We Real Cool

The poem consists of three rhyming couplets and a fourth that implies a rhyme that’s missing. Brooks builds her rhymes by rhyming the next to last stressed syllable in each line and ending each line with the repeating word “we.” The poem’s three rhymes are “cool we” and “school we”, “late we” and “straight we”, “sin we” and “gin we.” The last couplet lets the rhyme hang unspoken—we want to hear “June we” rhyme with “soon we,” but the speakers’ early foretold death poignantly cuts off the line before we expect.

There are other sonic literary devices in the poem. Some lines contain internal rhymes and internal slant rhymes. Line 8 features the internal rhyme “Thin gin,” while line 7 includes the imperfect rhyme “Sing sin.” Other devices include alliteration—“Strike straight” (Line 4), “Lurk late” (Line 5), and “Jazz June” (Line 9)—consonance with the “L” sounds of “real cool” (Line 3), and sibilance with the “s” sounds of “Sing sin” (Line 7),

Brooks’s use of these resonant techniques adds to the melodic quality of the boys’ words, which some commentators have compared to jazz music. 

The opening lines of the poem are the only two lines that contain multi-syllabic words. The rest of the poem consists of monosyllables, or, words that contain only a single syllable.

The series of monosyllables that make up the majority of the poem enable the reader to experience the poem in a rhythmic, musical way. Together with the literary devices of rhyme, alliteration, and resonance, the monosyllables draw attention to the voice of the boys who speak in unison. The straightforward and simple monosyllabic language emphasizes the youthful tone of the poem and heightens the drama of the last line of the poem, which alludes to the premature death of the adolescents.

Seven of the ten total lines in the poem end with the word “we,” drawing the reader’s eye to the number of pool players at the pool hall. The repetition of the plural pronoun “we” enhances the group experience of the adolescents who are both the subject and the collective speaker of the poem.

Together, the seven adolescent boys skip class and engage in teenage recklessness. Their attachment to one another and the importance of their social connections reflect their stage of life, a time during which friendships reign superior over many other life concerns. The repetition of the “we” throughout the poem suggests an anthem or a personal motto that knits the friends even closer together; they are united by a repeated set of goals, and unfortunately, by a shared fate.

Ironically, the repetition of “we” and the emphasis on a group mindset contrasts with the individual nature of death, as expressed in the last line of the poem. Together, the adolescents can drink and carouse and enjoy all that youth can offer them; ultimately, however, they each will die alone. Thanks to the repetition of “we,” the reader is able to experience the pathos of the final image of the poem: that of seven young boys who will perish before their time.