if seventy were young

[koozi]

Please help me understand the meaning of this poem. I see the obvious opposites throughout the stanzas. I also recognize the May-November, young-old reference.
I know this was published posthumously, and probably written late in his life, so maybe he is lamenting growing old in a young world?
The last stanza is what hangs me up.

Somebody please help me figure this out.
Oh, and if I have misfigured above tell me that too.
Thanks

if seventy were young
ee cummings
_____________________________
if seventy were young
and death uncommon
(forgiving not divine,
to err inhuman)
or any thine a mine
--dingdong:dongding--
to say would be to sing

if broken hearts were whole
and cowards heroes
(the popular the wise,
a weed a tearose)
and every minus plus
--fare ill:fare well--
a frown would be a smile

if sorrowful were gay
(today tomorrow,
doubting believing and
to lend to borrow)
or any foe a friend
--cry nay:cry yea--
november would be may

that you and i'd be quite
-come such perfection-
another i and you,
is a deduction
which(be it false or true)
disposes me to shoot
dogooding folk on sight

[Jean-Baptiste]

Welcome to the forums, koozi! I think you've got the right idea so far. I have not read this piece before, but I'll take a stab at interpretation. Seeing as how most of the imagery is composed of opposites, I would say that the last stanza, the last lines in particular suggest the necessary, logical yet despicable outcome of this wishing to turn things around. He starts out with the tacit wish to turn age back, and carries this idea through in the second stanza to several other things that might be reversed in a similar fashion. But the last bit points out the supreme folly of this wish, and the horrible consequences that would necessarily be derived from it--as though to say that if we change or reverse one circumstance to our liking we must change all circumstances to match, and that would not be a good thing. I suppose it's a poem securing some sort of resignation in age for the poet. What do you think about this? I'm quite fond of cummings' poems that I've read so far. Thanks for bringing this one to my table. Again, welcome.

[koozi]

Thanks J-B, both for the welcome and the interpretation. I like how you "take a stab" at it. After reading your take and then re-reading the poem a couple of times it begins to make more sense.

I also found that breaking it down to the basics and reading it without the parenthesized lines brought it into focus for me. I figured that approach out while studying the final stanza. I started by leaving out this line -come such perfection- that made the focus shift less, and made the train of thought easier to follow.
I thought that if leaving one line out (for only a moment!) helped, then skipping others out could help even more. I always tell people that if something is worth writing then it is worth writing in, don't make it an afterthought by putting it in parenthesis. Of course I broke that rule just a line or two ago
Anyway, back on topic; to me the last stanza has two levels. One, if someone had the power to do the "good" of reversing all the examples given in the first four stanzas then he would shoot them to avoid being a different "i" and not being able to be with the "you".
Second, more basically, if the opposites listed above came to be, the good people would be bad, so he would want them shot...hmmm, bs?

Anyway, does anybody else have any insight?

[wyzguy]

Hi Koozi. cummings wasn't lamenting his age. He was lamenting the folly of do-gooders who try to "fix" everything. If it weren't for all the things that many people see as negative, we'd be different people. And he seemed to be content with who he was.

[pioussoul]

Hi, wise sages,

After reading your stab at it, I felt awed all over. I read this poem when I was in college, but it was way over my head.
After your parse, it suddenly sheds light on me. You guys are so smart that I must learn hard rom you.