I understand this poem a little but we have to explain in detail to the class and I am unsure if i understand each stanza enough to explain it. Here is the poem

I CARRY YOU HEART WITH ME (I CARRY IT IN MY HEART)

I CARRY YOUR HEART WITH ME(I CARRY
IT IN
MY HEART)I AM NEVER WITHOUT
IT ANYWHERE
I GO YOU GO, MY DEAR; AND WHATEVER
IS DONE
BY ONLY ME IS YOUR DOING, MY
DARLING)

IS FEAR
NO FATE(FOR YOU ARE MY FATE,MY
SWEET)I WANT
NO WORLD(FOR BEAUTIFUL YOU ARE MY
WORLD,MY TRUE)
AND IT’S YOU ARE WHATEVER A MOON
HAS ALWAYS MEANT
AND WHATEVER A SUN WILL ALWAYS
SING IS YOU

HERE IS THE DEEPEST SECRET
NOBODY KNOWS
(HERE IS THE ROOT OF THE ROOT AND
THE BUD OF THE BUD
AND THE SKY OF THE SKY OF A TREE
CALLED LIFE;WHICH GROWS
HIGHER THAN THE SOUL CAN HOPE OR
MIND CAN HIDE)
AND THIS IS THE WONDER THAT’S
KEEPING THE STARTS APART

I CARRY YOUR HEART(I CARRY IT IN MY
HEART)

This is a very well known poem, and deservedly so, since it uses every possible literary device, superlative rhythm, and the finest metaphors yet discovered by poets anywhere. The surface meaning is that the speaker carries the loved one's heart, much like a briefcase would be toted, or perhaps a bag of groceries.

A work-of-art poem like this one must stand on its own, of course, and to analyze it too deeply can only detract from the overall impact. I urge you simply to read it and let the sounds wash over you, the better to appreciate the underlying messages.

Good luck!

Waydaminnit! Is this a sonnet? 14 lines of iambic pentameter, with a volta? Very strange.


i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling) i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Edward Estlin Cummings was an artist as well as a poet. Sometimes he paints pictures with his words, such as the immobile cat or the grasshopper.

(im) c-a-t(mo)
b,i:l:e
FallleA
ps!fl
OattumblI
sh?dr
IftwhirlF
(Ul)(lY)
& & &
away wanders:exact
ly; as if
not
hing had, ever happ
ene
D



[plagiarist.com]


The cat falls, lands on its feet, and struts off to show any audience watching that it obviously planned the fall, and the grasshopper hops randomly around.

EEC also played games with parts of speech, letting nouns be verbs, adverbs be adjectives, and so on (anyone lived in a pretty how town, for example).

He proves he is a master of all these techniques with his playfulness. To me, he is doing something similar with this love poem about his love's heart. It seems to have been written by a child, but turns out to be a Shakespearean sonnet.

Micheal Hegdes on his album Taproot put this poem to
music for wonderful effect -
check it out.

how is this a grasshopper.... somebody want to show?

[www.english.uiuc.edu]

I am deconstucting this poem for school and an educated opinion on the devices exploited by Cummings would be really helpful.
Thanks

Not the grasshopper, but the heart, I am guessing? The formatting will probably not work on the cut/paste below, but not a key issue:


i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)


Mostly 12 syllables per line. Sometimes a caesura (pause), sometimes not. Seemingly unrhymed, but look at endings such as,

in/done, where/fear, want/meant, true/you, bud/hide, etc.

Also, are there 14 lines? Hard to tell, what with cummings's typical running together of sentences and punctuation, but I would say he intended it to be a sonnet. The 12 syllables in each line could be read as five feet, that is.

If so, there should be 2 quatrains, a volta (switch/reversal/conclusion) at the sextet to finish. Yeah, could be, could be ...

I am not sure what other devices you are looking for. Are we simply to guess that it is a sonnet?





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2006 03:49PM by Hugh Clary.

Sextet!? Tsk, how gauche. Should be sestet, naturalmente. My apologies to Francesco Petrarca.