1(a… (a leaf falls on loneliness)

1(a

le
af
fa
ll

s)
one
l

iness

Analysis, meaning and summary of e.e. cummings's poem 1(a… (a leaf falls on loneliness)

80 Comments

  1. Confucius says:

    I think this poem is about… well… loneliness! I’m only eight, so I have no necessarity to write anything else! Peace out! (exclamation point lol)

  2. jet says:

    I like how the poet made a play on words, and made the last word look like a falling leaf.

  3. crafton says:

    I like the fact that when you first encounter this poem it’s usually in a book with several other poems around it (on the other pages) and it seems to have drifted into the book (or onto the webpage…) like a leaf being pressed in the pages……. I also think it silly to assume the first “L” to be anything other than an “L”. The “l”‘s are all over the poem helping the imagery of the VERY LETTER “L”……..as in “leaf” as in “lonliness” as in “faLLs”……as in a poem shaped like an “L”, pressed between the pages of a book????????? hmmmmmmmmmm…………….. So, yeah, definately not a number one………it’s SPELLED out. I love the very existance of this wonderful poem.

  4. InukoBlaINC says:

    I think this poem means that a leaf falls in lonliness because the “a leaf is falling is enclosed in the lonliness. but whatever.

  5. Drew says:

    A leaf falls on loneliness seems to be either a sequl or a post !blac poem. This poem truly represents the changing of something. It also seems as though this poem was written at the end of E.E. Cummings life for a reason. A leaf falling from a tree marks the change of seasons. This could represent something that is special to E.E. Cummings.

  6. Rita says:

    Maybe the poem is simple and it has’t attracted you at first sight.Read it some times and you will find something about real life.

  7. monkeymagnet says:

    pretentious

  8. Krystin says:

    A tree is covered by many leaves, and in the fall when it loses its leaves they all tend to fall within the same time period of a week or so. A leaf doesn’t fall alone, so he is not lonely, but he is still one leaf falling from a tree. “oneliness”

  9. Matt says:

    I could have sworn that it began with an L and not a 1

  10. kristen says:

    i just plainly think that it’s great.

  11. saul says:

    i waznt feeling diz poem..holla

  12. abuckman says:

    or you could assume that there is a mistake in the first and sixth comments and that the “1”(number one) referred to is actually an “l” (lowercase letter L). this could then lead one to interpret the poem as a statement/meditation on loneliness defined by, or represented by, a leaf falling – the ultimate gesture of loneliness as it falls through the air all alone from the tree, its home, its parent, life etc. the brevity of the poem and its vertical structure also add to the sense of loneliness: it looks lonely on the page and could be said to be falling down the page, like the leaf.

  13. abuckman says:

    the word “loneliness” does not actully appear in the poem at all. what is written is “oneliness” a made up word based around the idea of being alone set up in the first line. however if you accept that the parenthesis looks similar to a lower case “L” then the word can take on two meanings – being one: “oneliness” and or lonely: “)oneliness”. Or perhaps both at the same time in a suitably vague, make you own mind up, cummings kinda way?

  14. Ryan Rademacher says:

    okay. in the original comment on this poem, someone has written that “l(a” means “a leaf falls on loneliness”. okay, here’s the mistake: the words which compose the poem are “loneliness” (surrounding the ( )s. & “a leaf falls” (inside the
    ( )s NOT a leaf falls ON loneliness.

    cheers to my fellow ee cummings’ fans!!

    rpr

  15. Jimbo says:

    The poem doesn’t have to mean anything. It’s just a piece of visual poetry that describes loneliness. And the leaf doesn’t fall ON loneliness. The whole thing written on one line reads: “1(a leaf falls)oneliness”, with the “1” (one) cleverly substituting the letter “l” to emphasize singularity.

  16. Andrea says:

    I think this poem means that when you feel lonley even a day can feel like an entire season.

  17. David says:

    You should not make assumptions on what e.e. meant by his poem. You can only say what the poem means by what the poem says. Anything else you say is conjecture. You can think the poem means whatever you want, however there is only so much the poem says, there is only so much proof.

  18. Tom says:

    The point here is not normal loneliness, as can be seen by the emphasis on the ones. Dying is the one moment of live where you are absolutely, totally alone.

  19. steven says:

    tree( roots trunk leaf) this end less circle of life
    how could one be lonely

  20. Abby says:

    This poem just shows how at times, life can be lonely and you can be on your own, but that things will get better. Yea a leaf falls in loneliness, but next sping don’t they all come back and are all united as a tree? This poem also shows how at times, you need to be on your own, to make your own mistakes and learn from them. I love ee cummings… who doesn’t?

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