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Poet: e.e. cummings (e.e. cummings Art)
Poem: n(o)w...
Comment 8 of 8, added on October 17th, 2009 at 4:08 PM.
Well, I'm a bit late to answer to this topic, but anyway better late than never (LOL)
Just wanted to add a short word about semiotics in this poem.
the O of n(o)w between brackets is a graphic representation of the world. O = circle = history (repetition) but O = roundness = earth. It's here a graphic representation of the world. The space in Cummings is not limited to the border of the page but he uses it as a means to recreate a new written world (poempictures as he called his poems -> space is essential).
Moreover, he belongs to the what is known as the 'lost generation' of poets, those who had been so shaken by WW1 that their only means of creation was destruction. -> hence agrammaticality / syntactic games / etc...
The untimely use of capital letters and small letters in words such as THuNdeR creates an imitative symphony : the word visualy represents the musical scheme of thunder.
Cummings said that everybody can know or believe or think, but only a poet can feel.
The idiosyncratic language of Cummings is a way to recreate the world from its destruction. The poem is far from every linguistic expectation or norm : this implies a slowing down of reading -> through this slowing down, the reader lose even his pimitive knowledge of writing and reading and has to find the words within the poem by himself(search for meaning). -> he is thus involved in the writing process and in the poetic process as well/ he becomes a writer, a poet and is thus enabled to feel ! -> Transandantal value of the poem. An experiment : the poem is constantly recreated each time it is read -> Impression (from the outside world to the self) and Expression (from the self to the outside world).
See also Ideogrammatic structure, Saussurian theories on the arbitrariness of the sign and Cratylus theories on language.
I hope it'll be of some help for anyone interested in Cummings's poetry. Have a nice day :) Ben.
Ben from France
Comment 7 of 8, added on October 3rd, 2007 at 5:08 PM.
Awesome!!!n
mason from United States
Comment 6 of 8, added on September 14th, 2007 at 12:06 PM.
This is a great tutorial thanks!o
alex from United States
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Comments
Well, I'm a bit late to answer to this topic, but anyway better late than never (LOL)
Just wanted to add a short word about semiotics in this poem.
the O of n(o)w between brackets is a graphic representation of the world. O = circle = history (repetition) but O = roundness = earth. It's here a graphic representation of the world. The space in Cummings is not limited to the border of the page but he uses it as a means to recreate a new written world (poempictures as he called his poems -> space is essential).
Moreover, he belongs to the what is known as the 'lost generation' of poets, those who had been so shaken by WW1 that their only means of creation was destruction. -> hence agrammaticality / syntactic games / etc...
The untimely use of capital letters and small letters in words such as THuNdeR creates an imitative symphony : the word visualy represents the musical scheme of thunder.
Cummings said that everybody can know or believe or think, but only a poet can feel.
The idiosyncratic language of Cummings is a way to recreate the world from its destruction. The poem is far from every linguistic expectation or norm : this implies a slowing down of reading -> through this slowing down, the reader lose even his pimitive knowledge of writing and reading and has to find the words within the poem by himself(search for meaning). -> he is thus involved in the writing process and in the poetic process as well/ he becomes a writer, a poet and is thus enabled to feel ! -> Transandantal value of the poem. An experiment : the poem is constantly recreated each time it is read -> Impression (from the outside world to the self) and Expression (from the self to the outside world).
See also Ideogrammatic structure, Saussurian theories on the arbitrariness of the sign and Cratylus theories on language.
I hope it'll be of some help for anyone interested in Cummings's poetry. Have a nice day :) Ben.
Ben from France