Cummings Source The poem somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond This poem, like many by e. He wrote in this unconventional style for most of his career and was unapologetic. A skilful artist, he also 'sketched' his often fragmentary poems on the page. Some critics thought him childish and sentimental and claimed he was undermining the progress of poetry.
Innovative, anarchic and playful, his poetry takes leaps and bounds where others dare to even tread. It's this spirit of adventure that endears him so much to those who prefer to stay outside of the formal 'regulations' of poetry. For example, in somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond the title is taken from the first line and is immediately controversial, a small i being used instead of a capital, to signify the self. No other poet attempted such radical rearrangement of grammar and form.
Cummings spent some time in Paris and was influenced by none other than James Joyce and T. Eliot and Ezra Pound, who encouraged him to break away from genteel mainstream verse and go for something a little more idiosyncratic.
In fact, once they have sprouted and grown, that's pretty much all they need.
Diction is word choice. It is a soulful, spontaneous outburst expressing the mystery and beauty of that elusive creature called love.
He also traveled throughout Europe, meeting poets and artists, including Pablo Picasso, whose work he particularly admired. Cummings is using words like these to convey the idea that the love he is talking about is subtle.
These raindrops are what the rose needs to flourish. In his work, Cummings experimented radically with form, punctuation, spelling, and syntax, abandoning traditional techniques and structures to create a new, highly idiosyncratic means of poetic expression.
It's not difficult to see the stream-of-consciousness technique bubbling through the surface of his poetry at times. Think of the poet taking a deep breath, or lots of little ones, and discovering the intimacies of heart and mind, laid bare in difficult lines, upside down syntax and unique form. Little wonder fellow poet Randall Jarrell called him a "moonshiner of language". Love for a friend? Some say the poem was written following the birth of his daughter, hence the reference to frail and fragility.
Some insist it was an ode to his second wife, Anne Barton. Others claim it to be an attempt to transcend sexuality, lust and love. Read Through You have to have your wits about you when reading a cummings poem! Take time to follow the unusual rhythms and don't be afraid to slow down if you get caught up in the spontaneous chaos of his syntax.
For starters, the punctuation can mislead the reader so scan with care. Read through twice, slowly, then read a third time at a more relaxed pace. By doing this the rhythms become more obvious, and internal rhymes and devices begin to show through. Note down any odd structural features - parentheses for example brackets in the UK - and metrical irregularities. Due to the enjambment and careful placement of colons, commas, parentheses and so on, the five stanzas could well be one long monologue whispered into the ear of an intimate.
It takes time to get the breaks right but several attempts lead to much clearer understanding.
A frail gesture points to this being a female lover, but despite this there's power enough to enclose the male, the speaker, the poet, who cannot use his sense of touch to try and comprehend. Second Stanza Again the visual aspect of this love affair is emphasised, the speaker suggesting that, although he is closed, like a tight fist? To enhance the imagery a rose, the supreme flower associated with passionate love, is introduced and it is the season of Spring opening it petal by petal.
Note the parentheses with the adverbs, a sort of fine tuning. Third Stanza In contrast, the speaker now says that he will end his life should she wish it; he will fade away somewhat like the rose when it feels the cold kiss of snow flakes.
Note the separate i and my life and the two adverbs in tandem, beautifully,suddenly. The personified rose gains a consciousness at the same time.
Fourth Stanza The speaker, in Shakespearean fashion, compares his lover's fragility to all the things of the world, which can never measure up. In each breath is death, and forever. So we have a profound mix of power, texture and colour combining metaphysically to force - compel - this lover into a kind of paradise rearranged.
Note the long vowels of the last line: The speaker has no clue as to why she has such an effect on him, like opening and closing, light and dark, winter and spring, something magical exists in her eyes that speaks mysterious but meaningful things, beyond the language of roses.
The rain is not a thing but a body in a paradoxical universe. Perhaps the speaker has fallen under the spell of love and is trying to put into words what it feels like to look into a special one's eyes.
What do roses need to survive?
Cummings Source The poem somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond This poem, like many by e.
And what an unusual and informal declaration we have here. It's both profound and mysterious. Note the reference to the season of Spring, the traditional time of year when poets find their Muse, and also to the rose, the iconic flower, a symbol of love and dedication. It is a soulful, spontaneous outburst expressing the mystery and beauty of that elusive creature called love.
Poetical Devices The first line suggests that the speaker is taking a journey, or not, somewhere, but only in the metaphysical sense, beyond experience.
It it the finer qualities in her eyes, her gestures, her slightest look, her intense fragility, that enables her to open and close him, to realize his true self, which is something he cannot do without her.
You could say this is not a road less travelled, it's a metaphor yet to be unravelled. Note the closeness of the comma to travelled and gladly, as if the poet is trying to squeeze every last drop out of the line. Out of his relationship? And it's repeated twice in the third stanza, between me and i and beautifully and suddenly.
Cummings adds parentheses from time to time, to emphasise the immediate feel of the words, as if the speaker is whispering an aside to a would be audience. There is no formal end rhyme in this free verse poem, except in the last stanza, but there is some internal rhyme which provides a thread from stanza to stanza.