{"id":9528,"date":"2022-11-11T20:01:23","date_gmt":"2022-11-12T01:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/eng-201-introduction-to-literature-fall-2022-conway\/?p=9528"},"modified":"2022-11-11T20:01:23","modified_gmt":"2022-11-12T01:01:23","slug":"discussion-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/eng-201-introduction-to-literature-spring-2023-conway\/2022\/11\/11\/discussion-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Discussion 12"},"content":{"rendered":"

William Carlos Williams states that in order to understand a poem, a reader must \u201ccomplete what a poet has begun\u201d. The article from Poets.org states that in order to do so you must use your imagination to connect it to your experience to see it from your point of view. For this discussion I\u2019ve selected \u201cWe Real Cool\u201d by Gwendolyn Brooks. After reading the poem a few times I really examined it and broke it down.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gwendolyn Brooks states that the poem was inspired when she passed a pool hall one day and noticed some teenagers inside cutting school. Using \u201cimaginative play\u201d I interpreted the poem as a summary of the life trajectory of the 7 teenagers (as established in the subtitle). The first stanza \u201cwe real cool, we left school\u201d establishes the rebelliousness of the group foregoing their education, viewing this act of defiance as cool. Stanza 2 the author uses the word lurk. To lurk means: \u201cTo lie in wait in a place of concealment especially for an evil purpose.\u201d Which is followed by the line \u2018We strike straight.\u201d To strike is to hit with force. I interpreted this stanza as a representation of the dark path the kids are travelling down, staying out late being menacing. This Stanza is followed by \u201cWe sing sin, We thin gin.\u201d\u00a0 I don\u2019t interpret this as singing of sin but enjoying sinful acts or showing unruly behavior like drinking alcohol (the act of thinning gin). The 4<\/span>th<\/span> stanza brings the poem to an end \u201cWe jazz june, We die soon\u201d. Gwendolyn Brooks states that \u201cJune\u201d represents the establishment (Authority). \u201cJazz\u201d was once considered rebellious music. So I interpret the line representing the teens rebelling against authority. The outcome of their behavior culminates into their early demise or the behavior ending sooner than later, represented in line 8 \u201cwe die soon\u201d. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I also chose this poem because it reminded me of my youth and how I rebelled against authority with my friends. Cutting class, hanging out late looking for trouble with my friends getting into scrapes(fights) some of my friends engaging in sinful acts gleefully committing acts of sin (\u201csinging sin\u201d) such as stealing, pre-marital fornication, lying, underage drinking, replacing our parents’ vodka with water. Flying the proverbial middle finger in the face of authority (breaking rules and laws set by parents, schools, the state of NY). Eventually watching that part of me die when reaching adulthood. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

William Carlos Williams states that in order to understand a poem, a reader must \u201ccomplete what a poet has begun\u201d. The article from Poets.org states that in order to do so you must use your imagination to connect it to your experience to see it from your point of view. For this discussion I\u2019ve selected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6357,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-week-12-discussion","czr-hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/eng-201-introduction-to-literature-spring-2023-conway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/eng-201-introduction-to-literature-spring-2023-conway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/eng-201-introduction-to-literature-spring-2023-conway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/eng-201-introduction-to-literature-spring-2023-conway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6357"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/eng-201-introduction-to-literature-spring-2023-conway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/eng-201-introduction-to-literature-spring-2023-conway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9529,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/eng-201-introduction-to-literature-spring-2023-conway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9528\/revisions\/9529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/eng-201-introduction-to-literature-spring-2023-conway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/eng-201-introduction-to-literature-spring-2023-conway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/eng-201-introduction-to-literature-spring-2023-conway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}