e.e.+cummings--sullivan


 * 3.25.12**

"but if a living dance upon dead minds"

but if a living dance upon dead minds why, it is love; but at the earliest spear of sun perfectly should disappear moon's utmost magic, or stones speak or one name control more incredible splendor than our merely universe, love's also there: and being here imprisoned, tortured here love everywhere exploding maims and blinds but surely does not forget, perish, sleep cannot be photographed measured; disdains the trivial labelling of punctual brains... -Who wields a poem huger than the grave? from only Whom shall time no refuge keep through all the weird worlds must be opened?

The first line of e.e. cummings' poem is somewhat ambiguous as the author begins with the word 'but', making it seem as though the poem is missing the beginning of the first line. This makes the poem seem more honest, as if the author is suddenly stating his beliefs, not being too concerned with using proper sentence structure. Cummings also uses contrast in the first line, using both 'living' and 'dead' as adjectives. In the second line, Cummings provides a solution to what he proposed in the first line, that solution (also the subject of the poem) is love. The second to the fourth line compare love to 'the earliest spear of sun' and 'moon's utmost magic'. Cummings' uses contrast again by including vivd descriptions of both the moon and the sun. This creates a description of love as something that is eternal, not only present when both the moon and the sun are out. By incorporating the moon and the sun, Cummings also makes the reader inclined to compare love to the sun and the moon--objects that we will never be able to touch, but that we know to exist. While the majority of the sonnet is made up of iams, the word 'perfectly' in the third line is a dactyl. This break in pattern puts stress on the word 'perfectly', emphasizing Cummings' positive opinions on love. Lines two to four also use repetition when describing the 'spear of sun', 'moon's...magic', and 'stones speak'. Line five and six amount the magnitude of love to more than that of the universe. This idea is made most apparent in line six, but Cummings suggests this idea throughout the entirety of the beginning of the poem with the comparisons of love to the moon and the sun. Cummings' uses contrast again in line six, characterizing the universe with the word 'merely'. The irony of this is that the universe is the largest thing we know of; putting love on a scale as large as the universe. While the first half of the sonnet uses positive descriptions of love's magnitude and greatness, the second half uses more dark descriptions. For example, in line seven, Cummings uses a contrast of imprisonment and torture, which contrast the positive descriptions of love's 'incredible splendor' used in previous lines. Cummings uses descriptions of torture and imprisonment, as well as love maiming and blinding perhaps to illustrate a more dark interpretation of love, as it can have the ability to torture and maim someone--perhaps if their love for another is not mutual. In these lines, Cummings' descriptions are more human and tangible than the cosmic descriptions used in the first half. In lines nine and ten, Cummings uses personification to describe love's eternal and intangible qualities, describing how love does not 'forget, perish, [or] sleep', and cannot be 'photographed [or] measured'. Cummings goes on to describe how love trivializes 'punctual brains', meaning that while love is something that can be criticized by literal thinkers, it is something almost everyone has experienced. In lines eleven to fourteen, Cummings utilizes rhetorical questions to encourage the reader to ponder the subject of the poem after reading.

This poem has been recreated as a song by a rock band called Thrice. Here is a link to the song, which offers a grungy, musical interpretation to the poem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoDzKe3N_5c

"dying is fine)but Death"

dying is fine)but Death

?o baby i

wouldn't like

Death if Death were good:for

when (instead of stopping to think) you

begin to feel of it, dying 's miraculous why?be

cause dying is

perfectly natural; perfectly putting it mildly lively (but

Death

is strictly scientific &artificial &

evil & legal)

we thank thee god almighty for dying (forgive us, o life!the sin of Death

This poem explores the concept of Death versus dying in a clever, creative fashion. While I do not know if there is a specific name for the structure of this poem, the poem does have structure; with alternating three lines with one line, and ending with four lines. This structure, which breaks up longer sentences into shorter lines, effectively makes the reader pause and think about each individual word when reading. The alternating length of the lines in the poem create hill-like structures, perhaps mimicking the hills everyone must overcome in life, from birth to death. Lines one to eight make up one sentence that defines the speakers acceptance of dying but hatred towards the idea of Death. Cummings uses short, simple words, mirroring the simplicity of a child. Cummings is known for his creative usage of punctuation in his poetry, and one of the ways he does so in this poem by replacing a comma with a single parenthesis in the first line, and placing the question mark that should go at the end of the first line at the beginning of the second line. Lines nine to eleven propose the idea that people often tend to get caught up in their own individual problems rather than putting everything into perspective, as he mentions how people often forget to stop and think, but rather just feel. Cummings believes that dying is miraculous, perhaps because from the second we are born we begin to die, in that we grow closer to death each and every minute of our existence. In this way, dying is, in a sense, living. Cummings articulates this idea more clearly in line twelve to sixteen as he states that dying is 'perfectly natural'. Cummings uses repetition of the word perfectly, which places an emphasis on his positive feelings towards dying, amplifying his upcoming negative descriptions on death. Lines seventeen to twenty-one describe Death as being 'scientific and artificial', and 'evil and legal' making it seem as though Cummings believes that Death is something that can be considered man-made. In this way, Cummings uses contrast while describing how natural dying is compared to how artificial Death is. The final four lines create a change in mood as the language Cummings uses becomes prayer-like perhaps how someone may be towards the end of their life, as the speaker gives thanks to God and asks him forgiveness for our 'sin of Death'. Here is a link to a band called the Ra Ra Riots who wrote a song based off of the ideas presented in this poem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGuP6ZN8Qxo


 * 4.10.12**

O sweet spontaneous

O sweet spontaneous earth how often have the doting

fingers of prurient philosophers pinched and poked

thee , has the naughty thumb of science prodded thy

beauty. how often have religions taken thee upon their scraggy knees squeezing and

buffeting thee that thou mightest conceive gods (but true

to the imcomparable couch of death thy rhythmic lover

thou answerest

them only with

spring)

"O sweet spontaneous" by e. e. cummings explores the idea of man abusing earth with sexual undertones. The classical diction used throughout the poem contrasts with the modern structure cummings' uses. I think this contrast parallels the tension between civilization in nature, the major theme in the poem. There are many clues throughout the poem that suggest cummings' is on nature's side, and is opposed to man's destruction. He refers to nature as 'thee' and 'thou', and in the last line puts forth the idea that nature answers man's destruction with spring. This develops nature as a god-like thing, as cummings' appears to be praying to it, and evaluates how nature responds to our actions, as a deity would. Throughout the poem cummings' disapproves of the actions of all men, including philosophers, scientists, and religious ones, putting forth his idea that we are all universally responsible for the foul treatment we have been giving nature. In the second stanza cummings uses repetition of words that begin with the letter p ('prurient philosophers pinched and poked') and also indents the first line of this stanza with the word 'fingers', drawing the reader in for the remainder of the poem. In the third stanza and the beginning of the fourth, cummings discusses how science has taken away from the value of nature's beauty. The emphasis on humanity in the poem is stressed for the second time as cummings continues to mention hands, this time thumbs in particular. Next cummings' targets the religious, as he accuses them of hurting the land as they are always on their knees praying to gods. The last eight lines of the poem are split up in what seems to be a random structure, placing emphasis on the words 'but', 'true', and 'spring'. Lines 21 to 24 are the most ambiguous in the entire poem. I interpreted them as bringing to attention the idea of the circle of life, as death is described as nature's 'rhythmic lover'. However, it could also be referring to the death humans have caused considering nature. The final lines after this stanza complete the point cummings makes, as he reminds the reader that despite how badly we tend to treat nature, nature is merciful and grants us the beauty and new life of spring.

"anyone lived in a pretty how town"

anyone lived in a pretty how town (with up so floating many bells down) spring summer autumn winter he sang his didn’t he danced his did.

Women and men(both little and small) cared for anyone not at all they sowed their isn’t they reaped their same sun moon stars rain

children guessed(but only a few and down they forgot as up they grew  autumn winter spring summer) that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf she laughed his joy she cried his grief bird by snow and stir by still anyone’s any was all to her

someones married their everyones laughed their cryings and did their dance (sleep wake hope and then)they said their nevers they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon (and only the snow can begin to explain how children are apt to forget to remember  with up so floating many bells down)

one day anyone died i guess (and noone stooped to kiss his face) busy folk buried them side by side little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep and more by more they dream their sleep noone and anyone earth by april wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men(both dong and ding) summer autumn winter spring reaped their sowing and went their came sun moon stars rain

"anyone lived in a pretty how town", by e.e. cummings, narrates the stories of two characters, anyone and noone. This poem immediately jumped out to me because it structure which reminded me of a children's story one might read to a child at bedtime. By the second time I read the poem, I became more attracted to it because of cummings' clever use of the pronouns anyone and noone, as he uses these usually generalizing pronouns to be the names of two people. The first stanza introduces anyone as someone who lives in a pretty town. He continues to mark the passage of time by listing the seasons, in a rhythm that in a way mimics the bell mentioned in the way before. Anyone seems to be a jolly character, as he sings and dances his 'didn't's and 'did's. The second stanza relays to the reader how all other viewed anyone--clearly not very well--however, cummings puts forth a negative opinion of these other people with the phrase 'they sowed their isn't and reaped their same', which suggests they are all too negative. The passage of time in this stanza is marked by the line 'sun moon stars rain', rather than the seasons listed in the first stanza. The third stanza introduces the idea of noone loving anyone, as children have noticed. Passage of time in this stanza is relayed through the listing of the seasons again, as well as the aging of the children mentioned in the line 'down they forgot as up they grew'. In the fourth stanza, cummings uses pronouns creatively to narrate anyone and noone's love for eachother. This is my favorite stanza in the poem as it showcases cummings creative ability. The fifth stanza introduces the love everyone else was experiencing while anyone and noone were loving eachother, and does so in a neutral way. The sixth stanza is one of the most ambiguous in "anyone lived a pretty how town", but I interpreted it as cummings' devoting the stanza entirely to the passage of time, which emphasizes the next couple of stanzas that relay his message. The seventh stanza tells of how anyone died, followed shortly after by noone. Though it is a sad occurrence, in the eighth stanza cummings dwells more on how they lived a full life and it was probably time for them to pass on, and enjoy their next life in heaven. The ninth stanza is the most powerful in the poem as it shows how while anyone and noone are lying next to eachother happily in their graves, the other men and women are living a dull life, possibly filled with suffering. This poem suggests that it may be better to live a shorter life to the fullest rather than a long life with much suffering. Repetition and rhyming add to the theme and help make the poem be as strong as it is.