What are the main themes in "We Real Cool"?

There are three main themes in Gwendolyn Brooks's poem "We
Real Cool": Identification, Mortality, and
Musicality.

• Identification

The
voices of "We" are placed as the final word of the end-stopped lines. This significant
placement, according to Brooks, makes "we" pronounced softly. Such a low tone to "we"
suggests that the boys have their individual identities and possibilities subsumed in
their subculture.

Death casts its pall over the inner-city
boys who are probably part of a gang. Again the "we" is minimized to the illegal
activities of "Strike straight," "Sing sin,"and "Thin gin." They know that they will
"Die
soon."

• Musicality

The
poem contains the rhythm of a jazz tune. The alliteration and internal rhyme lend an
almost seductive tone to the poem, suggestive of the physical movement of the gang
members, who live in the shadow of crime and childhood dreams unrealized. A short and
deceptively simple poem, "We Real Cool" captures in its minimalism the rhythms and
experiences of black street life that suddenly give way to greater depths of thought and
meaning.