Questions to consider:
- How are Brooks's poems politically conscious? What effect does this have on you as the reader, and do you think this was intentional?
- What effect do the line breaks have on "We Real Cool"?
- What are the similarities and differences between Brooks and Langston Hugues? Defend your answer.
The Mother
Abortions will not let you forget.
You remember the children you got that you did not get,
The damp small pulps with a little or with no hair,
The singers and workers that never handled the air.
You will never neglect or beat
Them, or silence or buy with a sweet.
You will never wind up the sucking-thumb
Or scuttle off ghosts that come.
You will never leave them, controlling your luscious sigh,
Return for a snack of them, with gobbling mother-eye.
I have heard in the voices of the wind the voices of my dim killed
children.
I have contracted. I have eased
My dim dears at the breasts they could never suck.
I have said, Sweets, if I sinned, if I seized
Your luck
And your lives from your unfinished reach,
If I stole your births and your names,
Your straight baby tears and your games,
Your stilted or lovely loves, your tumults, your marriages, aches,
and your deaths,
If I poisoned the beginnings of your breaths,
Believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate.
Though why should I whine,
Whine that the crime was other than mine?--
Since anyhow you are dead.
Or rather, or instead,
You were never made.
But that too, I am afraid,
Is faulty: oh, what shall I say, how is the truth to be said?
You were born, you had body, you died.
It is just that you never giggled or planned or cried.
Believe me, I loved you all.
Believe me, I knew you, though faintly, and I loved, I loved you
All.
You remember the children you got that you did not get,
The damp small pulps with a little or with no hair,
The singers and workers that never handled the air.
You will never neglect or beat
Them, or silence or buy with a sweet.
You will never wind up the sucking-thumb
Or scuttle off ghosts that come.
You will never leave them, controlling your luscious sigh,
Return for a snack of them, with gobbling mother-eye.
I have heard in the voices of the wind the voices of my dim killed
children.
I have contracted. I have eased
My dim dears at the breasts they could never suck.
I have said, Sweets, if I sinned, if I seized
Your luck
And your lives from your unfinished reach,
If I stole your births and your names,
Your straight baby tears and your games,
Your stilted or lovely loves, your tumults, your marriages, aches,
and your deaths,
If I poisoned the beginnings of your breaths,
Believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate.
Though why should I whine,
Whine that the crime was other than mine?--
Since anyhow you are dead.
Or rather, or instead,
You were never made.
But that too, I am afraid,
Is faulty: oh, what shall I say, how is the truth to be said?
You were born, you had body, you died.
It is just that you never giggled or planned or cried.
Believe me, I loved you all.
Believe me, I knew you, though faintly, and I loved, I loved you
All.
We Real Cool
We real cool. We
Left School. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
Left School. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
In my opinion the poem "We Real Cool" is about a group of high school students living the fast life. They aren't your ordinary group of good children, they are into bad things.!
ReplyDelete~Brianna M.
-Espana.C-
ReplyDelete(1.]Well "The Mother" talks about abortion and abortion is very controversial because of religions and moral beliefs on society. "We Real Cool" makes me think of teens that smoke and drink and skip to make themselves feel good and cooler than others. Which in fact, makes them even worst. Makes normal people loose respect for them, they start loosing friends, flunk in school and then they end up dropping out of school.
(2.] It makes it look not right. Like it starts with "Left School. We..." that hanging we makes you wonder what they are going to do, if it's bad or if it's good.
(3.] Langston Huges is talking about a father figure on his poems. Gwendolyn is talking about a mother figure. The yalso seem to have the same rhyme scheme. Huges's poem is hard to understand for me because it does not have as much details as in Brook's.
This poem "The Mother" was very meaningful and persausive. I admire the message and the rhyme sceme it gave. (Idk for some reason I like poems that rhyme more than poems that dont lol). I use to feel like abortions were a choice, and that it was only the person who was carrying the childs decision; so I was not against abortions at all. But after this poem, I feel like abortions should not be performed because A, there are other options, and B the guilt that is apparent in this poem actually happens and I doubt anyone would want to live their life that way. Loved the poem.
ReplyDelete-Tiana Jones
The Poem "We Real Cool" explains the life of teenagers who are seeking the wrong path and living a bad life style to a life of that will eventually lead to death if they keep doing those things.
ReplyDelete- Starlee E.
brianna m. i agree with you brah its like the just live they life because they know they not going to be around forever.
ReplyDelete-lashawn johnson-
-Mahoghany C.-
ReplyDelete(1.) Both poems are politically conscious because both talk about the behavior/struggle of teenagers. Many teenagers get abortions this generation so they won't have to take care of an unwanted child. Teens also face peer pressure to do what's "cool" at the moment such as leaving school, staying out late, and drinking alcohol. I think Brooks tries to make us visualize the way teenagers live their life or maybe some of her personal issues. I feel that maybe she has been through some really hard times in her life.
(2.)I think the purpose of the line breaks in "We Real Cool" is to emphasize "We." I think she's trying to make us see that she's in a group or clique that hang together, and they do these things together as a group.
(3.)I don't really understand any ways that Langston Hugues and Gwendolyn Brooks are the same except for the fact that they're talking about themselves in first person formal. But Hugues's poems are more in an upbeat mood, while Brooks's seem very depressing. Hugues seems like he's just enjoying life, but Brooks seems like she's in some type of struggle.
Siss (Brianna) I agree. They're some little want to be "thugs" that THINK they're real cool but probably nothing but some spinless punks that are just following the crwod. Since nobody wants to be the leader, they just follow each other, going down the wrong path. Therefore, the are not going to live a very long life, hints "die soon" enough said. :)
ReplyDelete-Tiana Jones
Yes I Agree With You Guys @Lashawn {&&} @Tiana She I Think Gwendolyn Symbolizes The Things That Go on In Her Neighborhood, Or Just Random Things She Sees While She Is Out. Even Though The Meaning Of The Poem Is Very Good, Whats Being Done Is Awful. She Should Go And Talk The Children Out Of What They Are Doing.!
ReplyDelete~Brianna M.
The teenagers are not really in to attending school. It seems as if the teenagers really don't care about their education and go day by day doing things not dealing with school. they live life by just having fun. They feel as if life doesn't last long so they do what they want. by sayin they sing sin, gives me an idea that they dont really care if they get in trouble. the teenagers in the poem know they will die soon so they live life without fear and wait for death to come soon.
ReplyDelete- starlee e.
~Mahoghany C.~
ReplyDelete@Tiana Jones yes this poem moved me too & I don't think that abortions should be performed either because I don't think regret should be put on the child. I feel that if a female is woman enough to lay down and have sex unprotected, she is woman enough to take care of a child. I basically agree with everything you said
Yess I totally agree with you Brianna. The kids in the poem are very bad and they also have an influence on our younger generations.!
ReplyDelete-Starlee E.
Good point Starlee, I see your point, but I think because their living the wrong life, their going to die soon, not the other way around :)
ReplyDelete-Tiana J
-Timara-
ReplyDeleteBrianna I agree with you because these are teens are bad.They skip school and they stay out at all times of night. They are a bad influence on other teen.They know what they are doing is wrong but they still do it just for the fun of it.They think they are cool for being bad.When the poem We real cool says we die soon I can picture the teens doing something crazy and risking there life for something meaningless.
LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES!
ReplyDeleteNO LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF MATCHES
ReplyDeleteTiana and everybody else, I totally agree with you. I did use to think that abortions were a choice, but I know now that they are not. My sister was going to get an abortion but she realized that she be the same as any convicted murder: The only difference is that it is legalized, and that is a problem. How would you feel if you killed your baby? How would you feel if your mother had killed your brother or sister? This is something that everybody in the world should discuss and fight about because were killing the future leaders of America. Think about.
ReplyDelete-Darnell Henson
@Cynthia: I like your analysis that Hughes’s poems are more father-oriented and Brooks’s are more mother-oriented. I think “We Real Cool” and “Dream Boogie” can be related to one another in that they both employ jazzy rhythms, which shows how they are influenced by the Harlem Renaissance.
ReplyDelete@Tiana: I also felt that this poem was very meaningful. I’m still not sure whether or not Brook’s intention was to persuade her readers or not. She does use emotional appeal to connect to her readers; however, it is possible that the speaker of the poem is expressing her guilt and sadness, but not necessarily trying to persuade people to not perform abortions. I am unsure of her political view since she does not propose a direct solution to the problem.
@Mahoghany: Your response is thoughtful and articulate. I believe Hughes and Brooks are similar in their use of rhythm (“We Real Cool” & “Boogie Woogie). I also believe that while Hughes is generally more positive, I believe he still seeks racial equality and is sarcastic at times when referring to his happiness.
@Starlee & Brianna: I also believe that Brooks is writing about some bad eggs. They think they are so cool, but the reality is that they are making a huge mistake, and Brooks wants the readers to learn from this. I also enjoy the irony in this poem—that the speakers of the poem are the kids who are bad. They talk about their downfall, but obviously do not realize the significance of it enough to change their ways.
@Ms. Burton I Believe That If The Bad Eggs Take The Time To Sit Down And Listen To What Good Influences Say They Woyuld Understand The Sinificance Of What The Poem Reads. Some Of The Smarter Children Would Actually Take Into Consideration Doing Good Things Instead Of Bad.!
ReplyDelete~Brianna M.
Yes indeed Ms. Burton, the main idea of the poem was to show how they were going to make a bad mistake with their bad ways. They think that doing those things make them so cool, but really its ruinin their lives. By the kids speaking in the poem shows how they really feel about how their lives should be lived. Thats Tragic-the way they are carrying themeselves.
ReplyDelete- starlee edmunds
Michael
ReplyDeleteWe Real Cool-
Yes the effect was intentional because she wants to describe the true nature of bad kids. The line breaks help to give a dramatic pause in the poem. The difference between her and Langston Hughes is that she writes about realistic matters while hughes writes in a more fictional style.