Comment 15 of 16, added on June 1st, 2006 at 10:45 AM.

I would divide the poem into two parts:
"Black against white sky" - part A
"Trees which from dropped leaf a goes whirling" - part B
Part A presents the reader with a conflict: black against white.
Part B depicts an image of a falling leaf.
At first I saw no connection between the two parts, but on second thought the connection or relation between the two parts can be cause (part A) and effect (part B).
One might compare the conflict between black and white as a racial conflict, or a religious conflict, or as a social class's conflict, or any other juxtaposing conflict. Thus, a conflict brings upon a result, in most cases, a negative one. In the poem the result is a falling leaf. I got the feeling of a negative result due to the technique used in the poem of dropping the last letter of the word to the following line. This technique conveys the feeling of something breaking, missing, falling apart and leaving almost nothing, like a tree that looses all its leaves and is left bare and vulnerable to the elements. Looking at part A as a racial conflict the result might be a broken society, and divided apart. History would prove the point that religious conflicts brought the result of chaos and destruction upon society like the bare tree in the poem.
Despite the fact that the poem is short it enfolds within it more than a few aspects. Looking at the poem, not even reading it first, you clearly see that it is written in a unique form. I choose to emphasize this feature. The poem is laid out in a form that illustrates its message – a falling leaf.
There is a lot to learn and conclude from this poem. However I would expect my student to think, wonder, and ask questions. They may come up with their own thoughts and conclusions before I may share mine with them. One of the things I learned from this short poem is that you don't necessarily need a lot of words in order to achieve something or to convey a message: say a little but do a lot!
Poetry is an art. Unlike a painter that works with a brush and paint, a poet works with words. The poem "blac" is an outstanding example of this statement. Cummings used an interesting form in the poem that intertwines beautifully with its message. That is what I call the art of words.





Anna C. Adams from Israel