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Cummings' poetry celebrates individuality, freedom, Nature,
and the joy of existence in the natural rhythms of life
rather than be defined by society's expectations. His
poetry is often satirical, highly critical of all institutions
- governments, churches, small groups - that enforce their
beliefs on others. He is also critical of individuals
who conform to society's mores, without thinking of what
they are losing, in the naive belief that the majority
must be obeyed. cummings' poetry emphasises the intuitive
and emotional sides of self and the belief that the world
cannot be fully explained by either religion, philosophy,
science or any other discipline. It is this seeming human
need to rationally and logically explain existence - to
categorise and put all things in neat, perfect 'boxes'
- that is alienating to the individual. cummings believed
that we must accept a world that cannot be fully comprehended
and glory in its mystery rather than be frustrated by
our inability to explain 'all'.
'The meaning of a poem is not simply what is said.
How it is written and the use of poetic techniques is
integral to the whole meaning.'
Poetry as a literary genre is more dependent on the
subtleties and nuances of languages than other forms.
It depends on every word on the page, its sound and
position on the page, the use of figurative language
to present a myriad of meanings in a short space. 'O
Sweet Spontaneous' and 'anyone lived in a pretty how
town' by e.e. cummings are two poems that illustrate
this idea.
'O Sweet Spontaneous' is structured in a seemingly
haphazard form, where words are not placed on the page
in the traditionally linear and ordered fashion, but
in lines that vary in length, do not begin neatly below
the former line and have odd spacing. On one level cummings
is defying the poetic conventions of the time by his
subversion of poetic form and also grammatical structures.
However the typography of the poem is also meant to
capture the spontaneity that the poem addresses. It
is not ordered and restrained by borders and parameters,
but liberated from these constraining conventions. In
this way cummings uses space on the page for a poetic
effect but is also political. In the poem a comma is
used to commence a line (, has the naughty thumb); a
full stop after a long space and there are capital letters
at the beginning of sentences. His use of grammar questions
its traditional use and its power to define 'proper'
poetry. Instead cummings misuses punctuation, capitals
and other grammatical sttructures to call attention
to their politics and also to attempt to 're-make' poetry,
to make it fresh and innovative again by forcing readers
into seeing words in new relationships with other words
and the space betweeen them.
Cummings also uses the parenthesis in a different way.
Usually used as an aside the parenthesis contain the
main idea of the poem.
'(but
true
to the incomparable
couch of death thy
rhythmic
lover
thou answerest
them only with
spring)'
On one level in a world that values rationality and
order, the power of Nature is only an after- thought
and only thought of parenthetically. However the poem
is centrally concerned with the beauty and understated
power of nature, and a critique of all those disciplines
that attempt to explain the universe, such as science,
philosophy and religion. While these disciplines are
seen as ephemeral and subjective, Nature is constant,
she returns each year with the promise of new life and
spring.
In contrast 'anyone lived in a pretty how town' is
set out in quatrains with irregular rhyme and internal
rhyme.The conventional stanzaic pattern sets up a conflict
between the traditional mode of poetry, with its traditional
conservative values, with the the inverted syntax and
ungrammatical structures that appear throughout the
poem ('laughed their cryings and did their dance').
The form of the poem reflects one of the major themes
in the poem which is the intuitive spontaneity that
an individual can experience within the regimented views
of mainstream society.
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