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Thread: E.E. Cummings Poetry

  1. #1

    E.E. Cummings?

    My English teacher recently read us these poems by Cummings. I personally like his style. Anyone else?


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  2. #2
    Ancient & Apocryphal ihrocks's Avatar
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    "somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
    any experience,your eyes have their silence:
    in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
    or which i cannot touch because they are too near..."

    I guess you could say I like him all right.

    ihrocks
    The revolution is just a T-shirt away -- Billy Bragg

  3. #3
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    Yes I love the poet
    I especially adore his poem (In The Time Of Dafodils(How know
    We meet no Stranger, but Ourself .
    Emily Dickinson

  4. #4

    ee cummings

    Just starting to read ee cummings. Came across this poem, and it´s been in my head for days. I adore it, the rythm, the words (alliteration gets me evry time), but I have trouble understanding it. So, dear friends, how do you interpret this poem?


    what if a much of a which of a wind
    gives the truth to summer's lie;
    bloodies with dizzying leaves the sun
    and yanks immortal stars awry?
    Blow king to beggar and queen to seem
    (blow friend to fiend: blow space to time)
    -when skies are hanged and oceans drowned,
    the single secret will still be man
    ....

    what if a dawn of a doom of a dream
    bites this universe in two,
    peels forever out of his grave
    and sprinkles nowhere with me and you?
    Blow soon to never and never to twice
    (blow life to isn't; blow death to was)
    -all nothing's only our hugest home;
    the most who die, the more we live

    e. e. cummings
    Last edited by Isagel; 02-20-2004 at 06:59 AM.
    "Man was made for joy and woe;
    And when this we rightly know
    Through the world we safely go" Blake

  5. #5
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    Honestly this is the first time I ever read Cumming's and indeed it's kinda hard to understand

  6. #6
    You CAN go Home Again Sindhu's Avatar
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    I hate trying to "explain" poems- it's like murdering them! But we all need it at times so here goes and I'm being brief- I'm sure you can do a much better job of expanding my hints, Isagel then I can.
    There are two forces in the poem- the destructive, rapacious aspect oflife enshrined in the wind and the surviving, enduring positivity enshrined in the human spirit. Not in great men, or kings or queens, but in humanity as a whole. This second force is only very briefly indicated- the last line of each stanza. All the preceding lines in all the stanzas show the wind in a dance of destruction, blowing everthing awry and out of place- neither the seasons, nor the landscapes, not human dignities, not friendships or promises- nothing is exempt from that destruction. The only exception is the spirit of man which "is the single, unrevealed secret remaining, the indomitable spirit that after all this destruction "calls hello to the spring" and in indomitable optimism declares that in the most acute death there is also the most acute life.
    Hope that helped a little!
    I'm nobody, who are you?
    Are you nobody too?
    There's a pair of us, don't tell!
    They'd banish us, you know!

    How dreary to be somebody!

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    I thinks it's about seeing yourself or something from a different perspectives, what if things are different or what if something happened and turn everything upside down or changes everything. Notice the line "Blow King to beggar.."
    Everything seems possible to happen, and with this poetry, Cummings tried to make us wonder about the other side of everything...

    Oh..I'm being a smart arse here..

  8. #8
    You CAN go Home Again Sindhu's Avatar
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    Originally posted by subterranean

    Everything seems possible to happen, and with this poetry, Cummings tried to make us wonder about the other side of everything...

    Interesting- I think my point was to the effect that in this upside down opposite perspective world, the human spirit still manages to keep it's end up!
    I'm nobody, who are you?
    Are you nobody too?
    There's a pair of us, don't tell!
    They'd banish us, you know!

    How dreary to be somebody!

  9. #9
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    Oh, I don't really notice about the spirit thing, cause I only focus more on the physical perspective. True that materials can easily change, but when it comes to spirit it will never be that easy.

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    ABout e.e. cummings

    hi everybody
    WHy is e.e. cummings often called"the Robin Hood of the American poetic circle"? Cite examples to illustrate your point.
    Thank you!

  11. #11
    Pièce de Résistance Scheherazade's Avatar
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    Last edited by Scheherazade; 01-04-2005 at 01:01 PM.
    ~
    "It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
    ~


  12. #12
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    I really enjoy reading cummings.

    Heh.

  13. #13
    fated loafer
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    I've never encountered EE Cummings before, but I liked his "anyone lived in a pretty how town". His use of language is origional, what with the lack of grammatical aids other than parentheticals.

  14. #14
    Pièce de Résistance Scheherazade's Avatar
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    I love this, which I think one of the best love poems:


    somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
    any experience,your eyes have their silence:
    in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
    or which i cannot touch because they are too near

    your slightest look will easily unclose me
    though i have closed myself as fingers,
    you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
    (touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

    ....

    (i do not know what it is about you that closes
    and opens;only something in me understands
    the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
    nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands



    and I love this too:


    1(a

    le
    af
    fa
    ll

    s)
    one
    l

    iness



    and this:


    Me up at does
    out of the floor
    quietly Stare
    a poisoned mouse

    ....



    Did I mention that I love cummings' poetry?
    ~
    "It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
    ~


  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scheherazade
    1(a

    le
    af
    fa
    ll

    s)
    one
    l

    iness
    This seems a favorite of many, including myself.
    A few other favorites of mine, along with the E.E. Cummings on my signature:

    From "Songs VIII":

    in the rain-
    darkness, the sunset
    being sheathed i sit and
    think of you

    the holy
    city which is your face
    your little cheeks the streets
    of smiles

    ....

    ---

    From "One XXXIV"

    life hurl my
    yes,crumbles hand (ful released conarafetti)ev eryflitter,inga. where
    mil(lions of aflickf)litter ing brightmillion ofS hurl;edindog:ing
    whom areEyes shy-dodge is bright cruMbshandful,quick-hurl edinwho
    Is flittercrumbs,fluttercrimbs are floatfallin,g;allwhere:
    a:crimbflitteringish is arefloatsis ingfallall!mil,shy milbrightlions
    my(hurl flicker handful
    in)dodging are shybrigHteyes is crumbs(alll)if,ey Es

    ---

    Xaipe 54

    maybe god

    is a child
    's hand) very carefully
    bring
    -ing
    to you and to
    me(and quite with
    out crushing)the

    papery weightless diminutive

    world
    with a hole in
    it out
    of which demons with wings would be streaming if
    something had(maybe they couldn't
    agree)not happened(and floating-
    ly int

    o

    ---

    Xaipe 12

    two

    o o
    ld
    o

    nce upo

    n
    a(
    n

    o mo

    re
    )time
    me

    n

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