everyone dies soon so people should live somewhat recklessly and enjoy life. Another poem that I like pertains to the Holocaust. I enjoyed reading “After Auschwitz” by Anne Sexton. It shows the different perspective that survivors of the Holocaust may think or see. Additionally, a second poem that I enjoy is called “The Hammock” by Li-Young Lee. This is because the story is a comparison based upon the hammock and the support from the main characters parents. Eventually, the younger individuals become the parents and thus support their children and so on which is why this story has a continuous ending such as the circle of life.
I liked Gwendolyn Brook’s Poem “We Real Cool”. It does remind me of how most teenagers act or how they think they act. It reminded me of a quote a friend used to always tell me, “Live fast, Die fun”. This poem is about rebellious young teenagers. In an analysis I read about Gwendolyn Brooks it says that the teenagers are said to be black. They did not have to be but it was assumed. They also may have been white or female though. Another poem that I liked was one we read in class called “This Be the Verse” by Larkin. I just liked the whole idea of it and how it is basically saying no parents are perfect, and neither will you be when or if you become a parent. You are going to mess them up the same way they messed you up.
I actually really enjoy Gwendolyn Brooks poem. She kept it pretty short and sweet, but within the context, it has a much larger story. Rhyming was throughout her poem which added a bit of detail to the story. She talked about in the poem how skipping school was the cool thing to do at the time. Along with staying out late, singing, and drinking. It talks about basically in my opinion living life to the fullest because everyone dies eventually. That is what this poem is about, living life like you don’t know when your last day will be. I don’t really understand the beginning of the poem is about when talking about some pool players and I am assuming what is a place that they meet at. I feel that Gwendolyn Brooks wrote this poem about herself how she lives her life to the fullest and these are some of the things she used to do in her younger days. But, overall I really enjoyed the poem it has a great underlying message in it that people should take seriously.
Kolbeck 7
Gwendolyn Brooks' poem genuinely surprised me. The poem is terse and makes it easy to reread once finished. The last line caught me off guard and I found myself going over the poem two more times to fully appreciate the duality of it. At first, I thought it was celebrating the modern society and their nonchalant attitude, but the next two readings saddened me as I analyzed the true meanings of their actions. I have not yet had the chance to go over all the other poems, but I have read a few that interested me. I tried to choose poems by women as the male view is sometimes trite. Sylvia Plath's "Daddy" was very confusing and the style of writing unique, but I have gotten the most enjoyment of it than all the poems I have read. I liked how I could not immediately tell who her father was or their relationship but how it was gradually revealed to you. I am looking forward to reading more "cool" poems.
Ask 7
One poem that I really thought was cool would be the Hammock poem by Lee. When we first read it in class, I didn’t fully comprehend it, but when I reread it, you can get more meaning from it. At first, it just sounds like a bunch of words, but if you break it down and look at it carefully, it honestly looks like a hammock. The hammock is supposed to be your life. Your life can be seen as a hammock because of your legacy. Before you are born your parents dream about you and wish the best for you. Your parents want to make sure you have a great life even before you are born. Then when you are born and you live your life and potentially have children of your own and do the same thing your parents did. After you have lived your full presence and pass away your legacy still lives on through your children. Your life starts high with your parent's dream then swoops like a U for your lifetime and then ends high with your children's legacy of you just like the shape of a hammock. You were vital before you were born and are essential after you die. Everyone has a story that can start with being written in the stars(parents) and end with written in the stars(your children and their memories of you). I think that Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem was fascinating. The way she set it up helped the reader keep attention but also get her message across. I love how she set it up and how she was trying to write for a teenage crowd. I find it easier and more fun to read when an author writes for an adolescent group.
Graber 2
I think the poems we have read thus far in class are incredible. I really like reading poems. Each author has their own way of putting their thoughts on paper. There are no rules when it comes to poetry. You can write the poems however you want to. It is interesting too to try and discover the author's purpose and reasoning behind the poem they wrote. Some are short and some are long. Some can convey their message easily and others you may have to come up with your own message. I think Brooke’s poem is interesting. I like how it is short and how she formatted it. She has different words capitalized for emphasis. It sounds like she is talking about a group of dropouts or misbehaved group of kids that are playing pool. They are the type to lurk around late at night and get into mischief. She ended it with “We die soon.” I thought that was interesting because more than likely these kids are young, but she’s talking about them dying young or soon. Maybe she’s implying that the choices they make will lead to death.
I think the poem called “The Addict.” It is written by Anne Sexton. I think this poem is written about a touchy subject with it being about mental health and drug addiction. I found this poem to be cool not because of what it says but because it is something that people during this time can relate to. I think addiction is often times tried to be covered up when in reality it needs to be looked at and studied in order for it to go away. I think the poem by Brook’s is cool because as teenagers the “being cool” is looked at like the number one goal. Also, when he writes “we real cool, we left school” is what is in the mind of kids when they leave school. I think the poems can touch everybody in different ways which is why everyone is able to enjoy them. It opens your mind and you find more symbols when you dig deep and analyze.
Reinschmidt 5
The poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is different than any other poem I have read. It is very intriguing because it represents our age group and our generation very well. It really stuck out to me when her poem said “We Lurk late. We Strike straight.” I think she is describing teens very well, but also referring to living the life you want to before you die, almost telling us to live like we are dying—reckless and with no regrets. I like how “We Real Cool” is not like an “ordinary” which I picture to be very poetic, smooth, and meaningful. While many of these were very interesting and entertaining, the poem “After Auschwitz” was very eye-opening to read. I think that we think we know how bad the holocaust, but then when it is put into words and we read it again, it leaves us speechless that that happened to innocent people. The poem starts with her describing a Nazi sauteing a baby for breakfast, again just enhancing how awful it actually was. Poems have a way of teaching us in a different way and allowing us to even infer what will happen next or what the poet is trying to say.
McKellep 7
I think that all of the poems we have read in class are very intriguing. I think poems are one of the best ways to use literary devices to portray ideas. The author can use words that may not make sense at first glance to make the reader think and I think that is one of the coolest ways of writing. It shouldn't be easy to understand right away otherwise it isn't as good of writing. I think the poem by Brook's is also cool because it's short. A lot of poems we read have lots of stanzas that you have to look into but this one is short and sweet. I think that's why it is looked so highly upon because its different. I also like how each stanza has a different ending rhyming word. I think that makes it flow nicely. It also is a fairly happy poem until the last lines of "we lurk late/we die soon" I think it just shows that the "cool" kids don't always win in the end.
Poncelet 2
Personally I am not a big fan of some poems because they do not have a good story behind them. In order for me to like a poem or story it must have a good storyline and a good background for me to dive into it and to really spend my valuable time to read it. In Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem, “We Real Cool”, I feel as if it is not hard to write poems. People have different ways of comprehending things and turning the authors words into their own. Millions of different stories and meanings for everyone. The ending of that poem hits everyone in the same spot. “We die soon.” To me, everyone has the same understanding of this phrase and everyone will die at some point but not soon. So, to make a long story short, I am not a big fan of this poem by Gwendolyn Brooks because it is short and, to me, has no significant meaning to me.
Christensen 5
One of the poems that I found to be “cool” was “Dream” by Poe. I thought that it was a really beautiful piece of poetry. The descriptions of the dream and what it means were really vivid and intriguing. I also really liked Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem “We Real Cool”. I think that it really did a great job of capturing the wild side of all different kinds of people, especially youth today. The poem reminded me of the phrase, “live while you’re young” because it described a reckless night where you take risks and have fun. When I was reading it I imagined having the night of my life doing crazy things with my best friends. Overall, I really did enjoy this poem because I felt rebellious and intrigued while I was reading it. This poem also inspired me to take more risks and do everything that I can while I still have the chance to.
Darrington 2
After reading many poems in our folder, I think all of them are “cool.” I really appreciate the ideas behind every poem and that they can mean so much. Each poem allows for someone to tell a story, give a message, and share their feelings in an artistic way. I appreciate the way these poems make you think. In Brooks’ “We Real Cool,” it is a perfect example of a message in an artistic way. It is a very short poem that explains an entire life. The “incorrectly” capitalized letters allow for unusual emphasis, and the short stanzas give it a unique format. Another poem that I appreciate is Plath’s “Daddy.” It is hard to read and very repetitive with its ideas, but the meaning behind it and the weight that it holds for her life is fascinating. In this poem, the words are hard to understand and take some thought into what she truly means. This is intriguing and interesting to dissect.
The poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is by far my favorite one so far. I love how it is unlike any of the typical poems we have read in English classes before. I also love the natural pulse and flow that you can’t resist but feel when you are reading it. The overall message or storyline of the poem is about rebellion and going against what you are told. This is such a new topic compared to trees, nature, old people, and animals like we are very used to. This new and interesting storyline also relates to other things we have studied in class. In the novel Cuckoo's Nest and the poem “The Ticktockman,” they both talk about going against social norms and not being controlled by time or other people. They teach us important lessons to help you be more independent and be yourself, which I also feel is the theme and purpose of Brooks poem.
I was surprised by Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem “We Real Cool”. I liked that when I was reading it, I could picture the group of kids that she was describing. It was the stereotypical troubled teenager. I also liked that it was straight forward and to the point. I knew exactly what was going on the entire time I was reading it. I didn’t have to read it multiple times and look for a deeper meaning. The face value got the point of the poem across. Another poem that I enjoyed was Walt Whitman's “Oh Me! Oh, Life!”. I liked it because he was trying to answer questions that people consider unanswerable. Questions like “what is life” and “why are we here” are asked by many people and not answered. He says that we are here and contributing to the world around us. He was giving his answer to a very opinionated or unanswerable question that there isn’t one truly right answer.
I think that Gwendolyn Brooks poem, “We Real Cool” is a very interesting poem, despite how long it may be. The poem does have a deeper meaning than being only a few lines long. It is about rebellious teenagers, and how they act cool. The last stanza, “We Lurk Late, We Die soon” is very intriguing. It describes how teenagers stay out late, and that we should make the most of the time we have because life is short. It comes to show that we need to enjoy the time we have now and enjoy life. Another poem I found cool would be “The Addict” by Anne Sexton. This poem is about drug addiction, as well as mental health issues. I think it was cool by how she wrote about such a touchy subject. Also, many people these days can relate to what she wrote because it describes how it makes people feel.
Knutson 2
I think that the poems in the literature folder and very “cool” and interesting also. Poetry is so much different than other types of writing making these pieces of literature so unique. One poem that I read was called “After Auschwitz” by Anne Sexton. Telling such a deep story in a few words and still getting to the point takes a lot of talent. Sexton uses many analogies to describe the hardships the Jews faced during the Holocaust. Sexton’s poem is short but “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is even more concise. Although, this poem still provides just as much intensity as “After Auschwitz”. I think the poem by Brooks is very different from others in which it tells you a story in only five stanzas. She told a story of kids during her youth just trying to live life to the fullest. I am able to get a clear mental image and understand the meaning of the story in such a short reading. All of these poems are “cool” because they make you think in such a unique way that makes them such special forms of literature.
“We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks talks about teenagers doing the wrongs thing. Skipping school, drinking alcohol, staying out late, and getting into fights. However, it also talks about life being short. Do all those things because “yolo” (you only live once). Brooks wants teenagers to have fun because no one knows how many sunsets and sunrises they have left. She encourages teenagers to do all the things they want to do. If they want to stay out late, go ahead. If they want to skip school, be my guest. If they want to sing rap songs or drink alcohol, by all means. She ends the poem with “We Die Soon” because it’s a reminder to step out of your comfort zone. I think the Whitman poem is cool. I think that poem is about life and the questions we have for it. I think it’s about situations that people all over the world are put in.
Gwendolyn Brooks’s essay was not one of my favorites but it was very interesting. Although, I feel that all of us seniors or teenagers, in general, can relate to it in some way. It does remind me of how teenagers act in many ways. They try to act “cool” to fit in with the crowd. When I think of a poem, I think of many different stanzas or more than a few lines. But “We Real Cool” is very short, straight, and to the point. Which I prefer long more meaningful poems. Poetry is so unique to me. I love trying to discover the author's purpose in what they wrote, each telling a unique story of their own. A poem I found interesting was “After Auschwitz” by Anne Sexton. I find it very interesting to learn about the perspectives of those who are victims of the Holocaust and what they went through.
I think that Gwendolyn Brooks's poem is a great example of what happens to people who leave school. The people who think they are too cool for school can end up living a worse life later on than people who graduated. These people get into trouble and can die sooner due to getting in trouble. I find it interesting in her poem how the first and second words of each line are capitalized because the group of people in the poem do not care about grammar. Also one poem I found interesting in the folder is Lee's "The Hammock." This poem discusses going from being a child to having children of your own. He talks about not knowing what his mother was thinking and not knowing what his child was thinking, but also that life is like a hammock. The two ends are the before and after of his life with the hammock being the part of time that he lived.
Spencer 5
Gwendolyn Brooks poem was very interesting to me because it is true. We all tried to be cool (fit in) in some way in school, we graduate from school, we grow up, and make mistakes. All the things Brooks talks about are true and apply to everyone, so I find it interesting that such a short poem can relate to everyone. One of my favorite poems in the google folder is “The Hammock” by Lee. I don’t know why I enjoy the poem so much. I think it might be because of everyone worries about the same things when they get older and they can relate to it in that way. Everyone eventually asks the same questions, but like everyone else, we may not get the answers to them and all we can do is worry and hope. I like both of the poems for the reasons I said earlier, which is that they can apply to many people.
Larson 2
Gwendolyn’s poem was interesting, to say the least. Her poem is a good one for anyone to read because it allows readers to interpret her poem however they choose to. In her poem, she does not indicate race or gender so anyone can be applied to the situation. I also think her poem tries to show teenagers just being themselves having fun. I also enjoyed Plath’s “Daddy” poem because she utilized her experiences and words to create a piece of art that could impact anyone reading it. Reading her deep emotions allows us to understand what she is feeling and how those experiences she had to go through changed her and moved her emotionally. Poems are unique because there is no right or wrong way to write one. Each poem can do something different for each reader whether it be moving them emotionally or just entertaining them like Gwendolyn’s poem.
One of the poems in the Google folder that I thought was cool was “The Hammock” by Li-Young Lee. One line that I really liked from this poem was “there are stars we haven’t heard from yet”. I think this is a really cool line because it can be taken two ways. This line is talking about stars in the sky that we might not be able to see yet and at the same time talking about people being stars that we haven’t heard from yet. The end of this poem is also really cool. Talking about how he lives his life it says, “Is it a door, and good-bye on either side? A window, and eternity on either side?”. Then to answer his own questions, he doesn’t pick one or the other but instead just says yes. He says “Yes, and a little singing between two great rests.” I think this is a great end to the poem and it is the reason I like it. Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem is ok. I like how her poem tells a story, but it is so short that it’s not that much of a story.
The poem "We Real Cool" caught me off guard. It can be easily said that it is very brief and terse. I did however like this poem because of its terseness. In our current chapter analysis essay on "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel, we had to write about why "less is more" and if it is a true statement or not. I believe that this is a true statement. Although an article of writing may be short, it can hold a lot of meaning. I really like this statement when we discuss the novels in class. The length of the writing gets us thinking and brings up many questions and predictions of the article. I like how in "We Real Cool", Gwendolyn Brooks was able to incorporate a rhyme scheme. I really liked how this poem is about teenagers because it can give me something to relate too. This poem is about a teenage gang and how Brooks refers to them as "cool". I think she does this because most teenagers refer to themselves as cool.
Poetry that tells a clear story is my favorite type of poetry. Dylan Thomas’s poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” tells the story of a boy pleading to his dying father, plain and simple. While other poems, like Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Man-Moth,” are also extremely interesting, they are harder to follow and may need more research to fully understand. Bishop’s poem is very interesting once the research is done, however. I love how she took a newspaper typo and turned it into a deep and complex poem about an entirely different subject, a “man-moth” instead of a “mammoth.” Yann Martel’s poem about the sun, moon, and a drop of water was also very interesting to me. He personified objects that are often personified but made it a unique story. Following the sun’s realization also gave a different perspective of our world. To the sun, we, as humans, are merely foolish specks on a floating garden. I think what Brook is doing with her poem is interesting, but the disregard for grammar bothers me. The grammar adds to the feel of the poem, but my brain wants to fix every mistake.
I thought that Gwendolyn Brooks's poem “We Real Cool” was really interesting and intriguing. I thought this poem pertained to teenagers because most teenagers think of themselves as being “really cool.” This poem was very concise but did say a lot. It is very different than any of the other poems I have read thus far. I really liked the two likes that said “We Lurk late. We Strike straight.” These lines are the epitome of the rebellious teenage life. Another poem that I thought was cool was “The Hammock” by Li-Young Lee. This poem was slightly hard to comprehend the first time reading it but after reading it again you can really get a lot out of the poem. The Hammock is supposed to represent your life. The swinging of the hammock signals the highs and lows of your life. During your entire life, your parents always wish the best for you and try to provide you with a great life.
I hate poems. I vehemently, viscerally despise them. Dissecting every rhyme, literary device, and connotation of poetry has drained the fun out of it for me. I appreciate the concept of poetry and the freedom that it provides, but, in practice, it always falls short. Some poems are exemptions from this rule, one of which we read in this class being William Williams’s “Danse Russe”. The light-hearted and honestly hilarious nature of this work compelled me not to dislike it. I appreciated that it was to the point, void of unnecessary and non-contributing literary devices, and kept to a more comedic style. Experiencing it was a breath of fresh air, perhaps the same air that flowed around the naked dancer’s writhing body. After reading Brooks’s “We Real Cool,” I was struck with an unfulfilling urge to shrug my shoulders and say “ehh”. Nothing in the poem excites me; no lines stood out to me or caught my attention. “We Real Cool” was not something I could connect with, but I still appreciate the terse manner and literary lightness that I have in many of the poems that I do truly like.
I like Gwendyln Brooks poem more than I enjoy most poems. I think that I enjoy this poem because it is so simple. There are no words that you do not know or have not heard a thousand times before. Understanding of the poem is not limited by the words that she uses but how she uses those words. This poem becomes complex when you start to try to find what she means within the poem, this is also one of my favorite parts of this poem, Every reader of this poem can develop and find their own meaning in the simple words that Brook wrote. I also enjoy that this poem is short and straight to the point. Many poems are long with complex descriptions of simple things, but not this poem. It uses a few words to describe everything that you need to know, which, in m opinion, makes the poem less confusing and more relatable.
My favorite poem that I have read thus far is Philip Larkin’s “This Be The Verse” poem. I really appreciate how even in the 1970s, when this poem was published, Larkin held beliefs about parents that many individuals feel can relate to today. Though it is quite harsh in some aspects, I do believe that Larkin does an exceptional job of stating the simple truth that parents will always do things that their children may end up resenting them for. In regards to the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks, I was surprised when I read it for the first time. Its brevity is interesting as well as its message. Overall I would say I enjoyed it! I believe the lines “We lurk late”, and “We die soon” speak loudly to the younger generations, even as time progresses. No matter the time period, teenagers have a sense that we are “bulletproof” and therefore tend to live a little more dangerously. I believe that is what Brooks is trying to convey in her short poem.
Kocer 5
I like Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem “We Real Cool”. I like how it is short but still grabs readers attention through its rhyme and how it has a rhythm to it. Also, although it has few words, the poem tells a story that most can relate to because we were all teenagers once. I also enjoyed Emily Dickinson’s poem “There Is Another Sky”. I interpreted this poem as even if you are in a time of darkness or struggle, there is always a new day for you to start over. When I researched the poem, I learned that she sent this poem in a letter to her brother trying to get him to move. That also makes sense as she says “Austin” and “my brother” in her poem and the other sky could be where she lives. I liked Dickinson’s descriptive phrases that created good imagery throughout the poem. Readers can visualize the sunshine and the green leaves in the forest.
The brief poem "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks is interesting. In a few brief words, it tells a whole life story. It reminds me of Ernest Hemingway's baby shoe poem: "For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn." Both are able to communicate someone's whole life story in a few short, yet powerful, words. Also, I do really enjoy poetry and find it cool. Poetry is different from other literature because of how meaningful everything is. For example, in "White Elephant" everything had meaning. The clouds, the grain, the fields, the sky. It all added to the story and also had a deeper meaning. Additionally, "Signs and Symbols" by Nabokov sort of breaks the fourth wall of literature in a way. It tries to get the reader to overanalyze the book and search for symbols that aren't there to make the reader suffer from referential mania, rather than the son in the story. I just find it interesting that poetry can be so diverse and unique.
Olivier 5
Gwendolyn Brook's poem, "We Real Cool" is very brief, but efficiently gets the message of how teenagers think that they are cool drinking and going against the law, where in reality those teenagers will get involved in violence and other kinds of bad activities and end up dying, and dying is not 'real cool'. Mrs. Brooks did a splendid job with this poem, it is one of the shortest poems I have studied, but there are still literary techniques like rhyming and rhythm that help keep the poem going strong. In my opinion, the best poem that I have read for this class would be "Danse Russe" by Williams. I really enjoy this poem because it is unique. An old man admiring himself naked, it is unheard of. Also, the poem "Signs and Symbols" by Nabokov is a cool poem, it is very elusive but ends in tragedy. The poem itself is filled with signs and symbols about the ending, hence the title.
Betanzo 5
I really enjoyed "This Be The Verse" by Philip Larkin because of the message I have been able to interpret from the poem. The poem can be relatable to a multitude of people who believe that their parents have used them for their own satisfaction. In some cases that may be true. Maybe your parents have forced you to participate in sports that you never wanted to do because it wasn't interesting to you as it was to your parents because they were very “sporty” in high school. The situation is even worse when they don’t give you a say in if you want to do the sport or not. The poem also may be a warning to us that our parents may sometimes corrupt us into believing something that could be completely false. The reason they feed us this false information is that they believed it to be true when their parents (your grandparents) talked to them about it when they were children. I enjoyed "We Real Cool" because of the message it leaves behind even though the poem isn't too long. It warns everyone about the consequences that some people fall into once they starting into the habits that our superiors warned us about it.
Runia 2
I think that Larkin's "This Be the Verse" is a very interesting and thought-provoking poem. As known, the poem directly calls out parents of children for making them who they are. The parents of children shape and mold them, as children's greatest role models are their parents. However, not all parents are great. Some do terrible things to their children or are not present in a child's life altogether. Not only are the worst parents guilty of this, but those who are labeled as the best still mess up their children by being overprotective and not exposing children to elements that allow them to learn lessons. Over generations, this is passed down and there is only one way to avoid having children that struggle themselves. To not have children. Upon the topic of children who have no parental guidance, in "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks, seven boys are seen skipping school and playing pool. As the poem proceeds, the children get into more and more trouble starting simply by skipping school. Then they get into fights, "sing sin" or swear, drink alcohol, "Jazz June" another term for have sex, and then die. This poem is a view into the evolution of how these boys will more than likely grow up and eventually perish.
Each poem in the folder have different meanings and are unlike one another. One that I thought was interesting was "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks. This caught my attention right at the start because of the shortness of the poem. Usually, when I read a poem, it is pretty in depth and the length is more than a few lines. This poem is eye-opening. It depicts "cool people" as being high school drop-outs, curfew breakers, and underage drinkers. The end of the poem is rather abrupt. It reminds me of the saying, "I'm here for a good time not a long time". I think it is interesting that although it is very short, the meaning behind it is very important. I hope that this can get through some people's heads that being like this is going to get you nowhere in life and they are actually not cool.
Vogel 1
Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem, in particular, has an interesting placement of words. I liked how it is set up. It has short sentences and is easy to read. Normally it has three words in each sentence except for the second line which has 5 words. This poem in my mind is short and simple. Then there is the first section which is “THE POOL PLAYERS. SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.” which could be taken differently by everyone, but I feel like it is introducing the scene. The scene could possibly be about any group of rebellious teens who enjoy playing pool and the Golden Shovel, which I guess was a pool hall. Then you see the rest of the poem, which happened to rhyme at the endings of phrases. “We real cool. We Left school. We Lurk late. We Strike straight.” this first half of the poem could tell about how the rebellious teens are thinking they are cool because they left school and they are out late, and why because they are playing pool and striking straight, or in other words hitting the pool balls hard. The next phrase I analyzed was “We Sing sin. We Thin gin. We Jazz June. We Die soon.” this meaning they sin and do things that are considered bad and what are they doing bad they are drinking gin that has a little of the alcohol in it and they also like June and likes to Jazz, which could have multiple meaning, one of them being they like to listen to Jazz music in June, but it could stand for multiple things and, because of all this they are to die soon. This ending people often think is harsh, but are they physically to die soon or is their spirit to die soon. This poem kind of gives you a choice of what you imagine and picture what is going on and it leaves you to guess, what it could possibly mean or inform you about. What is the moral or theme? Does it have one? It all depends on your point of view.
Bickley Pd.2
The poem that I found most interesting in the poetry folder was “After Auschwitz” by Anne Sexton. This poem describes a few of the terrible events that occurred during the Holocaust. The phrase, “Each day, each Nazi took, at 8:00 A.M., a baby and sauteed him for breakfast in his frying pan” makes the reader sick to his/her stomach. The author is vengeful toward the Nazis and rightfully so. She doesn’t believe that good exists in mankind, and she hates that she feels the way she does, but she has those feelings deep down. Gwendolyn’s poem “We Real Cool” is short but full of meaning. It resembles the stereotype that people have of high school students. For example, the phrase, “We Lurk late, We Strike straight” shows the long nights of high school students as well as the trouble that they can get in. I found it interesting that the verbs were all capitalized, making them nouns almost. To me, this accented the importance of each verb.
ziegeldorf 7
“We real cool” written by Gwendolyn Brooks is a very interesting and unusual poem. Unlike other poems I have read, this one is short and to the point. With a mere total of 10 lines, Brooks was effective with her writing. Anne Sexton’s “The Addict” is another poem I liked. She explains what it is like to be a drug addict in an effective way. I liked how some lines were only one word long. This really emphasized some parts of the poem. Anne Sexton’s other poem “After Auschwitz” is an emotional poem. She writes how casually death was given to Jews by the nazis and how it did not affect them. She writes that man is evil and should never be given that much power because he will surely become evil, as Hitler did. At the end she writes “I beg the Lord not to hear.” This may be because the “Lord” has put men in charge for all of history and she does not think it is right, but does not want the Lord to know she disagrees with this.
I find “After Auschwitz” a very “cool” poem. It seems to be a very accurate depiction of the feelings of those that were captured and help by the Nazis. It goes through many of the emotions that one might feel when they are finally released and those things that will never leave their heads. Although the horrors that happened to the Jewish people are tragic and terrifying to read about, I find myself intrigued and constantly wanting to read more. I do really like Brooks’ poem because of the simplicity of it. Although there are not many words, there is a ton of hidden meaning within the poem itself. I read it as a warning from someone who went through making bad decisions. They regret some of the decisions that they made, and came to realize the consequences that came from those decisions. Those that are older like to share their experiences with others, one of the things you always hear is that all of your actions have consequences. This poem is a prime example of that.
"We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks was a very interesting poem. I liked how it was so short, but still got a message across at the same time. This poem talked about how teenagers act and how they say they're cool. In the last part of the poem, it says "We Lurk Late, We Die Soon". This could be talking about how life is short, so you have to take chances and do risky things now while you are alive. One poem I found interesting was "The Hammock" by Li-Young Lee. I thought this poem was cool because it talked about going from being a baby to growing up and having your own children. It is supposed to represent your life and how everyone has the same questions about life that might not always get answered. I also liked the poem "This be the Verse". I think this is interesting because it shows how parents can influence your life in ways that might only show up based on their childhood.
At first, I was confused by Gwendolyn Brooks' poem. "We Real Cool' does not seem like a big poem, so at first I thought there would be nothing to analyze. But after reading it a few different times, I think I got an idea of what it is about. I got the feeling that it was about eight young adults that were close and rebellious. They talk about being cool and leaving school while singing sin. I found the poem by Anne Sexton called "The Addict" interesting. I did not expect someone to write a poem about overdosing on prescription medication. It was different how she described the pills at eight kisses goodnight. I got the feeling that she was saying that the medication helped her write and come up with ideas.
I really like Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem “We Real Cool” because although it is relatively short, it leaves an impact on the reader. I think it shows us that no matter what we do, we are all gonna die soon. It seems to relate well to a lot of our lives right now because most of us are trying to live our best lives, staying up late and thinking we are “real cool.” The last line did catch me slightly off guard when I first read it. This poem seems to be about young kids having fun, but then it snaps you back to reality that we are all going to die soon. Another poem I enjoyed was Walt Whitman’s “O Me! O Life!” His poem is kind of similar to Brooks’s because he talks about life. The last verse is also very powerful when he says we will all contribute a verse to the play that is life.
Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem “We Real Cool” is a pretty cool poem. It is not very long and it is straight to the point. It is easy to understand the meaning of it the use of a lot of words. I like the poem because I think she is thinking about her childhood and a fun thing she used to do with her friends. Going to play pool after skipping school sounds pretty fun. I feel like the poem is very descriptive despite its short length. Using words right next to each other that rhyme make the poem flow as you read it, making it more interesting. The lines she wrote saying “THE POOL PLAYERS. SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL” provides a little background of what the poem is about. It ties the whole thing together. If the poem did not have these two lines, it would be different. With the lines, I think it is about young kids skipping school to have fun and do young kid things. Without the lines it would seem morbid, especially with the line that says “We Die soon.”
2 Cushing
I really did truly enjoy this poem by Gwendolyn Brooks. This poem made me thing of good times with friends in the summer. So in turn I also did not like this poem because I want summer right now and we still have a month left of school. So after reading it I found myself very unmotivated to right this post. I enjoy how each line of the poem is only three words. Each of the lines are short and concise; yet they are able to bring feelings of joy and happiness with friends. I also really enjoy the poem “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath. This was one of the longer ones we read in class but I found the comparisons that she put to make the poem much more interesting and made it easier to engage it throughout the entire poem. I really enjoy this poetry unit because you can feel the same amount from a poem that is eight pages and a poem that only has 3 words per line.
I find the poem “The Hammock” by Li-Young Lee is my favorite I have read so far. The way it reflects from one generation to another is intriguing because it’s done in such a smooth way that it’s almost unnoticeable. I also enjoy this poem because it discusses the importance of a parents support and how it relates to a hammock which is relatable for us as seniors right now who are reflecting on where we came from and where we are going. The poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks was also really interesting in that it uses slang and short statements that resemble students rather than a sophisticated connotation. It is a great example that less is more, in that you have to interpret on your own in how it relates to you. It also capitalized every word except “we real cool” which draws attention to that phrase in a subtle way compared to the normal emphasis of using all caps for the section you want attention drawn to.
Brown 2
I find the Whitman poem O Me! O Life! Interesting. It gives an interesting perspective to the question that almost all people will ask in their life: ”What is the meaning of actually being alive?”. Whitman’s perspective is interesting because it does not really give a sole purpose but it tells us that we need to exist in order to write our own verse in this perplexing story. By saying so, Whitman implicates new thinking that instead of questioning, we should act upon the gift of life, and we need to live to our fullest so that we may fulfill the meaning of our existence. I enjoyed We Real Cool. When reading it, I was struck by the shortness but also, the power that each word contained. The poem tells a story of pool players that I believe are putting themselves into dangerous situations as teenagers. They are, in my mind, a part of a gang in which they could easily fall victim to violence or are dabbling with dangerous drugs. Either way, they are gambling their lives at a young age.
Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem “We Real Cool” is concise but intriguing. The poem itself is ten lines long but tells a story of a thousand words. The simple AA BB CC DD pattern the poem follows creates a rhythm that almost makes it feel like a song. I believe Brooks is expressing the personality of the “cool” kids, leaving school early, staying out late, singing bad songs, and drinking. The kids described in the poem are left genderless and pertain to no certain race. Nevertheless, they are being rebellious and having fun. Another poem I found interesting was Emily Dickinson’s “There is another sky”. This poem speaks of another world where the sun is dark but the garden is bright. To me, this poem seems to have a godly feel to it. Saying that there is another life in the bright “bee hum” of heaven. Dickinson is speaking to another person through her poem telling him to forget the “silent fields” and “faded forests” but rather to see the good.
Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem, “We Real Cool” is a very cool poem. The poem is about a group of pool players that are living in the moment. These pool players do not go to school, instead, they go to their local lounge, The Golden Shovel, and play pool to their heart’s desire. In the poem, Brooks states that they “Lurk Late and Strike Straight”. This could either mean that they stay out late and play pool or they are very straight forward people simply living in the moment and having a good time. At the end of the poem, she says “We Jazz June, We Die Soon”, I think that this embodies what it means to be cool. To be cool, you have to live in the moment and live a lifestyle that others wish to live. Maybe this poem is what it means NOT to be cool, but I guess it is up to the interpreter to make up their mind.
Talcott 2
I like the poem, “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks because it is very simple and easy to follow. I really enjoy how smoothly the rhymes fit in the poem. Another thing I really enjoy about the poem is the formatting. I really like how Brooks was able to make every line three words and was still able to make it rhyme and flow well. I think that William Carlos Williams’s poem “Danse Russe” is really cool. I think it is funny, but I also got a great message from it. The message I received from the poem was no one can tell you how to think. You can think however you want. Another poem that I enjoyed reading was “After Auschwitz” by Anne Sexton. This poem was very powerful and eye-opening. It helped me to realize just how horrible man can be. Sexton perfectly described the feelings someone in Auschwitz could have felt during or after being in the concentration camp.
Law 2
Personally, I really enjoy the poems that make you think and analyze different signs and symbols. As a receiver, I’ve always loved being told endings and I always found it really stupid when a movie or book didn’t properly finish. Being in this class and reading these poems made me realize it is good to leave things up to your own interpretation. One of my favorites from the ones we read in class is the hammock. It talks about the thoughts and worries that go through both the child's mind and the parent's mind and how their thoughts differ or they should differ. No parent should want their kids worrying about their problems making them have to grow up faster to be able to handle those different situations or different responsibilities they feel they may have. Brooks, on the other hand, is a very unique write. When I read the poem for the first time I thought, “wow this seems like a poem I wrote in elementary school.” After reading the poem a second time I interpreted it for much more. I thought of it as the kids who drop out of school thinking they are too cool and what they are learning is worthless and has no value to them. Then putting in what I see from movies kids who drop out of school eventually drink their lives away in small-town bars, trying to drink way all their problems that they didn’t realize the world would introduce them to when they dropped out of school. Finally not being able to move out of that small town and dying at a young age from one bad decision after another that their heart, minds, and souls could no longer take. I didn’t just enjoy how short his poem was and easy to read, but rather how much it made me think.
I think that Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem, “we real cool”, is very interesting. It definitely pertains to us as teenagers. For one the poem itself is simple. I think that teenagers are more simple than most adults think we are. Like lots of us can be entertained by the dumbest things and we tend to be pretty easy going. At the same time though there are a lot of teenagers that think they are “cool”. I think this poem is about the ones that think they are cool. Besides that poem I think “This be the Verse” by Philip Larkin is really interesting. It is interesting because it speaks out against the one thing it seems we are meant to do and that is have kids and raise them the best they can. He straight up says that parents just screw their kids up so they shouldn’t bother having any. I personally don’t agree with that but I think the poem itself is very interesting.
The poem “We Real Cool” is different than the other poems we have read. It is much shorter and has a different writing style. When I looked the poem up online the "we" is supposed to be at the end of every line instead of at the beginning. I thought this was an interesting artistic choice by Gwendolyn Brooks. Which also explains why the second word in every line throughout the poem is capitalized in Mr. C’s version. Having the "we" at the end puts more of an emphasis on it making you wonder who the “we” is. The “we” could pertain to everyone since almost everyone will do one of those things in their life from drinking cheap alcohol to playing pool. The “we” could also pertain to the young adults and the teenagers of the current day. We want to have all the fun we can before we make it to working for the rest of our life. Our opportunity to be wild and crazy will die soon along with everything we know. Therefore this "we" that everyone knows will die soon.
Bunker 5
I have really enjoyed reading the poems. They are all so unique and have their own hidden meaning. The first time I read most of them I am very confused, but after analyzing it a few times I start to find the message the author is trying to send. I like the poem “We Real Cool”. I think it is about high school kids like us trying to fit in and do the “cool” thing. I think lots of people struggle with finding where they fit and end up falling down the path. Another poem I found very interesting was “Oh Me! Oh Life”. It talked about the sad, busy, foolish, and faithful life we all live. It questions what is the point of all this madness? It makes you reflect on your own life and think about how you want your story to be played out.
I think “The Addict”t by Anne Sexton is really cool. It shows us what drug use looks like from the point of view of the person overdosing on pills. It brings addiction to the forefront and shows how it is affecting her and taking control saying she takes them every night and that she is an “expert on making the trip”. She very vividly explains how the pills make her feel throughout the poem. Saying they are like a mother or “eight chemical kisses”. I also like how she explained how the pills are slowing killing her especially the line about how its a war inside of her. The way she uses single word lines is also really unique because it really highlights some things. I liked the poem “We Real Cool”. It was short and to the point. I like how she used really basic English words to make such a cool poem that is also really impactful.
Van Hulzen 5
Gwendolyn's Poem is a very short work. On the outside it seems like a simple straightforward story told in the form of interrupted three word phrases. The literal meaning of this story can be seen as a person who goes to the bar with friends and plays pool. While doing so they skip school, stay up late, and drink alcohol. All of this reckless behavior has led they to believe that they will not live long. Although this story tells of premature death to some pool players, the story carries a sense of swagger. A reader can see this story in two ways. The first theme a reader could see is being regretful of reckless behavior. The pool player having regret for their drinking, skipping school, and staying up late. Another way of reading this story is being lively in the face of death and regret. This story has the sad, impending result of death, but the writer still manages to story to read in a cool, pompous way. The most interesting thing about this poem to me was its double meaning.
I found the Poem “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath very interesting. It is evident that she does not like her father. Throughout most of the poem, she compares her father to Hitler while comparing herself to a Jew. This can be taken as a sign that her father did not treat her well. She uses an alluring word choice by adding random German words—this only furthers the imagery of the Holocaust. There was an obvious struggle between her and her father. She describes him as having a “Meinkampf look.” She also says her dad had “a love of the rack and the screw,” which implies her dad’s love of torture. The real question is if this implies that her dad did not treat her well. She ties up the loose ends at the end of this poem in a unique way as well. She symbolically stabs her dad in the heart after referring to him as a vampire, effectively killing him—taking him out of her life.
Geringer 1
Brooks’s Poem “We Real Cool” is a very short, but impactful poem. I interpreted the poem being about a group of teenagers, maybe, that got started on the wrong path going the wrong direction and never made it back onto the right path going the right direction. Maybe they got tangled up in some gang stuff and were killed an early age, or maybe they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong people. There are very few words that are presented in a very big way. I also find Sylvia Plath's poem “Daddy” very interesting. There is so much that happens within her poem that it left me stunned. For me, it is really hard to imagine a parent that is so awful you want to kill them. Not only did she want to kill him, but she also regretted that she was not the one that got to kill him.
Sonju 2
Gwendolyn Brooks's poem, "We Real Cool", certainly is cool. I enjoy reading short poems like these because I find that shorter poems require each word to be powerful and hold a greater meaning. The structure of this poem is also cool. Only three words are in each line of the last four stanzas, yet the poem says so much. I do wish that shorter poems had more context, though. This poem is about kids leaving school and having fun, but why is Brooks choosing to write about this? Another poem I enjoy in the Google folder is Shakespeare's "Sonnet 75". I have always loved reading Shakespeare since I first read Romeo and Juliet in middle school. I think that reading Shakespeare's old English helps me become a better reader and become better at analyzing poems because his writing is not easy to understand sometimes. I like this specific poem because of how he describes this person he seems to love. He is the best at putting the feeling of love into words, which is very difficult to do with such a strong emotion. Reading Shakespeare makes me want to read more poetry.
Laabs 5
I really enjoyed reading “The Hammock”. I really liked trying to decipher the meaning behind it. The hopes and dreams of his mother being there before he was there and how his child's dreams would outlast him was amazing to think about. Trying to get into the authors head a bit and wonder how he came to think and compose like that is an amazing thing to do. I enjoyed “We Real Cool”. I feel like it was about how a group of people kind of got into trouble and went down the wrong path. They originally started out with leaving school and going out late. Striking straight may be a reference to their pool skills. For someone to shoot straight they either have to be experienced in the game or it could also be a mention that they are not intoxicated at the moment. Next, it talks about them doing bad things like singing about the bad stuff and drinking gin. The last lines say that they will die soon. In conclusion, maybe all the behavior caught up to them.
Brummels 1
I liked the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks. I think it relates to us as teenagers. We think that this is the time of our lives and we think we are the coolest people there are. Even though it is such a short, simple poem, it makes an impact. I also liked “After Auschwitz” by Anne Sexton. For some reason, I find the Holocaust very intriguing. I know that it was an awful event but I like to learn about it. I like to hear different people’s stories about what happened. Another poem that I liked would be “The Addict” by, again, Anne Sexton. It is interesting to hear something of someone who is an addict or someone who is overdosing, from their perspective. Normally I am not a big fan of the poetry unit because I am bad at writing it, but I am liking this one so far.
Poppenga 2
Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem, “We Real Cool” is one of the briefest poems in the Google folder but it happens to be one of the few that I relate to the most. As teenagers, most of us often think that by doing bad things automatically makes you cool. Her references towards dropping out of school, drinking alcohol, “jazzing” June, and dying because of these decisions is the epitome of high schoolers’ actions and attitudes. The poem, “This Be the Verse” by Philip Larkin is also one of my favorites because it is a poem that no matter you background, you can still relate or agree with it. The use of vocabulary by Larkin is a necessity and it also targets young poem readers to favor the poem. Another poem I am interested in is “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath. I think it is cool to be open about your past even if it isn’t rainbows and unicorns.
The poem by Gwendolyn Brook's seems rather unique especially in the style of writing. It is very concise, yet I must admit I don't entirely understand what it means. I do not know especially what "seven at the golden shovel" means. But I like it when poems have a deeper meaning that can be interpreted in different ways. I have a soft spot for poetry because it seems to sing to individuals in a manner that can't always be done with normal text. One of the other poems I read was "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath. Again I seriously have no idea what this one was about. However, I could feel Sylvia's passion through her words. Even though I didn't quite understand what she was getting at, I could tell that it was something very important to her. She was putting her heart and soul into her writing and almost seemed vulnerable. I enjoyed Anne Sexton's poem " The Addict". I'm not sure if Anne Sexton truly was an addict, but I could sense truth in her poem. I could feel this experience that I've never felt before and I was just in awe by the final line of "Now I'm numb". Endings and lines like these hit hard. They just tie an entire poem together and bring them home in an impactful way. Poems like these are why I love reading poetry.
Kirkeby2
Gwendolyn Brooks's "We Real Cool" is an interesting poem, to say the least. While I did not dislike it but poems are not exactly my thing, so it was different than most readings. However, this poem is very relatable. and shows the flaws in high school society. Essentially this shows that for students who peak in high school by being "cool" will be nothing more than that. They will never live their lives to the fullest because they outspent their youth trying to put up a facade of being "cool". This inevitably leaves them short with the rest of their lives as they can never reach their peak again. Poems that are able to show you deeper ways to look at life are some of the most fascinating works of literature on the planet.
1 Rau
I thoroughly enjoyed Gwendolyn Brooks's poem "We Real Cool" because of the simplicity and jazzy vibes it gives off. In a way, I can interpret this poem to be taking place in the Jazz age, where people were carefree and many had chosen to pursue their love of jazz music over college. Continuing on, I can picture this poem to continue on in a relevant story during the early 1900s. Because these jazz musicians typically felt "cool" and confident the way they were, they most likely tended to "lurk late" in the nights at clubs or festivities, playing their music for other people of similar interests and musical tastes. In the clubs especially, these musicians could have "[sung] sin" during the summer month of "June", continuing on their lively, colorful lives until they, finally, "die soon". All in all, I respect her poem for the amount of story Brooks can portray in such a short poem. One other poem I happened to enjoy would have to be Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night". The very description of how we should "rage, rage against the dying of the light" really caught hold of my emotions, reminding me, the reader, how we all need to fight for as much life as we can. In our dying breath, I have learned how important it is to continue to live on as long as you can, knowing how precious the light of life really is, and to not allow yourself to give up so easily when we have the chance.
Of the poems we have read so far, I can honestly say that I enjoyed "This be the Verse" by Phillip Larkin the most. I understood it far easier than the others we studied, and the mature language did not bother me in the slightest. Personally, I believe language like that is acceptable in some instances, such as being used for emphasis or shock factor (like in this poem). However, there is a point where it becomes too much. I really liked the use of the coastal shelf imagery; it perfectly portrays the deepening assimilation to one's family, along with "some extra, just for you."
As for Brooks' poem, I cannot say that I enjoyed it, but I do have a massive appreciation for her use of words. There are only 32 words in the entire work, but each of those 32 words is beautifully chosen and fit together in a way that magnifies their importance to the reader.
Peyton 5
I personally enjoyed Gwendolyn Brook's poem because it is simple and has meaning. I think she is trying to relate to the youth in her poem so it was something I enjoyed. It is also the first poem I have read that is written the way it was. It is short and sweet and it also has a very mellow feel to it. I don't know what some of it means such as "Seven at the golden shovel" and "we thin gin." When I do not know certain stuff like this it makes me wonder if I am interpreting the poem right. I wonder if the author is really trying to relate to the youth or not. I also enjoyed the poem "The Addict" because it has a lot of relevance to today's world. With all the addiction and famous artists dying from it it is a poem that would benefit many people to read.
I think this poem was very meaningful. It was short and to the point but I think it was talking about something very important. I feel as though it tells the story of youthful teenagers that are out adventuring the world. Leaving school, I feel like she is talking about dropping out or maybe even just skipping for one day. They are out and taking risks doing things that their parents would not want them doing. The phrase " We sing sin we thin gin" I feel talks more about being involved in drugs and other substances. It shows that they are out doing things that are bad in the eyes of society. The ending also talks about something I think is important "We die soon" this could be taken literally. Teenagers that get involved in the bad sections of society normally die at a much younger age. Or it could be metaphorical saying that their teen years of going out and being crazy are over soon. Either way, it is showing the end of something important to these teens. I really do think this poem is powerful and meaningful. There are many poems in the google drive that are amazingly thoughtful I also like "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." This poem discusses how you should not give up or give into society or try and make them stop what you are doing.
Gwendolyn Brooks's poem "We Real Cool" is a very interesting poem that is only 8 lines with 24 words altogether. I see it as a commentary on two different people, the odd number lines are someone that has friends and family and the even lines are the other person that does not. "We Lurk Late" is meant to portray the first person hanging out with friends late at night while the next line, "We Strike Straight", is portraying the second person mugging people for money. I also enjoyed the poem: "Black Cat" by Poe. This poem gives an ominous and darker tone that most of these poems (it's Poe so that doesn't surprise me). I believe that it is about the inevitability of death and how we try to run away from it. The black cat is death, always following the main character, and when the protagonist tries to kill the cat it just keeps coming back.
Johnson 1
I really liked the Poe poem. Every one of his works is so interesting and so gory and it is fun to read. I like how Poe is so descriptive in everything that he writes because it makes it so easy to visualize what exactly he is talking about which makes it more enjoyable to read. Also, I did really like Gwendolyn Brook's poem because although it is not a very long poem, it has a very strong meaning to it even though it is short. It is also very easy to relate to her poem because it relates to teenagers so we all are able to understand what is going on in the poem easier. I think that it is cool she had them skipping school and going out and adventuring because it just shows the crazy youth doing whatever they want and this is also shown when she says "We sing sin we thin gin" because that sounds like she is talking about drugs and alcohol.
I think that a really cool poem in the Google folder is "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath, as it shows the inner struggle of Plath as she looks back on her upbringing and her father. She compares him to a Nazi, to show just how cruelly Plath was treated by her father. She says that she was scared of him and that she could never really talk around him as she was scared that he would mistreat her if she even spoke. The poem by Gwendolyn Brooks is an interesting and short Poem. Though short, it has a lot of meaning and shows that someone can live life to the fullest, doing whatever they want to, but with that lifestyle, they will die soon, or it could even just mean sooner than a normal person. I liked the poem both for the short length and for the many different ways to interpret it.
The poem I found most intriguing was "This Be the Verse" written by Philip Larkin. The obscene language paired with brutal honesty made this poem one to remember. The thought of how parents have all of the power to make or break the personality and behaviors of their children is clearly depicted within this literary work. Only, in this poem, it is depicted in an obviously negative viewpoint which brings me to question where Larkin found his inspiration for this poem. Could his past life have something to do with his urge to write a poem with such a negative opinion towards parental figures? We all know such questions will never be answered. As for Gwendolyn Brooks, her poem "We Real Cool", was very simplistic yet straightforward. Each line only containing three simple words but using those few words to hold a much larger meaning. It seems to me that she is trying to describe the troubled youth of her time. Using phrases such as "we sing sin" and "we die soon" makes this poem have a dark side to it but with a plain message, there is no fixing the troubled youth.
I really enjoyed Yeats poetry. His creativity if incredibly interesting but also creepy to an extent. The wonderful vocabulary he uses really takes the readers in. The words themselves give imagery without weighing the story down. If he were to be any vaguer or any more details I think it would lose its smooth flow that most poetry has. Also, his poems are unique in the sense that they convey a story like a legend or a prophecy is being told. Somehow in a small poem, Yeats is able to make me feel like I've read an ancient scroll that has withstood the test of time and must bring a message of warning. Another poet I admire is Larkin. His poetry is the kind that does not care for beauty and instead truth. Unlike Yeats Larkin lacks vocabulary but perfectly includes the description of human life. Larkin informs the reader about what has been right under their noses. He enlightens readers in a jokingly playful way. His poems follow an upbeat rhythm yet the topic of them is existentially grim. Larkin tells it like it is but in order to provide comedic relief he establishes a fun style short and sweet but vulgar at its heart. When it comes to Gwendolyn Brook's poems I think they are cute in the typical way poems can be. Honestly, Brooks poetry seems plain to me and does not leave its mark in my memory. Her poems simplicity I feel makes me skim over it instead of indulging in it.
The poems in the folder are super interesting I think. I like how they are all so different and all have different styles and ways that they are written. They touch on serious topics and some are more lighthearted. I have always loved poetry and I love the simplicity but also intricacy that they portray. Some are easy to understand and others not as much. But they all have a deeper meaning and convey strong emotions and that’s why I love reading them. They all have a purpose and mean something. I like Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem. It’s short and simple but I think that completely helps convey what she means. She uses simple talk and almost like slang words to show the title of her poem “We Real Cool”. Cool people seem to talk kind of different from everyone else. The poem also gives me allusions to the phrase “Live Fast, Die Young”. I get those kinds of vibes from the poem. Overall I really like poetry and I enjoyed Brooks’ poem as well.
Kellogg 2
One poem I thought was pretty interesting was “The Black Cat”. It was interesting to read the side comments that compared a black cat to a witch. Apparently a witch is supposed to be able to turn into a black cat. Someone else mentioned that witches can’t be burned or hanged and that’s why the cat never died, but instead kept coming back, but I’ve read that those are two of the only ways that witches can be killed. This story also reminded me of “The Cask of Amontillado” because of the narrator putting his wife’s dead body in a wall in the basement, and then mortaring it shut again. Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem “We Real Cool” was kind of hard to understand in the sense that each line was three words long, so it didn’t give very much explanation as to what it meant. The lines “We Strike straight”, “We Thin gin”, and “We Jazz June” do not make sense to me because Brooks does not give enough information.
One poem I think is very cool is Dickinson’s “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass”. I think this is a cool poem because it has great imagery, and it allows me to think of my own analysis of the poem. Another poem I found cool was Lee’s “The Hammock” that we read in class. One reason I think it is cool is that we read it in class and dissected it as a group. Having everyone’s opinion really allowed me to understand what Lee was trying to say. I did enjoy Brook’s poem. I wish I would have had more of a back story allowing me to understand the poem a little clearer. However, I enjoyed that I was able to think and develop my own thoughts about the poem. Poetry is a great form of writing because everyone can analyze how they want. There is no wrong answer to reading or writing poetry.
Huntimer 2
I enjoyed Dylan Thomas’s poem: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. I liked the message about living life to the fullest and to ignore death. Night time is a metaphor for death and the sun rising is a metaphor for new life that Thomas uses to symbolize everyone’s journey. The line “rage against the dying of the light” means to live the best life and be happy until you die. Thomas also makes a reference to his father dying, which is a tragic experience that we all have to face. We are our parents legacy that should rage against our own dying of the light. This poem makes me think about what I could do in my life to make sure I’m happy. We all have dreams to find a career that we enjoy and have a family we love; this poem symbolizes that you should ignore the day you would eventually die and instead enjoy the days you have. Try to live your best life, be happy, and surround yourself with positive people.
2 Eifert
I feel like Brooks poem has something to do with the civil rights movement due to the time period that she grew up, and when she wrote the poem. She uses words like 'strike' and she talks of how they 'sing sin' which is what racist people said African American music was just sin. I thought that her using few words, but the reader still being able to get meaning from it makes it a very neat poem, and makes her a great poet. I thought that the poem "The Addict" by Sexton was a heart touching, and eye opening poem to those who know of addicts because it gives you insight in how that person feels, and what they are going through. Lee's poem "The Hammock" really stuck in my head for quite a few weeks so I would say that was one of my favorite poems because it really made me think, and gave me a different perspective on life. We are always existing in some way through our children, and because time is not day by day but always around. Time is something that exist in the future and in the now. It is confusing to think about, and try to explain but now I think of time in a completely different way.
Grode 2
“We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is a very interesting poem. The rhymes flow nicely and the poem is very easy to understand. It is about a group of people who skip school and go to the bar “The Golden Shovel” to shoot pool and drink gin. This group is living in the moment and having fun now and worrying later. This is shown in the line “We Jazz June We Die Soon.” This likely means that the people are living in the moment and not worrying about the consequences. This poem’s title “We Real Cool” shows that the people likely are not the smartest people, probably stemming from the fact that they skip school and only shoot pool. These people are singing bad songs and drinking alcohol. While they may not be the greatest people, they probably are a little misunderstood. Everybody has their own passions and people should not judge other people based on those passions.
Olthoff 5
One poem that I really thought was cool would be the Hammock poem by Lee. When we first read it in class, I didn’t fully comprehend it, but when I reread it, you can get more meaning from it. At first, it just sounds like a bunch of words, but if you break it down and look at it carefully, it honestly looks like a hammock. The hammock is supposed to be your life. Your life can be seen as a hammock because of your legacy. Before you are born your parents dream about you and wish the best for you. Your parents want to make sure you have a great life even before you are born. Then when you are born and you live your life and potentially have children of your own and do the same thing your parents did. After you have lived your full presence and pass away your legacy still lives on through your children. Your life starts high with your parent's dream then swoops like a U for your lifetime and then ends high with your children's legacy of you just like the shape of a hammock. You were vital before you were born and are essential after you die. Everyone has a story that can start with being written in the stars(parents) and end with written in the stars(your children and their memories of you). The poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is by far my favorite one so far. I love how it is unlike any of the typical poems we have read in English classes before. I also love the natural pulse and flow that you can’t resist but feel when you are reading it. The overall message or storyline of the poem is about rebellion and going against what you are told. This is such a new topic compared to trees, nature, old people, and animals like we are very used to.
I thought that the poem by Cummins "Since feeling is first" was one of my favorites. I think that it was removed from the poetry folder, but I remember reading it on the day that we had read the first poem. It flows really well and is worded, I think, in one of the most well thought-out ways it could have been. I believe that it was a love poem and the way that Cummings ended it left me with chills. He turned life into a sort of metaphor, comparing it to a sentence or essay/paragraph. He ended the poem with the words "life is no paragraph, and death I think is no parenthesis. I don't think that the "we real cool" poem was that cool. Maybe the poem meant more to other people, but I didn't see a whole lot of effort or meaning in it—it seemed, for the most part, pointless to me.
I thought that the Brooks Poem was very intriguing. It reminded me of how teenagers act in real life. Even though it was a very short poem, the language and how it was written made it much more interesting. The rhyming words always add a different level to the poem for me to make poems much more interesting. Plath’s poem “Daddy” was another favorite of mine. I loved her symbolism and her language that she used. She really portrayed her feels of her father and allowed the reader to understand her and how poor her situation was with her father. The way she talked about being a Jew and her father being Hitler allowed readers to relate to her story more. Everyone has studied the Holocaust and can understand the connection which makes it more accessible. Plath’s poem felt more like a story with the descriptions that she used. And to me, it made more sense with it being in that style.
Ackerman 5
I enjoy the poem “We Real Cool” because I feel as if it directly relates to kids that are my age. Teens consider themselves cool throughout their younger years, which is another reason that this poem can directly relate to teenagers. Within the poem, Gwendolyn Brooks uses the phrase “We Lurk late” which can also relate to teens because during their teen years, kids try to be out as late as they can and test their parents patience by not coming home when told to do so. Another poem that I really liked was “Dream” by Edgar Allan Poe. I really liked this poem because the imagery throughout the piece was very detailed and made it seem as if it was something that I had experienced. The poem, though, that I thought was really “cool” is “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath. I think this poem is “cool” because the author of this poem really repeats some of the ieas throughout the entire piece, but she really gets her point across. I think that the author of this poem holds some real hurt towards her father, which she displays beautifully in this poem.
Ellingson 5
I really enjoyed the poem "Daddy" by Plath. It can relate to so many people including me. Whether your dad or mom is a monster, you can relate. I admire Plath for writing a poem like this because during this time I'm sure it was quite tabu to write a poem that calls out your parents. Especially in the older generations, parents and elders were to be incredibly respected and looked up to, not judged and ridiculed by their children. In regards to the poem written by Gwendolyn Brooks, I found it interesting and relatable. I think she is accurate in saying that teenagers stay up late and ultimately get into some trouble sometimes. I think she also makes a good point in basically saying that everyone is going to die, and it is best to live your life while you have it, especially when you're young and feel bulletproof.
I personally think that a lot of the poems shared in that folder are cool. The one that stands out to me the most would have to be "There is another sky" by Emily Dickinson. This poem uses a lot of references to nature and that fascinates me. It is cool how she can relate the sky, sunshine, and forests to real life events and people that is happening. By her saying "there is another sky" she means "there is another place for you." Showing that no matter what is going on there is no need to worry because there is another place where you can live and thrive off of. Gwendolyn Brooks's poem was interesting. I am amazed by how short that poem is. I am kind of curious how a poem so short can be yet so famous? The poem literally consists of just literally a few more than 20 words. Overall both interesting poems.
Harvison 1
I really enjoyed Larkin's poem "This Be The Verse". I understand that this poem is not the happiest poem that has ever be written, but I like that. Too often it seems that there is always a happy meaning, so it is a nice mix up to get a much more "dark" poem. He seems to hold a grudge against his parents for bringing him into this world like he is bitter for having to live. I wonder if Larkin was like this in real life or if he is easily able to climb literature hurdles that may stop an author from experimenting with the writing style. For Brooks poem, I like the flow and the simplicity, but I am missing the point, I can not tell if it's promoting that lifestyle of "cool" or saying with the last line that we all die at some point and that it doesn't matter if you are perceived as cool.
I really enjoyed the poem "Daddy" and also "This Be the Verse". I liked them both almost because they are so dark. Even if you cannot relate directly to the poem, "Daddy" you can still feel the emotion that the author put into it. It is somewhat repetitive, but it still flows very nicely. "This Be the Verse" is a poem that I think our generation, especially can relate to. In class, Mr. C asked if he thought the author was suggesting the reader commit suicide, which I believe is not what he was saying at all. He is basically just pushing the reader to get out of the bad situation they are in, and then to not bring more innocent children into this terrible world. I think a lot of people in our generation have this same mindset.
I think that the poems "This Be the Verse" and "The Hammock" are pretty cool. I like the way that Larkin examines the cycle of human behavior in "This be the verse". His negative view on having children and parental figures as a whole is really fresh. I feel those who might think this usually wouldn't state it so eloquently so I think it is a really cool poem. The way it is written is also very interesting. The rhythm and rhymes of the poem really make it flow and make it an interesting read. It also sparingly uses imagery, but it is used masterfully. "The Hammock" is a stark contrast to "This Be the Verse" because it looks positively on having children. In this poem, however, Lee focuses on the potential of each child. It is also a very happy poem which breaks the mold of most being pretty dreary. I really enjoy the imagery of people being stars that are hidden by daylight and his outlook on the life of a person. I did like Brooks's "We Real Cool." it was short and to the point. I also enjoy the sarcasm used through the whole poem.
DeWitt 1
Throughout all the poems we have read in class, my favorite would have to be "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night". This poem caught my attention with the emotion behind the story. The reader is left to interpret the piece however they want. I interpreted the piece as a message to a loved one who is going to pass on. A plea from the ones left behind stating that they should not go into the good night but stay alive and suffer the cold nights with the one left behind. It is a touching plea from one that is angered at the thought of their father dying. He portrays death as a vengeful thing, not peaceful like everyone assumes hence the going gently. This poem touches my heart and leaves me sad for the narrator. It reminds me of a song by Ben Platt called "In Case You Don't Live Forever". Within this song, Ben is speaking to his uncle who is dying. He says that even if you pass on you will still stay in my life as a piece of me. The contrast between these two pieces speaks to me. The song seems to approach the passing as an inevitable but peaceful concept. The speaker in the song is sad but is okay with death because of the peacefulness behind it. However, in the poem the narrator is angered at the thought of death because although everyone says it is peaceful, the narrator argues that it is worthy of raging at. I also think that this rage could also just be the reader desperately trying to get his father to stay. Yes, death is peaceful, but if the narrator makes it seem awful, will his father potentially stay? "We Real Cool" is a bit interesting to me. Although I can't really make out what she has to say within the poem, I am open to hearing a plethora of theories from my fellow classmates. I have yet to form a solid opinion on it though.
Eichelberg 5
I, personally, like Emily Dickinson’s poems because I have read some of her works in the past and really enjoy her writing style and how she experiments with various forms of punctuation. Not only do her poems interest me, but when considering the context of her life as a shut-in in her home and her secretive lifestyle, it adds a new sense of depth to her poems and forces readers to evaluate her works with a new lens. In her poem “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass”, she describes a snake in cryptic detail, never revealing the subject of her work but is left for the reader to analyze on their own. She utilizes many metaphors that others may not consider but presents an everyday sight in her own words causing a reevaluation by readers and a new viewpoint. I personally do not like Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem “We Real Cool” simply because I do not enjoy this genre of poetry. I prefer more structured and easily interpreted poetry. Her poem contains no clear meaning and is too short for me to easily evaluate and derive meaning from. Although I do not particularly enjoy her writing style, I find it interesting and like that it requires further thought to evaluate which may improve my understanding of other works in the future. I think it is important to be exposed to a variety of literary styles so I think it’s important that one continues to read works, even though they might not be their favorites, because each piece of literature has something we can learn.
Frantzen 1
The poem "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks is very interesting to me. When poems are written in the way that Brooks wrote hers there are many ways that you can take it. The poem is only ten lines long but speaks volumes. It has a very hip style to the writing that allows younger people to read it and take it into their own understanding. She is explaining, in my eyes, a rebellious teenager who is just trying to have fun. They are playing some pool at the pool hall while ditching out on school. They are seen as the rebellious naughty kids at school. I also really like the poem, "After Auschwitz" by Anne Sexton because it gives a lot of truth into the Holocaust. It talks about how a man is very evil and kills flowers. Flowers may represent the jews or the harmless things in life.
I was surprised by the Poem “We Real Cool”. It is extremely short, but that is often some of the best poetry. For me, the poem seemed to be hinting towards the lives of teenagers. It is often a stereotype that teens think they are cool, and when the poem says, “We Lurk late…We die soon”, I saw a description of the fun teens have at that time in their life. Teens are often thought of to stay up late, and they are enjoying their life before they “die soon”. By having a short poem, Gwendolyn Brooks made a great impact. The conciseness allows readers to think deeper about the true meaning. “The Addict” by Anne Sexton was another poem that stood out to me, due to the topic it addressed. During the time period Sexton wrote this poem, mental health and drug addiction were not seen the way they are today. These are topics that should be addressed and not overlooked or covered up. The addiction is described as a “journey”, a way of “staying in shape”, a “marriage”, a “war”, and even an “innocuous occupation”. By describing it this way, Sexton is addressing the topic to slightly fit the time period.
Campbell 7
Each poem allows for someone to tell a story, give a message, and share their feelings in an artistic way. As teenagers, we really don't think much about poetry. It may not be interesting, but there is always a life lesson hidden within the poetry. Being in this class and reading these poems made me realize it is good to leave things up to your own interpretation. My favorite short story would be the "Black cat". Reason being it has a horror-ish side to it. It had so much suspense and scary build up with the most unpredictable actions continuing on in the story. All poems or short stories make you dig deep to figure out their main message. They have so much thought, emotions, and feelings being tossed into a piece of literary art. Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem is indeed very intriguing. It is filled with short but yet simple thoughts to convey the overall message to the readers. I think that completely helps convey what she means. She has a slang way of describing things in her poems which targets us teenagers being "hip" as most people call it. We can relate easier or in different levels/ways.
I believe that each piece of poetry is cool in its own way; although, in my opinion, some poems have too much going on and are too intense. Anne Sexton surprised me with how intense her pieces of poetry are. In her piece, “After Auschwitz”, Sexton goes off of the title and takes twists and turns to the conclusion that all men are bad and deserve to die. At first, I did not think that her poem was a good reflection of all that she had to offer, but after reading the addict, I found that Anne is just a different type of woman. In “The Addict”, I was completely surprised. I did not expect Anne to be a drug addict; however, it did make her pieces of poetry make more sense. I really enjoy when a piece of poetry relates to the author’s life and we can get a closer look into what that entails.
Burchill 5
I don't like Gwendolyn Brooks's poem. I hate rhyme, and I don't like when authors and poets use as few words as Brooks uses in her poem. To me, you can see her style, but not her flavor. To get an author's flavor, I need to have enough words to understand the way she writes and who she is. I can tell where she is from and her culture, but not her personally. Contrarily, I can tell a lot about Anne Sexton from her poem "After Auschwitz", which I really enjoyed. You can really tell that Anne feels like part of the problem of the events that have unfortunately happened to her in her lifetime. You can tell that she feels bad morally for the hatred she is expressing towards mankind, but I love how she gives the reader a chance to sympathize with her, and I do. She puts her life experiences into this poem and the feelings she has because of them. I really respect that and the difficulty that it probably took to make that poem.
I really enjoyed the poem "After Auschwitz" by Anne Sexton. Sexton mentions some extremely grotesque actions throughout the poem, most notably the sauteing of a baby each morning for breakfast. Including these graphic images early causes the reader to feel disgusted and become emotionally invested straight away. I also think that the last lines of this poem were particularly powerful. The reader can tell a lot about what Sexton is feeling inside. She hates the Nazis for what they have done, and rightfully so, but extends that anger throughout the remainder of the human race. This animosity towards those outside of the Nazis is causing her guilt and shame. She says these things about how she wished death upon them and follows up by saying she wishes that God doesn’t hear them. This poem evokes so many emotions within the reader that I believe most will be able to connect with at least one of them if not more.
I really enjoyed the poem “After Auschwitz” by Anne Sexton because it had so much meaning in it even though it was short. The one-word sentences really added a lot. It showed her anger towards Hitler and also mankind. My favorite part in the poem was when she compared mankind to a flower. I portrayed this as men are looked at like a flower they are perfect and good at everything they do. Then she also made the comment that they should be burned. She also didn’t want God to know she was saying these comments about men because she feared that she would be punished. Being a woman at that time was very hard because you were looked at as useless. The Nazi men were very brutal towards women and children. The part that was most disturbing about this poem was how she said that man would eat a baby for supper. This made me think that men had no soul or heart back in these times.
I personally really enjoy a lot of different types of poetry. I feel like poetry can be taken in many different directions and does not necessarily need to rhyme or have a certain rhythm for it to me “cool”. I really enjoyed Gwendolyn Brooks's poem. This poem reminded me a lot of teenagers these days. To me, this poem focuses on the youth, acting crazy but having fun before our time runs out. I also really liked the Man-Moth poem by Bishop. This poem is really dark and shows a part of her life that she wishes she could conceal. I feel like this poem relates to Bishop’s alcohol addiction and what she was really going through. I think this poem should be considered “cool” because she has the bravery to admit she needs help to the public. She is admitting her fault and her trial and error to fight her addiction. I typically like poems that talk about things that people do not like to discuss and to draw attention to things others might not understand.
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