Double Talk
On July 18, 2012, I posted a quick and fun activity to use with students as an introduction for a unit of study on poetry. In a nutshell, the activity involves a short passage whereby students have to explain “what is happening here” and then “what ELSE could be happening,” using specific words and phrases from the passage to support their ideas.
The notion of “what is happening” and “what ELSE could be happening” brought to mind various poems of E. E. Cummings, so today I thought I would post my “TOP SEVEN” images, words and lines of Cummings’ poetry where there are at least two meanings as a result of the way Cummings divided the word(s).
7. now, here, and nowhere from “this man’s heart”:
A central theme of Cummings’ “this man’s heart,” the unpredictable and indifferent nature of life, appears in the center of the poem:
(by the
look
feel taste smell
& sound
of a silence who can
guess
ex-
actly
what life
will do)
The randomness and arbitrary nature of life is suggested in various ways throughout the poem. For example, in the 5th and 6th lines of the poem, anyone else’s world simultaneously “does” and “doesn’t” interest the “man” of the poem. Also, in the lines above (from lines 6 – 15 of the poem), Cummings included the word “guess,” and he incorporated the word “actly” (i.e. a form of “act”?) when he split “exactly.”
However, my favorite use of multiple meanings suggested by a split word in this poem occurs in the final two lines of the poem when “nowhere” also becomes “now” and “here.” Here is the concluding image in the final five lines of the poem:
a snowflake twi-
sts
,on
its way to now
-here
A snowflake twists on its way to “nowhere” in this man’s indifferent world (and in his cold heart?), and yet by the way Cummings’ split the word, the snowflake falls now, here and nowhere – all at the same time. Perfectly unpredictable.
6. “Fellow Citizens” from the poem “Applaws”:
Cummings’ poem “Applaws” is very short –just five words: “applause,” “fellow,” “citizens,” and “a pause." However, through the way Cummings cleaves, conceives and presents the words, he evokes the shady and corrupt nature of a disreputable politician (and calls to mind his famous quip, “A politician is an arse upon which everyone has sat except a man”). Here’s the poem:
Applaws)
“fell
ow
sit
isn’ts”
(a paw s
First there is “applause,” but the word is misspelled (“Applaws”) which suggests that someone has been introduced to a group of uneducated, misinformed, and/or witless supporters. The speaker, a politician, then begins his speech with, “fellow citizens” – but the two words are chopped and misspelled as “fell,” “ow,” “sit” and “isn’ts.” Finally, the speaker stages the practiced pause of a career politician, presumably for more “Applaws” – and the pause is rendered as “(a paw s.” Does “paw” suggest, again, the clumsiness and vulgarity of the crowd (and/or of the speaker)?
My favorite use of split words to suggest multiple meanings in this poem are the four words in lines 2 – 5 that fashion “fellow citizens”: each individual division suggests its own meaning; for example: decline (fell), harm (ow), inaction (sit), and negativity (isnt’s).
5. “one” and "gravestone” from Cummings’ poem “one”:
one
t
hi
s
snowflake
(a
li
ght
in
g)
is upon a gra
v
es
t
one
NOTE: The formatting rules for a GoodReads’ blog does not allow me to type the poem above exactly as Cummings structured it.
In many poems Cummings suggested loneliness, silence and isolation through the image of snow and snowflakes. Also, in many poems, Cummings played with the construction and symmetry of the poem with the patterns and arrangement of words and letters. In “one” he opens and closes the poem with the same word, “one,” while the final word is actually a part of a singular “gravestone.”
4. The emphasis of “man” in “as joe gould say in”:
as joe gould says in
his terrifyingly hu
man man
ner the only reason every wo
man
should
go to college is so
that she never can(kno
wledge is po
wer)say o
if i
‘d
OH
n
lygawntueco
llege
Is there any character more chauvinistic and boorish than Joe Gould in Cummings’ poem “as joe gould says in”? And Cummings’ use of split words to emphasize “man” – from “human,” “manner,” and “woman” – is effective in highlighting Joe’s narrow-mindedness and sexist views.
So those are numbers 7, 6, 5 and 4 in my TOP SEVEN images, words and lines of Cummings’ poetry where there are double meanings as a result of the way Cummings divided the word(s).
I'll post my top three in a day or two.
The notion of “what is happening” and “what ELSE could be happening” brought to mind various poems of E. E. Cummings, so today I thought I would post my “TOP SEVEN” images, words and lines of Cummings’ poetry where there are at least two meanings as a result of the way Cummings divided the word(s).
7. now, here, and nowhere from “this man’s heart”:
A central theme of Cummings’ “this man’s heart,” the unpredictable and indifferent nature of life, appears in the center of the poem:
(by the
look
feel taste smell
& sound
of a silence who can
guess
ex-
actly
what life
will do)
The randomness and arbitrary nature of life is suggested in various ways throughout the poem. For example, in the 5th and 6th lines of the poem, anyone else’s world simultaneously “does” and “doesn’t” interest the “man” of the poem. Also, in the lines above (from lines 6 – 15 of the poem), Cummings included the word “guess,” and he incorporated the word “actly” (i.e. a form of “act”?) when he split “exactly.”
However, my favorite use of multiple meanings suggested by a split word in this poem occurs in the final two lines of the poem when “nowhere” also becomes “now” and “here.” Here is the concluding image in the final five lines of the poem:
a snowflake twi-
sts
,on
its way to now
-here
A snowflake twists on its way to “nowhere” in this man’s indifferent world (and in his cold heart?), and yet by the way Cummings’ split the word, the snowflake falls now, here and nowhere – all at the same time. Perfectly unpredictable.
6. “Fellow Citizens” from the poem “Applaws”:
Cummings’ poem “Applaws” is very short –just five words: “applause,” “fellow,” “citizens,” and “a pause." However, through the way Cummings cleaves, conceives and presents the words, he evokes the shady and corrupt nature of a disreputable politician (and calls to mind his famous quip, “A politician is an arse upon which everyone has sat except a man”). Here’s the poem:
Applaws)
“fell
ow
sit
isn’ts”
(a paw s
First there is “applause,” but the word is misspelled (“Applaws”) which suggests that someone has been introduced to a group of uneducated, misinformed, and/or witless supporters. The speaker, a politician, then begins his speech with, “fellow citizens” – but the two words are chopped and misspelled as “fell,” “ow,” “sit” and “isn’ts.” Finally, the speaker stages the practiced pause of a career politician, presumably for more “Applaws” – and the pause is rendered as “(a paw s.” Does “paw” suggest, again, the clumsiness and vulgarity of the crowd (and/or of the speaker)?
My favorite use of split words to suggest multiple meanings in this poem are the four words in lines 2 – 5 that fashion “fellow citizens”: each individual division suggests its own meaning; for example: decline (fell), harm (ow), inaction (sit), and negativity (isnt’s).
5. “one” and "gravestone” from Cummings’ poem “one”:
one
t
hi
s
snowflake
(a
li
ght
in
g)
is upon a gra
v
es
t
one
NOTE: The formatting rules for a GoodReads’ blog does not allow me to type the poem above exactly as Cummings structured it.
In many poems Cummings suggested loneliness, silence and isolation through the image of snow and snowflakes. Also, in many poems, Cummings played with the construction and symmetry of the poem with the patterns and arrangement of words and letters. In “one” he opens and closes the poem with the same word, “one,” while the final word is actually a part of a singular “gravestone.”
4. The emphasis of “man” in “as joe gould say in”:
as joe gould says in
his terrifyingly hu
man man
ner the only reason every wo
man
should
go to college is so
that she never can(kno
wledge is po
wer)say o
if i
‘d
OH
n
lygawntueco
llege
Is there any character more chauvinistic and boorish than Joe Gould in Cummings’ poem “as joe gould says in”? And Cummings’ use of split words to emphasize “man” – from “human,” “manner,” and “woman” – is effective in highlighting Joe’s narrow-mindedness and sexist views.
So those are numbers 7, 6, 5 and 4 in my TOP SEVEN images, words and lines of Cummings’ poetry where there are double meanings as a result of the way Cummings divided the word(s).
I'll post my top three in a day or two.
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