Andrew+Watt+-+e.e.+cummings

sweet spontaneousearth how often havethedoting fingers ofprurient philosophers pinchedandpoked thee, has the naughty thumbof science proddedthy beauty, howoften have religions takenthee upon their scraggy kneessqueezing and buffeting thee that thou mightest conceivegods(buttrue to the incomparablecouch of death thyrhythmiclover thou answerest them only with spring)

I picked this poem for two reasons. First, I simply like it. Second, I do not fully understand it. I understand e.e. cummings is saying that humans harm and destroy Mother Nature. That we do not only physically pollute it but we also overthink its beauty. Philosophers pollute the earth with contemplating its existence and try to reason why the earth is the way it is. Scientists act similarly, testing and proving every last detail of her beauty, therefore reducing the significance of mother nature. And finally, cummings says humans suffocate and squash earth to fit inside their petty religions. Cummings says, despite all which humans do to Mother Nature, she answers only with spring. Here spring is not only meaning that nature continues to steadily bring the seasons, but spring also is the season in which animals tend to be born. Here spring means life. This was what I understand. However, I am not confident of two things. Maybe someone can help me understand why cummings chose to use the sexual metaphor that runs the length of the poem. He uses words like prurient, pinched, poked, naughty thumb, prodded, squeezing, and rhythmic lover. The words build a sense of sexuality between humans and nature, almost as if they were lovers. My first impression was that it was to show how humans take the innocence that comes with nature, but I am still unsure. My second point of confusion is that I do not understand why death is considered to be a couch. Why is it “the incomparable couch of death”? These two things confused me, but apart from that I really enjoy the poem and its theme, as I have always had a deep connection to nature. []

when god decided to invent everything he took one breath bigger than a circustent and everything began

when man determined to destroy himself he picked the was of shall and finding only why smashed it into because

As I understand it, the first stanza seems to make gods creating the earth almost whimsicle. The word choice of circus tent did several important things. Mainly it made humorous humans inability to even begin to comprehend creation, comparing it to God blowing out the amount of air in a circustent. By using circustent, cummings makes us seem almost childish for believing something like that. The first stanza sets the setting and stage for the second stanza. Once the world is created, humans became “determined” to destroy it. I do not believe cummings believes humans actually wish to destroy the world, but that they are so focused on themselves that their indifference to the world seems almost malicious. The second stanza is where most of the action takes place. Cummings seems to be stating humans are so invested in understanding the future but can only use past experiences, therefore choosing a future like the past. They can’t see why this is so and don’t comprehend their inability to deal with the uncertainty of the future. This then causes them to limit and destroy their own reality in the present. I believe that by saying this, cummings is trying to say that God just chose to create the earth, almost on a whim. Yet humans, but trying to search for the answers, to philosophize ironically like this poem makes its readers do, humans rip apart God’s creation in their constant search for answers. This poem highlights human’s inability to simply live with something and deal with it unless we know the reason for it.

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