Who is the author of the 1963 poem We Real Cool?

• A. Maya Angelou
• B. Langston Hughes
• C. Gwendolyn Brooks
• D. Sylvia Plath

Answer: (C)

This question tests your knowledge of which poet created a famous 1963 poem that captures a group of young pool players and their choices. The author is Gwendolyn Brooks. She is known for concise, sharply observed verse about Black urban life, and “We Real Cool” uses a tight, punchy rhythm with the repeated line “We real cool” to convey swagger and immediacy. The eight-line piece follows the group’s actions—leaving school, lingering late, taking risks—and ends with the stark warning “We die soon,” which turns swagger into consequence. This contrast—bold, colloquial voice paired with a grim final message—embodies Brooks’s ability to illuminate social realities in a compact, memorable form. The other poets listed wrote influential works with different focuses, but this poem is distinctly Brooks’s voice.