Structure in "We Real Cool" Essay

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The line breaks in this poem are sudden and create a mood of suspense because the reader must move to the next line to read the rest of the story. When the poet begins counting, we have a sense of something dreadful about to occur. The rhyming in this poem is also effective in that the rhyming words are strong and visual. In the last stanza, the words "luck" (Housman 5) and "struck" (8) are powerful in that we can almost hear the clock tower striking the hour. Unlike the rhyme and rhythm in "We Real Cool," this rhythm is slow and contemplative. The poet wants us to read his slowly so we can identify with the man awaiting his death. Both poems utilize structure to establish a mood and tone that we can relate to the subjects of the poems.

Brooks and Housman illustrate how structure, rhythm, rhyme, and repetition become useful techniques in poetry. In "We Real Cool," the poet wants us to see these young men in their environment.
By using short sentences with very descriptive words, the poet is successful. The rhythm of the poem is much like the music we might expect o hear if we stumbled upon them in a pool hall. The short lines and the quickness of the poem complete the mood and tone of the poem because it is swift, like the lives of these young men. In "Eight O' Clock," the rhythm is also significant to the mood of the poem but in a different way. The rhythm forces us to slow down when we read to get the entire picture. In addition, the rhymes in this poem are strong and visual so we do not need to ask what has happened when we read it.

Works Cited

Brooks, Gwendolyn. "We Real Cool." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Vol. II. Lauter, Paul, ed. Lexington D.C. Heath and Company. 1990.

Housman, a.E. "Eight O'Clock." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Kennedy,….....

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