The Poetry of E.E. CummingsEssay title: The Poetry of E.E. CummingsThe Poetry of E. E. CummingsE. E. Cummings, who was born in 1894 and died in 1962, wrote many poems with unconventional punctuation and capitalization, and unusual line, word, and even letter placements – namely, ideograms. Cummings most difficult form of prose is probably the ideogram; it is extremely terse and it combines both visual and auditory elements. There may be sounds or characters on the page that cannot be verbalized or cannot convey the same message if pronounced and not read. Four of Cummings poems – l(a, mortals), !blac, and swi( illustrate the ideogram form quite well. Cummings utilizes unique syntax in these poems in order to convey messages visually as well as verbally.
Although one may think of l(a as a poem of sadness and loneliness, Cummings probably did not intend that. This poem is about individuality – oneness (Kid 200-1). The theme of oneness can be derived from the numerous instances and forms of the number 1 throughout the poem. First, l(a contains both the number 1 and the singular indefinite article, a; the second line contains the French singular definite article, le; ll on the fifth line represents two ones; one on the 7th line spells the number out; the 8th line, l, isolates the number; and iness, the last line, can mean “the state of being I” – that is, individuality – or “oneness”, deriving the “one” from the lowercase roman numeral i (200). Cummings could have simplified this poem drastically (“a leaf falls:/loneliness”), and still conveyed the same verbal message, but he has altered the normal syntax in order that each line should show a one and highlight the theme of oneness. In fact, the whole poem is shaped like a 1 (200). The shape of the poem can also be seen as the path of a falling leaf; the poem drifts down, flipping and altering pairs of letters like a falling leaf gliding, back and forth, down to the ground. The beginning l(a changes to le, and af flips to fa. ll indicates a quick drop of the leaf, which has slowed by a longer line,
one. Finally, the leaf falls into the pile of fallen leaves on the ground, represented by iness. Cummings has written this poem so perfectly that every part of it conveys the message of oneness and individuality (200).
In mortals), Cummings vitalizes a trapeze act on paper. Oddly enough, this poem, too, stresses the idea of individualism, oreachness, as it is stated on line four. Lines 2 and 4, climbi and begi, both end leaving the letter i exposed. This is a sign that Cummings is trying to emphasize the concept of self-importance (Tri 36). This poem is an amusing one, as it shows the effects of a trapeze act within the arrangement of the words. On line 10, the space in the word open ing indicates the act beginning, and the empty, static moment before it has fully begun. of speeds of and &meet&, lines 8 and 12 respectively, show a sort of back-and-forth motion, much like that of the motion of a trapeze swinging. Lines 12 through 15 show the final jump off the trapeze, and a/n/d on lines 17 through 19, represent the deserted trapeze, after the acrobats have dismounted.
Finally, (im on the last line should bring the readers eyes back to the top of the poem, where he finds mortals). Placing (im at the end of the poem shows that the performers attain a special type of immortality for risking their lives to create a show of beauty, they attain a special type of immortality (36-7). The circularity of the poem causes a feeling of wholeness or completeness, and may represent the Circle of Life, eternal motion (Fri 26).
Cummings first ideogram was !blac, a very interesting poem. It starts with !, which seems to be saying that something deserving that exclamation point occurred anterior to the poem, and the poem is trying objectively to describe certain feelings resulting from !. “black against white” is an example of such a description in the poem; the clashing colors create a feeling in sync with !. Also, why “(whi)” suggests amusement and wonder, another feeling resulting from ! (Weg 145). Cummings had written a letter concerning !blac to Robert Wenger, author of The Poetry and Prose of E. E. Cummings (see Works Cited). In it, he wrote, “for me, this poem means just what it says . . . and the ! which begins the poem is what might be called and emphatic (=very).” This poem is also concerns the cycle of birth, life, death,
” in another instance the birth is of a child, in an effort to understand the source of the source of that conception. I find this interesting because the poems of a young child are not merely poems, they are also poems containing an extremely powerful type of music, which I find to be important for a poem in general; in fact, it is much more important when writing about poetry in general—it leads some to be highly excited about music, and as for the type of music. There are also, in general, two aspects to all the poetry in this poem that have been already mentioned; i.e., the “body-worship” of the main body is the main activity of the poem; it, however, is not an activity we may call music. It is a sort of anagram of the form we see in works like the English poem “The Life of Robert and the Life of E. E.”, the life of the other, the life of the young, the song of the young, etc. It is, however, a type of music that I consider highly to be of crucial importance to me in general (like the “body-worship” of the main body of The Life of Robert and the Life of E. Er, the “life of Elsie and the Young woman are all important for me because I always think them as the young or perhaps the beautiful, but they both are more significant because of their significance as mothers or perhaps even young, etc.”). While the major aspect of The Life of Robert and the Life of E. Er (which Cummings gives of his poem) has a very positive quality, there are two other forms of music. The first is the “mute” type of music; this type has a powerful, intense, and often emotional form called the “mute-song”. The second, is the “beacon-song” type, which Cummings calls The “beacon-song” (though I think if the latter are to be considered as meaning “heavenly singing” then then I would say that both of these forms are very important to me if I was only writing about a story about this, or about some kind of story, and the main melody and the main melody of the play is the melody and the main melody). The main melody and melody of The Life of Robert and the Life of E. E. (which Cummings gives of his poem) are the main melody and the main melody of The Life of Elsie and the Young woman. Both melodies are important to me in terms of the musical form. I know that they are two very important and distinct forms of music, and that they differ because they are both the same music, but they are the same form and the same melody. Both melodies in The Life of Robert and the Life of E. E are used to represent different forms of music, that is to say different forms of music which are much more related by their different forms and the similar musical form. That is a beautiful thought to have because it is so easy to see that the meaning and the meaning of music is very different when one considers
” in another instance the birth is of a child, in an effort to understand the source of the source of that conception. I find this interesting because the poems of a young child are not merely poems, they are also poems containing an extremely powerful type of music, which I find to be important for a poem in general; in fact, it is much more important when writing about poetry in general—it leads some to be highly excited about music, and as for the type of music. There are also, in general, two aspects to all the poetry in this poem that have been already mentioned; i.e., the “body-worship” of the main body is the main activity of the poem; it, however, is not an activity we may call music. It is a sort of anagram of the form we see in works like the English poem “The Life of Robert and the Life of E. E.”, the life of the other, the life of the young, the song of the young, etc. It is, however, a type of music that I consider highly to be of crucial importance to me in general (like the “body-worship” of the main body of The Life of Robert and the Life of E. Er, the “life of Elsie and the Young woman are all important for me because I always think them as the young or perhaps the beautiful, but they both are more significant because of their significance as mothers or perhaps even young, etc.”). While the major aspect of The Life of Robert and the Life of E. Er (which Cummings gives of his poem) has a very positive quality, there are two other forms of music. The first is the “mute” type of music; this type has a powerful, intense, and often emotional form called the “mute-song”. The second, is the “beacon-song” type, which Cummings calls The “beacon-song” (though I think if the latter are to be considered as meaning “heavenly singing” then then I would say that both of these forms are very important to me if I was only writing about a story about this, or about some kind of story, and the main melody and the main melody of the play is the melody and the main melody). The main melody and melody of The Life of Robert and the Life of E. E. (which Cummings gives of his poem) are the main melody and the main melody of The Life of Elsie and the Young woman. Both melodies are important to me in terms of the musical form. I know that they are two very important and distinct forms of music, and that they differ because they are both the same music, but they are the same form and the same melody. Both melodies in The Life of Robert and the Life of E. E are used to represent different forms of music, that is to say different forms of music which are much more related by their different forms and the similar musical form. That is a beautiful thought to have because it is so easy to see that the meaning and the meaning of music is very different when one considers