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Comment 23 of 23, added on May 6th, 2007 at 9:42 PM.
jessie's got it...when he says "dying," he's referring to the physical
cessation of a heartbeat and brain activity. but when he says "Death," it
definitely symbolizes a spiritual death, a loss of one's vivacity and
fervor, a loss of one's beliefs or morals, a loss of one's essential self
(something that, more often than not, occurs while one is still breathing
and physically functioning).the last little part:
we thank thee
god
almighty for dying
(forgive us,o life!the sin of Death
makes this rather apparent...dying is natural and good, but Death is
abominable.
justina from United States
Comment 22 of 23, added on April 3rd, 2007 at 5:15 AM.
For what it's worth, I regularly misremember the refrain of this poem as
'Death isn't so bad, but dying, o baby'--the reverse of Cummings'
evaluation of the participle versus the noun. The thinking behind my
misremembering is that the actual experience of 'dying' is terrible,
whereas the abstraction of the noun 'death' is bearable--i think the irony
of Cummings' beginning with the difficult-to-swallow statement 'diung is
fine' should not be lost. . .
Lawrence Besserman from Israel
Comment 21 of 23, added on April 16th, 2006 at 2:26 AM.
Jessie's got it right. dying is physical. death is spiritual. dying just
means your body is dead, you stopped breathing...but your spirit and your
memory lives on. Death means your spirit no longer exists, you're lifeless.
ironically, some people can be Death while they're alive.
Jill from United States
Comment 20 of 23, added on March 2nd, 2006 at 4:29 PM.
The way I feel about the poem is that he talks about how death might be bad
and unwelcoming but it is something from the day we are born, know it will
come. So in that way it is something that we look towards. It talks about
just beofore we die we feel it instead of thinking of it.
Jasmine Stradbrook from Australia
Comment 19 of 23, added on March 2nd, 2006 at 4:37 PM.
Death is the end, its final but dying is life. We understand dying but we
dont understand death and because of that we fear death.
A & W from Australia
Comment 18 of 23, added on March 2nd, 2006 at 4:37 PM.
I like this poem lots more than the others by e.e cummings- it makes so
much more sense!
Cara from Australia
Comment 17 of 23, added on March 2nd, 2006 at 4:22 PM.
dying is fine but death o baby.
possibly the best line ever.
Bonnie from Australia
Comment 16 of 23, added on February 6th, 2006 at 6:29 PM.
Cummings is discussing dying as a movement and a leaving of things, moment
by moment by living people. Things you do when you are "not there" - like
when you're having fun but not thinking about it. Dying to disappointing
and hurtful things, but with no "death" to it. Death closes doors. Dying
opens them.
David from United States
Comment 15 of 23, added on February 1st, 2006 at 6:28 PM.
this poem is trying to say something about dying thats about all i got out
of it!
randy from United States
Comment 14 of 23, added on December 8th, 2005 at 8:03 AM.
It seems to me that Cummings is separating dying and death throught the
Christian conception of life after dying through Jesus. I think that when
he speaks of dying he is talking of the physical process we go through
before the body dies. But, his conception of death seems to be the death
of the spirit, or when we turn away from God, which is only final after the
process of dying.
Jessie from United States
This poem has been commented on more than 10 times. Click below to see the other comments.
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jessie's got it...when he says "dying," he's referring to the physical
cessation of a heartbeat and brain activity. but when he says "Death," it
definitely symbolizes a spiritual death, a loss of one's vivacity and
fervor, a loss of one's beliefs or morals, a loss of one's essential self
(something that, more often than not, occurs while one is still breathing
and physically functioning).the last little part:
we thank thee
god
almighty for dying
(forgive us,o life!the sin of Death
makes this rather apparent...dying is natural and good, but Death is
abominable.
justina from United States