Preview

Ee Cummings Literary Devices

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1727 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Ee Cummings Literary Devices
Here is what I thought of the poem after reading and studying it. It is not so much an analysis of the poem, but an analysis of the devices used to convey the thesis of the poem.

E. E. Cummings presents his views about life and how the individual is able to create more opportunities in life by pushing boundaries than if he were to conform to the demands of society by using sequential diction in an informal sentence structure through a weary tone.
The weary tone gives the impression that the narrator has been through many difficult situations and made hard decisions. The tone makes it seem that the narrator has gained quite a bit of experience by living through much of life. With "they sowed their isn't they reaped their same…reaped their
…show more content…
Anyone and no one are buried together, their physical bodies returning to dust ("earth by april"), but they become part of a shared dream ("dream their sleep"). The townspeople take no notice of this and continue their fruitless cycle. When they die, they achieve nothing ("reaped their sowing", when they sowed nothing in the second stanza). They merely become dust and disappear forever ("went their came"), as opposed to anyone and no one
, who achieve immortality, much like the eternal sun, moon, and stars. There are very few breaks in the poem: two periods, each occurring before "Women and men". This is a disruption in the poem, signifying the townspeople as a fault in the order of the universe, and anyone and no one being involved in it, blending in. The poem does not begin with a capitalized letter, nor does not end with a period, showing that the cycle begins where it left off.
E. E. Cummings shows us how society is not willing to acknowledge differences. He wants people to question traditions, and to understand them for their true intent. He is challenging anyone, literally, to push the boundaries of success so that we may achieve our
…show more content…
His use of symbolism is amazing, as is his metaphorical sense of society as a whole and how mechanical it is. This poem to me shows that we are all no one
, we have all been or will be the forgetful children, and we are all or will be the women and men. We all grow up, and "down we forget." We live, we love and eventually, we die.
One might ask, how can someone be someone's no one... if they are everything to them. But that's the beauty of it, the person is no one to so many, but to that one person in life, just "anyone" to everyone else, is everything. cummings's poem is a punning paradox (with up so floating many bells down). it takes only a small reversal of perspective, and language, to get a truer view of life (he sang his didn't, he danced his did). The everyones and someones think they have it right (they did their dance) because they are like everyone else in the town which makes them someone important (reaped their same).
But anyone and no

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Although there were things in this poem I really liked, there are also some things that I didn't like as much. Such as the amount of metaphors and personification he was using. I found it difficult to analyze the poem with this because it was hard to tell what Mckay was actually trying to say. It does make the poem a lot more readable with these things put in the poem, but I just have a hard time trying to understand what the meaning of it actually is.…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bruce Dawe

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Life is an ongoing cycle, forever trapped within the consumerism, legalism, and ruthlessness of modern society. Only through our fleeting innocence, purity and the appreciation of our natural world are we able to go beyond society’s harsh expectations and regulations that only end in the destruction of a person’s spirit.…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The poem is written in the past tense, and tells a love story between Anyone and Noone. Only in one stanza is the present tense used, as they "dream their sleep", which is a happy ending to a bittersweet story. The women and men of the town were not concerned with anyone or Anyone. They didn't acknowledge anyone unless the other person benefited them. The children in the town were innocent, so they were able to see the love between Anyone and Noone. As time passed, the children were no longer innocent, they have grown up and become the "women and men". The cycle of birth, childhood, adulthood and decline is very apparent in each stanza. The lovers were at the top of the hierarchy, individuals who were happy and didn't blend in with everyone else. The mundane "women and men" who live a life of inadequacy and lastly, the children, who will become the "women and men" and repeat the cycle of dullness.…

    • 673 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Unfortunately, “Sometimes we create our own heartbreaks through expectations.” In Hurst's "The Scarlet Ibis," the unique narration and diction is used to convey the danger of pride, as symbolized by Doodle's inspirational yet devastating struggle to live up to his brother's unfair and unrealistic expectations. Throughout this paper, you will see just how different handicapped people’s expectations are for themselves than the people’s expectations around them.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    My goal when writing this paper is to get my opinion and perspective on the poem across to my classmates so they know where I stand, but also to remain broad enough in my writing so that my readers can compare their own response to mine. Maybe in doing that, I can help a fellow classmate or two who has a block and is stuck in the middle of the assignment.…

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of these core concepts, the one most acutely conveyed by any literary device would be the natural quality of love. Cummings lustrously and repeatedly depicts this view through his use of structure, incorporating seasons, weather, astronomical patterns, and feelings associated with particular times of the year. The seasons go through clear changes, and are mentioned along with their astronomical counterparts in nearly every stanza. The poem opens in the season of “spring”(3), and ends with “rain”(36)—a weather pattern synonymous with spring—illustrating a full cycle of the year. Throughout the poem, Cummings uses these natural yearly separations to convey specific ideas that pertain to each segment of “anyone’s” life. During spring, anyone danced and sang, as compared to the dull reaping and sowing of the average townsperson(4-7). In winter, words and phrases like: “died”(25), “buried”(27), “was by was”(28), and “deep by deep”(29) suggest death; the latter two phrases particularly indicate finality or inexorability. Love and happiness correspond to autumn, in which there are mentions of laughter, marriage, and hope. This cyclical…

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The poem's idea is clear in but the poem has a lot of words that help readers understand her message. Some of the meanings are literal, and some are topological. The different use of words in this poem help the reader to experience what the speaker is feeling.…

    • 934 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the entire poem, the speaker continuously asks questions debating what makes life worth living. The speaker’s confused mental state is expressed through rhetorical questions. The narrator asks, “Oh cold reprieve, where’s natural relief?” Here, the narrator wonders where he may find an escape from life, from the grief he was told to pursue. The answer is actually from within him. This results in a poem with dialogue between the narrator’s conscience and heart; the heart being the Echo. The Echo’s answer of “Leaf” leads the narrator to reflect on the death of leaves; leaves bloom beautifully and change into various colors. Making “ecstasy” of the flower’s dying process. He wonders, “Yet what’s the end of our life’s long disease? If death is not, who is my enemy,” but then the Echo calls itself the foe. Though leaves age beautifully, people do not, for aging is a disease of life that cannot be escaped.…

    • 428 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    These characteristics of a society are two of the most important characteristics of a society. The society in this story made a decision that traded off diversity and individual excellence for full equality. Currently, diversity and excellence run most societies on the Earth and the opposite in the society in “Harrison Bergeron”. For example, in the U.S., today’s society is full of people who often feel good or bad about themselves because of their diversities and individual excellencies or talents. These feelings sometimes create a motive for an action that changes the world around them or themselves. These actions also have reactions and so forth. This shows that feelings set off chain reactions in people’s daily lives. In Harrison Bergeron’s society, people have worn into believing that everyone is 100% equal and that is how it was meant to be. This mentality has shown inefficient by Harrison when he rips the straps of his handicap that are guaranteed to support 5,000 lbs. This short action gives off a resonating meaning that shows the audience that there is still diversity and equality in their society, it shows that great things can be achieved without handicaps, and it shows them that he is breaking the barrier between…

    • 1164 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    As we all know in reality, the universe is nonhuman and does not possess the ability to speak. For that reason, this poem utilizes personification to convey a Man vs Nature conflict, which adds to the overall meaning of the poem. Stephen Crane, a naturalist, impressionist, and a firm believer in environmental determinism, also uses cosmic irony to spice up the message is trying to portray. Cosmic irony is the idea that fate and the universe are big forces and control human actions and emotions. The utilization of this literary element helps to show that the main character feels forgotten, unloved, and uncared about. This duo of literary elements adds to the harsh and ultimate message that Stephen Crane is attempting to show all of us: Society, Life, People, the World, and the Universe does not owe us…

    • 899 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the poem Anyone Lived in a Pretty how Town E. E. Cummings plays with jumbled syntax, a seemingly random rhyme scheme, and the paradox of non-identical repetition to convey his message about the ordinariness of daily life, the passing of time, and the inclusive anonymity of people we encounter in our lives.…

    • 1286 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pretty How Town

    • 1340 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The progression of time is presented again in a different order to differentiate time in this stanza than the previous. Cummings closes the stanza by introducing us to the second character “noone,” who’s love increases for “anyone” as time advanced. Moreover, Cummings choice of name “noone,” and her love for anyone partakes in a double meaning. The author is exemplifying that noone and anyone are meant for each other but also that the townspeople don’t care about one another. Proceeding to the fourth stanza, the reader can see that Cummings use of syntax keeps getting more bizarre. Look at the words the author chooses to use, “when my now and tree by leaf.” These words can be used to describe anyone and noone’s present love. According to the OED, “leaf” means “In various fig. senses, esp. with allusion to growth or thriving” (“leaf” Oxford 1b), thus “tree by leaf” may symbolize their of life and experiences. The author states “she laughed his joy she cried his grief,” where his usage of consonance displays noone’s attachment towards anyone’s happiness and…

    • 1340 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    e e cummings (no, this is not a typographical error, take note to the way he writes his name) was an unusual, yet highly acclaimed writer of the 20th century. His style of writing was much different than that of any other contemporary or even 18th and 19th century writers. Although difficult to understand at times, e e cummings is a very profound and inventive writer.…

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This poem really contains the main theme of the nature of people. She describes a stereotypical view that people do not take the time to appreciate and understand things. The poem honestly causes me a lot of confusion, which is why I picked it. I do not know how to get a full understanding of anything in this poem, especially things such as themes and allusions so I do not really have anything to say about either of those things so I am going to move on.…

    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Often times, we constrict ourselves to stay within invisible limits we set for ourselves so that we never reach a state of humiliation. The idea of someone not agreeing with our viewpoint or action limits us because we do not want to feel isolated. On a day to day basis, we filter our comments as to not stand out from others, we limit our actions to not appear different to those who surround us. However, Bowie conveys the idea that if we allow ourselves to go beyond our limits we can reach greater success. The fear of failure is a restraint that I, personally can attest to but I can also attest to the idea that when I go beyond my own limits, the results are worthwhile.…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics