In the poem "We Real Cool," the rhythm contributes to the characterization of the speaker by suggesting truculence and brittle self-assertion in the insistent placement of the pronouns and the constant enjambments.

Brooks's poem is exceptionally short, containing only eight lines and twenty-four syllables. Seven of the eight staccato lines end in the word "we." This is always the beginning of a short sentence which the enjambment carries over to the next line. The effect is to emphasize the word "we." The speaker therefore sounds assertive at the beginning of each sentence, because of the stress laid on the word that describes their group of friends. The rhythm emphasizes the importance of these people and their centrality to the poem.

However, the rhythm is so insistent and relentless that the truculent assertiveness comes to seem contrived, as though the speaker is overcompensating for a lack of genuine confidence. The brittleness of these young people, who will not live to be old, comes out in the reiteration of the same jerky rhythm with the insistently repeated words and sounds rattling off the tongue like bullets fired from a revolver.