somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look will easily unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

Analysis, meaning and summary of e.e. cummings's poem somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond

119 Comments

  1. guerdon says:

    this is my favorite poem of all time, and i do believe it to be the best love poem ever written; never mind poetic construction deviation– love simply overrides any convention anyway. listen to the poem being recited while your eyes are closed… you’ll know what i mean.

  2. Deborah A. says:

    Really? A love poem? Well, I guess. But I always thought that it was about witnessing the death of someone you love.

  3. charisse says:

    this is one of my favorite poems.cummings certainly know how to play with words.a syntactical analysis perhaps would help one understand the meaning of this poem.but to me,this poem is as mysterious as the rain’s small hands.

  4. Grace says:

    I thought it might interest some to know that the replication of this poem is just a little off in it’s printing. As with much of his work, Cummings chose to override prescriptive grammar, and things like punctuation and capitalization might appear incorrect. For example the first line reads: “somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond” I think the deviation from his original work is ignoring a central component to his art form and creates something entirely different, like painting Mona Lisa frowning.

  5. dwain says:

    quite simply, the best poem ever written.

  6. Mark says:

    This stuff really helped me as I’m writing a comparative analysis between “The Glass Menagerie” and this poem, with special emphasis on the epigraph.

    Anyone have anything that wasn’t already said to point out to me? Any help would be appreciated.

  7. Yakov says:

    The last lines of this poem: “nobody, not even the rain has such small hands” played a crucial role in igniting a passionate relationship with a woman to whom I later became engaged . These were lines I remembered when I wanted to send her a short meaningful telegraph at one time. She, being a poet herself, was quite impressed. She thought that I had written them!…This poem’s strength lies in its successive vivid contrasts, each of which is founded on equally vivid concrete natural images… “…which I cannot touch because it is too near” evokes the truth of how the immediacy of overwhelming presence is ironically something which, out of our incapacity and unprepared ness in coping for such personal intensity, actually creates a type of awe-filled DISTANCE through the awareness of our inability to adequately respond to its call…The images of “unclosing, “opening “and “closing beautifully” evokes the very real experience of how sensitive love, like a flower responding to light, can move us through every stage of receptivity and closure in a way that m creates every one of these states, in us, as a thing of beauty…”The voice of all roses” is that subtle aroma of love which in its very, barely noticed transforming potency, is in fact a “voice.”…The last lines are stunning in their evocative power. The far-because so awesomely near, potent because fragile, vocal because silent, amorous power of love, is engendered by that ultimate contrast which is evoked by the final line: “hands” are the organs of power and yet they are most powerful when they are sensitive enough–“small enough”–to permeate into our very selves. Like the “hands of rain”–small as drops, which become ever smaller as they seep right into our skin.

  8. yakov newman says:

    The last lines of this poem: “nobody, not even the rain has such small hands” played a crucial role in igniting a passsionate relationship with a woman to whom I later became engaged . These were lines I remembered when I wanted to send her a short meaningful telegraph at one time. She, being a poet herself, wes quite impressed. She thought that I had written them!…This poem’s strength lies in its successive vivid contrasts, each of which is founded on equally vivid concrete natural images… “…which I cannot touch because it is too near” evokes the truth of how the immediacy of overwhelming presence is ironically somethng which, out of our incapicity and unpreparedness in coping for such personal intensity, actually creates a type of awe-filled DISTANCE through the awareness of our inability to adeqauately respond to its call…The images of “unclosing, “opening “and “closing beautifully” evokes the very real experience of how sensitive love, like a flower responding to light, can move us through every stage of receptivity and closure in a way that m creates every one of these states, in us, as a thing of beauty…”The voice of all roses” is that subtle aroma of love which in its very, barely noticed transforming potency, is in fact a “voice.”…The last lines are stunning in their evocative power. The far-because so awsomely near, potent because fragile, vocal because silent, emorous power of love, is engendered by that ultimate contrast which is evoked by the final line: “hands” are the organs of power and yet they are most powerful when they are sensitive enough–“small enough”–to permeate into our very selves. Like the “hands of rain”–small as drops, which become ever smaller as they seep right into our skin.

  9. noe says:

    The poem is not about love. It is about adoration, a man humbling himself to the woman’s “intense fragility,” allowing the woman to “close and unclose him” as she wishes.

  10. Shawn says:

    my favorite poem ever!

  11. panama2 says:

    Interesting you ended up as comment 69. Yes yes poetry is so subjective and cummings is a sexist. He should have said that the lover openend him as spring opens and closes its first penis. What would you expect him to say. But your right let’s take all reference to roses and rose petals out of poems. At any event kudos to the commentary. As much as I love this poem, I enjoy reading opinions of it (like 69’s) even more).

  12. Jocelyn says:

    I first heard this poem as read by Ron Perlman reading it as he portrayed the role of ‘Vincent’ in the 80s TV show ‘Beauty and the Beast’. It has stuck in my mind since but it was only recently that I found out who wrote it.

    Thanks to the internet I have been introduced to other great works by Cummings. However this will always be my favourite.

  13. Flávio Martins says:

    Zeca Baleiro form Brazil is one of the bests poets in the world, and he is a fan of cummings. He saw Hannah and her sisters of woody allen and have been fascinated with this poem, and then made a music with the poem…the name is Nalgum Lugar….check it out…thanks

  14. serene santiago says:

    the poem is rich with imagery. but dont you think e.e. cummings is a bit sexist? the images project a different picture epecially the 3rd line, 2nd stanza: you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens (touching skillfully, mysteriously) her first rose.

    throughout the poem, it gives us different connotations on love and sex. well, that’s just my comment.. poetry is subjective 😉

  15. Karen says:

    I’ve always found this poem beautiful but I never truly understood it until I fell in love….

  16. Mary says:

    I think this poem is great. It seems to speak to its reader in a soft and gentle voice. It makes you realize that love is much more than just a word but rather an intense feeling of completelness.

  17. cha says:

    hmmm…. this poem is quite passionate…. i don’t like it that much though….

  18. Kortnee says:

    Something about this poem strikes me in a way undescribable; I can only hope I could evoke such feeling to someone someday as is expressed in this poem.

  19. mark says:

    This poem is a yery romantic piece. It expresses a stong and active feeling towards someone so special.

  20. pete says:

    it’s definitely not finished.

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