Poems

        We Real Cool and Harlem are the two poems we read this semester written by Gwendolyn Brooks and Langston Hughes respectively. These two poems were written during a cultural movement in 1920’s called Harlem renaissance. We Real Cool is just four stanzas each containing two lines with the word “we” by the end of each line. As an outside observer, we think the boys might have dropped out of school, be drinking gin, staying out late at night, enjoying jazz, and will have short lives. Brooks says the inspiration for this poem came when she saw the boys playing pool in a bar on her way to school one day. Harlem is a poem that talks about deferred dreams which is a dream left behind. He brings up how sometimes we all have a tendency to push our dreams away. He mentions how we can accomplish our dreams if we make an effort to make them reality. Our efforts will make us feel satisfied when we achieve our dreams. In fact, creating dreams can help us set bigger goals in the long run. Hughes describes different possible ways a man can dream. After reading and understanding both poems, I've came to realize that both poems kind of connect in a way.