E.E. Cummings

E.E. Cummings is not only an American Writer but also a poet, painter, and playwriter. His body of work encompasses approximately 2,900 poems, two autobiographical novels, four plays and several essays, as well as numerous drawings and paintings. He is remembered as a preeminent voice of 20th century poetry, as well as one of the most popular.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Cummings drawing of an elephant and "lone figure and tree in stormy sunset" oil on canvas

Posted by E.E. Cummings at 12:09 PM

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Bibliographical Links

Some Cumming Links...
Modern American Poetry
Unofficial Starting Point

Timeline Links

Chronology
Unofficial Starting Points

Critical Essays on E. E. Cummings Poems

Critiques on a few E. E. Cummings Poems
Cummings's 'Buffalo Bill's.' by Thomas Dilworth

Poem Links

somwhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
a pretty a day
Seeker Of Truth

Links

Biography

Connor Kelley- "O Sweet Spontaneous"

O Sweet Spontaneous
By: E.E. Cummings

In the analysis of the poem “O sweet spontaneous” Cummings speaks of his love of Mother Earth, he also talks about how we as people do not always treat mother earth properly. In the second stanza he writes “fingers of prurient philosophers pinched and poked”, talking about how the fingers of unwholesome people pinch and poke at the innocent mother earth. I find it interesting the Cummings refers to mother earth as spontaneous. On one hand I feel that mother earth is very predictable and calm. She is very consistent, the same seasons, the same patterns. On the other I can understand the spontaneity of mother earth. She is always changing, constantly growing new things.
Life is always coming and going and forever changing. I guess it really just depends on the way you look at it. In the third stanza Cummings makes me feel as if the earth is on big science experiment, constantly being prodded by nasty scientist. Although scientist treats mother earth as a research project she takes it in the abuse and still rewards us with the great gift of life.
In the next stanza of the poem Cummings writes about religion. At first I was confused on how religion ties in. I would say that he is putting religion in the same category as the scientist who poke and prod, just another thing that corrupts mother earth. He also talks about death and how death is thy rhythmic lover. That seems kind of backwards, I feel that death is the more spontaneous of the two. Mother earth is consistent in more ways than death is. Death can strike at any moment for any reason. We never know when it is going to happen. I even feel that death on mother earth, not being human, is more consistent than human death. Plants grow with the seasons and die with the seasons, we know when and why it’s happening unlike the death of a human.
“Thou answerest them only with spring”. Here he again shows the grace of mother earth. After winter when life dies it’s followed by spring, a time of new life and joy. I think one of the reoccurring themes in this poem is grace and the ability to turn a negative thing like death into a positive thing like new life. Another theme would have to be nature. Nature can be both spontaneous and consistent, but most of all forgiving. No matter what humans do to earth it will always give us spring and the gift of life. It’s like a new beginning, and just like death in people some is ended and some is just beginning.
Over all I think this poem was organized well. It tells a story of mother earth. One aspect of the poem that I still can’t come to understand is the stanza about religion. The way Cummings puts it I don’t think that he thinks religion is good. He makes me feel as if it is bad just like the scientist, harming mother earth. Other than that it all ties together in one way or the other. This a great poem and tells the story of life after death, the consistency and spontaneity, and most of all the grace and forgiveness that mother earth possesses.

Alexandra Jones- "Thy Fingers Make Early Flowers Of"

Cummings breaks out of traditional form and language rules. So, non-form is how I would describe Cummings and his work, but usually, he seems to have good reason for abusing the rules of English grammar. E. E. Cummings’ poetry often involves experimentation with both language and structure, with slight shifts in punctuation, the use of fragmented lines, as well as an clever combination of capital and lower-case letters. According to the Norton, many of Cummings’ stylistic choices have to do with his experiences as both a painter and a poet. His poetry therefore functions as a visual aesthetic that engages our eyes as well as our ears.

This particular poem, "Thy fingers make early flowers of," I think speaks again about love and beauty and its immortality. No matter how short life or love is ("though love be a day and life be nothing"), beauty lasts in love. This girl is perfect in the narrator's eyes and will always be so (notice that "Always" is one of the few capitalized words in the poem). The poem simply praises different parts of the girl (fingers, hair, feet, eyes, lips) which all remind the narrator of Spring, love, and happiness.

“Thy fingers make early flowers of” displays many of the forms of experimentation. First glance, its three stanzas appear visually similar, but the surprising shifts in grammatical details from one stanza to the next help communicate the larger themes of the work. This poem can be classified as a blazon, drawing upon various elements of the beloved’s body and describing their particular beauty. The speaker says, “Thy fingers make early flowers of/ all things” instill the beloved with the ability to transform objects into “early flowers,” flowers that are young, beautiful and alive. He claims:

thy hair mostly the hours love:
A smoothness which
sings,saying
(though love be a day)
do not fear,we will go amaying. (1-7)

In these lines the speaker asserts that the beloved’s hair loves the “hours,” almost cherishing the passage of time, while its “smoothness” suggests that there will still be time enough to “go amaying.” However, the parenthetical insertion “(though love be a day),” which is repeated in the second stanza, reveals a consciousness of time, the brevity of both love and life. The tension between time and love is further conveyed by the juxtaposition between “Always” and “Death”. These words are among the few Cummings actually capitalizes in the poem. Therefore, they illustrate a pull between love as both an immortal and mortal emotion.

However, in the final stanza Cummings seems to challenge the idea of death and mortality in love. When the speaker addresses death, “Death, Thee i call rich beyond wishing/ if this thou catch,/ else missing,” the emphasis on the word “if” suggests that there is a possibility of avoiding death, of preserving love’s immortality. This is especially apparent in the assertion that ends the poem, “(though love be a day/ and life be nothing, it shall not stop kissing)”. The addition Cummings makes to the phrase “though love be a day,” which was repeated in the earlier stanzas, appears as a rebellion against the notion of love’s shortness. The speaker reveals that even though love may only last a day, “it shall not stop kissing.” And also implying that love may seem to be brief but is overall a lasting feelings and can last over a lifetime.

Derrik D. Tribbey

Poem Analysis:

In the poem “Buffalo Bill” written by E.E. Cummings, we find him giving reference to Death as if it were a person. With all of this we read the poem with imaginative language. Also, in the poem the writer flashes back to memories of the deceased. The poem is a tribute to “Buffalo” Bill Cody. A man made famous for being an All-American cowboy and an advocate for women, Native Americans and conservationist. He also, was a war hero who won the Medal of Honor.

In this poem, E.E. Cummings claims that the cause of Buffalo Bill’s death was not something health related but more so by an entity. He calls this person Mister Death. In this way he seems to incur that no human was daring enough or brave enough to take the life of William Frederick Cody. Only something that was not human could take him down. This would have to be more so a superstition, that is brought to life through someone’s death. Cummings also boasts about Buffalo Bill almost exclaiming that Mister Death had finally got him. By doing this, he set Buffalo Bill on a pedestal almost as if he were the prime catch, saying, “How do you like your blueeyed boy Mister Death”.

He also uses language that gives the poem a captivating tone. He starts out with, “Buffalo Bill’s Defunct”. By doing this he is not merely saying dead or the deceased, but he is placing more emphasis on the departed. Also he calls his horse a watersmooth-silver stallion. He did not just say the shiny or the grey horse; he really gave imagery to the animal. This painted the stallion vividly, when I read I thought I saw it passing before my face. Also by infusing words into phrases like, “onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat”, gave reference to Buffalo Bills quick gun slinger persona. He moves quickly and shoots them down not one by one but in a spurt of five. Also, he places extra emphasis by putting the phrase, “pigeonsjustlikethat”, together. Then at the last part he calls Buffalo Bill a blue eyed handsome boy and asked Mister Death how he liked him. This phrase shows imagery of how Buffalo Bill was taken with his youth and beauty and Mister Death has now claimed him.

The poem in its entirety is a tribute to the man, William Frederick Cody. His life is put into perspective with a brief and simple poem. In this poem we find out that Buffalo Bill used to ride around on his shiny silver stallion. Also we find out that he was not fond of pigeons. And Later we find out that the decorated war vet was not only handsome but had blue eyes. In the poem we find out about a man whose life is still reflected upon and celebrated in today’s society. A man that could not be conquered by a war or even by America’s frontier. This man was a man that only Mister Death could take. In the last three lines the writer really hits home with the fact of Buffalo Bills greatness saying, “And all I want to know is how do you like your blueeyed boy Mister Death”.

E.E. Cummings was a writer that could capture his reader’s imagination without saying too much. In his poem, “Buffalo Bill”, he did just that. But, with what he did say, he spoke volumes. He gave reference to death as if it were a person, by calling it Mister Death. He gave great imagery and a brief eulogy with only about thirty words (give or take the word phrases). Also, he pays tribute to a great American Hero.

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