The Greatest Emotion- Somewhere I Have Never... E.E Cummings

The Greatest Emotion In the poem “somewhere i have never...”, author E. E. Cummings personifies the feeling of love and the almost mysterious and uncontrollable supremacy it seems to have over men. The poem is referring to the ability of the author’s, what seems to be, lover to affect him with “[her] most frail gesture[s] are things which me” (3). And yet, the author starts the poem by referencing his inexperience with love and almost expresses a wonder to this new experience (Cummings, 1). Within this poem, Cummings paints the imagery of love in almost every line. He begins describing his emotions, and himself, as “closed... fingers" (6), trying to hide himself from the emotions he has “never travelled” (1). The image of hands plays a major role in this poem. In the last line, he describes the hands as rain, which is something so small that can bring forth an entire season, just like the hands of his lover can bring out the emotion that the author is ultimately afraid of. This love, however, has the ability to open him up the way “Spring opens / her first rose” (7-8). The emotions the author feels over-powers him to the point that “[his] life will shut very beautifully” if that is wanted by his lover and almost wilt like the flower he is using to represent himself (10). However, the author cannot embrace these feelings because there is a sense of fear deep within. In “rendering death” (16), he brings the one thing that roses have to fear to life, death, and with it he brings the fear of the death of the love that is so new to him. Just like a rose, these emotions cause frailty within the author as the “most frail gesture are things which enclose [him]” (4). And yet, the author does not understand the control this love has over him, however, he does know that “something in [him] understands the voice of [her] eyes” (19). Not only does he know the voice, he knows that it goes “deeper than all rose” (19). This love has taken him beyond the feelings