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There are so many ways to interpret a poem. I , myself, believe poetry is very hard to understand and it is an overload of information to take in from one line at a time. That one line can mean so many things. You really cannot paraphrase a poem. Every word counts, whether the poet condenses or elaborates, and every word is chosen and positioned on the page for a purpose. The enjoyment of poetry does not always depend on understanding it, they have other joys, often with meaning, but sometimes on their own: patterns of sounds, rhymes, striking images, figures of speech, and complex forms. They allow us to understand how people very different form us perceive the world.
“We Real Cool,” by Gwendolyn Brooks, is a unique poem. It is very short but it says so much more then expected. Just the way the words are lined up make it more interesting. It draws your attention into the poem. Having “We” at the end of each line, except the last line, puts more emphasis on the word. “We,” is obviously more than one person, but I believe she is younger in this poem and is including herself with a young group of friends. If she were to line the poem up anatomically correct it would read:
“We real cool.
We left school.
We lurk late.
We strike straight.
We sing sin.
We thin gin.
We jazz June.
We die soon.”
It is still the same poem, but lacks something. Probably the emphasis on “We.” With “We” on the end, you stress the word until you reach the next line, and those two words stand out and you say them stronger. It emphasizes