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The poet's persona lies in a trench in northern France during the Great War, contemplating what his family
is thinking and doing. They are mostly involved either in making oddments of clothing for him and the
other soldiers, thinking about his gallantry or considering questions about the war itself. He, in the
meantime, is thinking about sex.
NOTE ON THE POET
ee cummings -- his real name was Edward Estlin -- was born in Massachusetts in 1894. His father was
a professor of Sociology and Political Science at Harvard University but who later became a Unitarian
minister.
Cummings was himself a Harvard graduate, obtaining a Masters degree in English and Classical Studies
in 1916. His intelligence and novel way of thinking, however, caused him to be ostracised and so he found
solace in his poetry.
Although he is known for his flamboyant style of writing, he also published a couple of novels and four
plays -- and was an artist who excelled in both drawing and painting.
Cummings' way of thinking was often transcendental, i.e. he believed it possible to reach an ideal spiritual
state by use of intuition rather than through established religious beliefs. Indeed, he reveals this concept
in "i thank You God for most this amazing".
His poetry was shaped by romantic tradition -- for example, he wrote many sonnets -- but he is best
known for his idiosyncratic style in which he used little punctuation, often wrote in the lowercase and
jumbled up the order of words.
It has been said that his poetry often makes little sense until it is read aloud. On the other hand, several
of his poems reveal his artistic flair in that they are pictures painted in words, e.g.
"r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r".
He was also known for his satire when addressing social issues, but he had a strong bias towards the
exuberance of love, sex and spiritual rebirth.
Cummings died of a stroke on September 3, 1962. He was 68 years of age. He had won many awards
for his work.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
"my
mother hoped that
i would die etcetera
bravely of course"
- Why would his mother be wishing for such a dreadful thing to happen to her son? (4)
[Need help?]
The Great War was meant to be an honourable fight. It was therefore a great honour for a man to enlist.
A soldier who died in action was buried with all due military honour and glory, and his parents would be
at the very centre of the funeral rite. In this poem, the mother somehow identifies the honour of dying as
greater than the honour of serving, and so she wishes this for herself and her son.
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- Why does the poet hastily add the words "bravely of course"? (4)
[Need help?]
Death in conflict was only honourable if the soldier had died bravely. A soldier who was shot in the back
while running away was not regarded as honourable. The mother therefore wishes for an honourable
death for her son which, of course, meant that he had to die bravely.
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- What is the purpose of the "etcetera" here? (2)
[Need help?]
The poet wishes to list all the honourable things which happened when soldiers died bravely while
defending their country. Since he has no real interest in doing so, however, he simply dismisses it all with
another "etcetera".
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"my father used
to become hoarse talking about how it was
a privilege and if only he
could"
- The poet uses innuendo twice here, allowing the reader to finish his thought. How is the father's
thought meant to be ended? (4)
[Need help?]
Although the mother speaks of her son dying bravely, the father sees serving as a soldier as the ultimate
honour. He therefore speaks endlessly of "how it was a privilege" to fight and if only he himself
could enlist.
He however is either too old to enlist or his speeches are meant solely for his audience. In other words,
he talks about the honour of enlisting but he himself does not enlist.
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- Why would his father become "hoarse" talking about it? (2)
[Need help?]
The hoarseness is probably the result not only of speaking often about wanting to enlist, but also speaking
at great length and with passion.
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"meanwhile my
self etcetera lay quietly
in the deep mud et
cetera
(dreaming,
et
cetera, of
Your smile
eyes knees and of your Etcetera)"
- The word "etcetera" is used no less than four times within the space of these few words.
Explain each usage. (6)
[Need help?]
The use of "etcetera" is for throwaway ideas. The trench warfare was remembered for its
inordinate hardship and yet the poet throws that all away with "etcetera", not bothering to dwell on
it any further. He does the same for the excruciating life in the constant mud. He also throws away his
various dreams.
The final "Etcetera", on the other hand, has a more specific meaning. One knows exactly what the
poet is dreaming about but here he censors the thought. This is not so much an innuendo as it is a
euphemism, replacing a sexual thought which he may not explicitly state out loud with a euphemism.
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- Explain the use of brackets in the last five lines. (4)
[Need help?]
Brackets serve the purpose of parenthesis: the adding of extra information which is not part of the main
discourse. In this case, however, there is an implicit contradiction.
Whereas most people saw the life of the soldier as the important thing -- placing his dreams as
unnecessary additional material and therefore in parenthesis -- the poet himself saw the warfare itself
as irrelevant in comparison to his sexual fantasies.
For the poet, therefore, the war itself is placed in parenthesis -- using the repetition of "etcetera"
to illustrate this -- whereas his sexual fantasies which are presented inside brackets are the only real
things in his life. This is illustrated by the double use of the upper-case to show importance.
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"Your smile
eyes knees and of your Etcetera"
- In the course of the entire poem, the use of the upper-case occurs only twice. Explain the purpose
of this sudden reversion to the upper-case. (4)
[Need help?]
The poet uses the lower-case to illustrate the unimportant things in his life, such as the war and people's
attitude to it. When it comes to his loved-one, however, he places her in the upper-case -- "Your".
He then does the same thing for his dream: the unimportant bits are in the lower-case -- her smile, her
eyes, her knees. The most important part of her body, on the other hand, is written in the upper-case:
"your Etcetera".
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- What is climax? Explain the poet's use of climax in these words. (4)
[Need help?]
Climax is the ordering of words from least important through to most important. "I came, I saw, I
conquered."
The poet does precisely this when he orders his thoughts about his loved one, starting from the more
innocuous and ending with the most important: her smile, her eyes, her knees, her "Etcetera".
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