Explication of EE Cummings “[i carry your heart with me (i carry it in]” To better understand this very romantic poem, “[i carry your heart with me (i carry it in], we must first understand that Edward Estlin Cummings was an avant-garde, which can be defined as an intelligentsia that develops new or experimental concepts especially in the arts (Merriam-Webster).
Punctuation and lowercase type are used in a way that’s visually appealing, while also highlighting the poem’s theme of unity. Cummings used this type of writing in many of his works. The poem “[i carry your heart with me (i carry it in]” by EE Cummings is a free verse poem about an undying love that is felt from within. The speaker can be a man or a woman. In this case the speaker is a man who has a deep eternal love for his lover; a she in this case. Cummings uses figurative language, linguistic paradoxes, and symbolism in this poem that makes the reader feel that undying love and unity from one lover to another. Cummings uses figurative language, denotations and connotations throughout this poem. The reader can first see this in the title, “i carry your heart with me”. Obviously he isn’t actually carrying his lovers’ heart in the literal sense.
The Essay on Broken Heart Love Donne One
THE ONSLAUGHT OF LOVE During the eighteenth century, many poets explored the concepts of love. Many of these poems discussed lost loves, or unreturned love. John Donne discussed his feelings towards love in his poem "The Broken Heart." Donne personifies love in this poem by saying how once grasped by love, it is impossible to recover from it. In the first stanza of "The Broken Heart" Donne opens ...
Instead the reader can understand that figuratively her presence and her love are always near. He feels it all the time. It’s within him, “i carry it in my heart.” Cummings intertwined the denotations and connotations in his poem. He does this by the use of parenthesis throughout the poem. “i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart) i am never without it (anywhere i go you go…..”. Linguistic paradoxes are used as well throughout this poem. The speaker says one thing in one line only to contradict what he is saying in the next. For example: “(….whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling) “It” is done by “only him” but it is her “doing”. The speaker makes the words work for him, although being contradictory.
What is important in understanding this poem is understanding the symbolism of it. The speaker is symbolizing the love he feels for his lover by first saying he “carries your heart with me (i carry it in my heart) or “I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)” All these quotes are symbols of his love. He feels love to the bottom of his soul. He uses the “root of the root” and “bud of the bud” and the “sky of the sky” “of a tree called life; which grows higher that soul can hope or mind can hide” to describe to the reader that his love continues to grow just as the tree of life continues to grow.
This poem is obviously about love. An undying, deep love for the speakers’ lover. EE Cummings uses figurative language, linguistic paradoxes and symbolism to get the reader to actually feel the deep love that is shared between these lovers. It is “the deepest secret nobody knows (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)”
Works Cited
Cummings, EE. “Poetry: 1952 Issue. “[i carry your heart with me (i carry it in].” 1952,. www.poetryfoundation.org. Web. 25 May 2014. Merriam-Webster. . 25 May 2014.
