E.e Cummings

The unorthodox punctuation and visual dispersion of schema, along with manipulation of nouns, use of parenthesis, refrains and conventional thematic concerns such as love, sex and nature in Cummings’ poems “she being Brand”, “anyone lived in a pretty how town” and “in Just” enhance the impact of his individualistic style and attract the audience’s attention to his harsh social commentary about aspects of human nature such as the transitional stages between childhood and adulthood, sexual deviancy, the pressure to succumb to society’s expectations and the lack of genuine connection in society, many of which Cummings himself challenges and urges his audience to avoid. The visual dispersion of schema used in “she being Brand” and “in Just” is one of Cummings must original stylistic features that impacts the thematic concerns involved. The majority of his work includes original visual dispersion with poems such as “i carry your heart” being exceptions to this due to the fact that Cummings’ life whilst writing “i carry your heart” had a sense of stability due to meeting to his third and final partner hence the more traditional form and outlook on life. The schema used throughout “in Just” controls the rhythm of the poem and enhances the nursery rhyme qualities, which alludes to the surface innocence of the poem and is indicative of the limited linguistic knowledge of children. The transitional and staggered dispersion in the line “the goat-footed balloonman whistles…” is a direct association to chaos and commotion through the symbolism of Pan the satyr, which contrasts the simplistic and naïve life of a child and reflects the transition from innocence to sexual deviancy, depicted by the balloonman drawing the children away from their sexually separate world’s into adulthood. Transitional and staggered dispersion used in “she being Brand” has a major impact on the rhythm of the poem and strongly reflects the inexperience of the persona through the imitation of lurching movements and the general quick pace of the poem. The use of enjambment throughout, such as in the lines, “were O. K.) i went right to it flooded-the-..” where the lines flow on into separate stanzas greatly impacts the rhythm and highlights the personas rushed demeanour and ineptitude as a driver. The use of unorthodox punctuation in the majority of Cummings’ work emphasises importance and ambiguity, such as the capitalisation ‘J’ in “in Just”, a link to the disparity between the thoughts of children and adults and conveys the paradoxical surface innocence of the poem and its deeper, extreme sexual deviant stance. The hyphenation of “mud-luscious” and “puddle-wonderful” show the imagination and simplicity of childhood through these newly create words. The innocence of childhood contrasts the tainted and problematic adult world, where once innocent children

are drawn away from their sexually separate worlds into sexual deviancy and are forced to succumb to society’s expectations, a thematic concern the Cummings frequently deals with and forever challenges due to his apparent resentment of conformity. Compounded words also appear in “in Just” to signify the sexually separate words in childhood. The compounding of “eddieandbill” and “bettyandisbel” increases the pace, especially due to the absent letter in “isbel” and reflects the togetherness and fast pace of youth. The two sexes are separated, depicted through the gender specific past times that the children are engaging in and finally brought together by the balloonman, showing the transitional stage between childhood and adulthood. The capitalisation of “M” in “balloonman” signifies that he is the only adult character in the poem, and that he, unlike the children, is afraid of difference and individualism. Cummings’ use of unorthodox punctuation throughout “she being Brand” controls the pace, constantly increasing the speed as the ‘driver’ approaches climax. The exaggerated use of punctuation in the line, “..slo-wly; bare, ly nudg. ing..” highlights the driver’s inexperience and frequent attempts to coax his vehicle into ‘performing’. The frequent hyphenations such as “second-in-to-high” and compounding of words like “ineternalexpanding” and “externalcontracting” imitates the rush and build up as the persona nears climax, and the exaggerated use of colons in “…to a: dead.\ stand-\ ;Still)” after the climax, works to slow down the pace, which reflects the finality and gives a sense of closure to the poem. The punctuation seen in “anyone lived in a pretty how town” is seemingly more conventional than in other Cummings poetry, however the capitalisation of “Women” is particularly emphasised as it is the only use of capitalisation throughout the poem. It accentuates the increasingly caring and understanding nature and capacity of women in relation to men, and is a direct link to the lines, “that noone loved him more by more” and “(and noone stooped to kiss his face)” due to the fact that noone is the only individual female mentioned, and her caring nature towards anyone is obvious. The capitalisation of “Women” due to their caring nature derives from the traditional gender roles, which stereotype women as nurturers due to their possession of motherly qualities. The two incremental refrains, “ spring summer autumn winter” and “sun moon stars rain” used in “anyone lived in a pretty how town” create a sense of repetition and emphasise the cyclical nature of life that many will eventually surrender to. Someone and everyone represent this cyclical, repetitive and conventional way of life as they constantly “sow their isn’t” and “reap their same”, achieving nothing, whilst anyone and noone live an increasingly individualistic lifestyle and are not pressured by society’s expectations, a lifestyle

clearly preferred by Cummings. The conventional and predictable lifestyles of someone and everyone work with the opening line, “anyone lived in a pretty how town”, to create a sense of rhetoric as the majority of human kind exist in such conditions and fail to realise it. One of Cummings’ trademark stylistic features, the parenthesis, is used effectively in “anyone lived in a pretty how town” to convey insignificance and loss of power. Cummings’ describes the women and men as “(little and small)”, reflecting the insular nature of the people in the community, the “little and small” acting as a comment on their level of humanity and capacity to love rather than physicality. The second use of parenthesis concerns the transition from childhood to adulthood and from individuality to conformity. The use of binary opposites in “(but only a few as down they forgot as up they grew…)” highlights that during childhood, the youth can see beyond the social restrictions to what is considered to be ‘true’. The inclusion of the parenthesis reflects the conforming nature of the adults and that due to the cyclical nature of life, and pressure to conform to society’s expectations, ‘only a few’ will remain individualistic whilst the remainder of children will begin to conform to social expectations during the transition to adulthood. The binary opposites of up and down emphasise the irony as the children begin to lose knowledge as they mature. Cumming’s unconventional use of punctuation and schema makes him especially original and individualistic however his poetry contains many traditional poetics. “she being Brand” is an obvious example of an extended metaphor which objectifies women and relates them to commercial and materialistic objects, depicting the auto/sex revolution, which allowed many youths to become ‘self reliant’ due to the newly discovered privacy that their cars enabled them to have. The use of an extended metaphor also creates an ambiguity concerning the persona. The persona possesses a false confidence and is prone to making mistakes “I went right to it flooded-the-carburetor… and then somehow got into reverse..”, making it obvious that he is an inexperienced driver, both literally and metaphorically, as an inexperienced seducer, or lover. The ambiguity of the person links to the personification of the car, a device that becomes apparent through the clearly sexual experiences that the driver is engaging in, and the direct link between automobiles and sexuality in modern culture. E.E. Cummings inclusion of hypallage in the opening line of “anyone lived in a pretty how town” gives the poem an intended ambiguity. The line can be rearranged to read “how anyone lived in a pretty town”, and this ambiguity is used throughout the poem to emphasise the manipulation of the nouns ‘anyone’, ‘noone’, ‘someone’ and ‘everyone’ which alter the way in which the poem is read.

Traditional figurative language such as symbolism is emphasised in “in Just” due to the thematic concern of nature being evident. The positive connotations associated with spring are linked to new birth and early childhood, a period of innocence and simplicity that is depicted in the beginning of the poem when “eddieandbill” and “bettyandisbel” exist in their sexually separate worlds, engaging in gender specific past times until the “queer old balloonman” draws them together. “anyone lives in a pretty how town”, “in Just” and “she being Brand” are characteristic of quintessential Cummings, through the use of visual dispersion, unorthodox punctuation, refrains, parenthesis and traditional figurative language and thematic concerns that emphasise Cummings’ commentary on aspects of human nature such as materialism, sexual deviancy and the transition from childhood to adulthood. Cummings’ individualistic style is reflected in all of his work, and he reinforces his belief that life should not be influenced by society’s expectations and the cyclical and conventional routine that the majority of us succumb to but rather by our individual values and attitudes. Although Cummings deals with universal themes in all of his work, he remains individualistic and entirely original due to his ability to capture his audience’s attention and make them search for reason and understanding in his highly satirical but utterly truthful poetry which provides a brand new outlook on humanity.