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Poet: e.e. cummings
Poem: suppose... (VIII)
Comment 3 of 3, added on February 19th, 2006 at 4:21 PM.
Suppose personifies life as an old drunkard selling flowers by a cafe where a young careless death sits. Cummings father died in a haphazard way - and so in many of his poems he shows how life is being wasted away. The flowers symbolize time, and how death always has money to buy it away from us. (This is also explained in the last line where a slender flower looking 'afterwards' is sitting by death.
angelina from United States
Comment 2 of 3, added on October 21st, 2005 at 7:09 AM.
Aaight guys heres my analyzation on Suppose
In cumming’s poem “suppose…” life and death are personified as people in a café. In the beginning “Life is an old man carrying flowers on his head.” The flowers probably represent the extravagancies that life has to offer. However, death wants to buy the flowers from Life. Cummings then talks to his audience in the poem, “i say, ‘will he buy flowers’ to you…” He than says to the audience that Life is three thirds asleep that cries to nobody about, “something about les roses les bluets.” Translated from French, this means that Life cries about the pinks and the blues. These colors are probably those of flowers, which also means that Life cries because death wants to buy its flowers. The last passage is possibly the most important and beautiful, “there is a lady, whose name is Afterwards / she is sitting beside young death, is slender; likes flowers.” This puts a new spin on the poem; instead of death taking all of the joys, or flowers, away from life, death is buying them for Afterwards, who represents heaven, or an afterlife. Death is transferring bliss and joy from life to afterlife. w00t!
Jake from Senegal
Comment 1 of 3, added on April 24th, 2005 at 6:25 PM.
Here is another paragraph analyzing one of cummings' poems. No copying. I will know and i will hunt you down. Im a ninja.
In cumming’s poem “suppose…” life and death are personified as people in a café. In the beginning “Life is an old man carrying flowers on his head.” The flowers probably represent the extravagancies that life has to offer. However, death wants to buy the flowers from Life. Cummings then talks to his audience in the poem, “i say, ‘will he buy flowers’ to you…” He than says to the audience that Life is three thirds asleep that cries to nobody about, “something about les roses les bluets.” Translated from French, this means that Life cries about the pinks and the blues. These colors are probably those of flowers, which also means that Life cries because death wants to buy its flowers. The last passage is possibly the most important and beautiful, “there is a lady, whose name is Afterwards / she is sitting beside young death, is slender; likes flowers.” This puts a new spin on the poem; instead of death taking all of the joys, or flowers, away from life, death is buying them for Afterwards, who represents heaven, or an afterlife. Death is transferring bliss and joy from life to afterlife. w00t!
Heidi from United States
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Comments
Suppose personifies life as an old drunkard selling flowers by a cafe where a young careless death sits. Cummings father died in a haphazard way - and so in many of his poems he shows how life is being wasted away. The flowers symbolize time, and how death always has money to buy it away from us. (This is also explained in the last line where a slender flower looking 'afterwards' is sitting by death.
angelina from United States