Within I Will Wade Out

Within I Will Wade Out, a poem by E.E. Cummings’, the speaker seems to emote uncertainty in his actions and decision about the future. Cummings's poem is a lot about deciding withholds a decision of what type of person and what type of life one wants to live. To the speaker this life is one of spontaneity that follows the movement of nature. In the physical structure of the poem the lines are indented in and out like the waves of the ocean. This water represents nature, though the flowers are being burning and killed. The speaker wants to “dash against the darkness” while the darkness blinds him from the future and confuses him about how he will discover himself among the water and burning flowers.

There are a few instances of very visual and oxymoronic objects within this essay. The “burning flowers” show the destruction of beauty also showing the destruction of nature. A flower is a very delicate and gentle object, however, burning is a very violent, strong, and destructive action and this embodies the modern views of not taking care of nature. Leading to the end of nature and the start of the industrialization era. Curves connote movement, action, winding, and instability while sleeping is non active, without movement which represents paralysis, a strong modernistic trait. Cummings uses the word “silver” as a pun of metal and machinery.
The phrase “I will rise” shows the theme of royalty and a higher power than nature.
The parts of the flowers and parts of the body being mixed together show pastiche since the parts of nature are being recreated into a new art form of the body. E. E. Cummings wonders if he “will complete the mystery of [his] flesh” and this represents the confusion of the self, or rather,
solipsism.

Flowers, the sun, the moon, and all objects of nature contain a profound presence and meaning. The sun is symbolic of death and rebirth, evolution, and divine and it represents light among darkness, yet the speaker “take[s] the sun in [his] mouth” and the light is gone. This sudden death of the light shows the modern views of life being useless. The moon represents a feminine symbol, a middle ground between the light of sun and darkness, and a realm between conscious and unconscious. It is a symbol of a human not understanding himself and where he belongs, another sign of solipsism. This determines a subject capacity for reflection and adaptation. In some way, shape or form, all of these representations connect with the evolution of self and of one's soul, or rather, nature and the self. The title shows what the speaker will do, and there is still an underlying sense of insecurity in their assertions. After all the poem is titled "I Will Wade Out". The speaker will find out who he is in the future, but he is being held down in the water. He goes to wonder if he will “complete the mystery”, not being sure of himself and his future. He will wade, but not walk freely by himself. By referring to the future, he refers to death and modern literature shows that death holds meaning, while life is useless and meaningless.