I'm going to be reading some of my research to a roomful of other teachers, researchers, and professors. There's a couple of other people with me on that panel, and all our papers are related. We'll go to other people's panels, there's events (dinners!) and maybe a little sightseeing if we're lucky.
Below are some links to short biographies of Cummings, and a couple of his poems, if you've never heard of him, or want a refresher. You'll notice the poems look weird - they're supposed to :) He got very creative with poetry, and pushed the boundaries of how a poem can look on a page. But often his poems were actually in strict, traditional forms, like sonnets (like Shakespeare did), even though they were pretty wild-looking.
Poets.org - Bio and some poems
"i carry your heart with me"
Many of his poems centered on love, romance, and sex (which I'll be discussing). He also liked the nightlife, so there's a lot about shows, dancers, plays, and clubs. There's a serious side to this guy, though. He served in WWI, there's also a significant amount of his poetry that deals with the experience of being in the armed forces. He was a POW for a while, and wrote about his experience in The Enormous Room. His poems that focus on the military and wartime are often pretty critical of peoples' attitudes towards war. Here's an example of one of these poems, which I'll be talking about a little this Friday:
"my sweet old etcetera aunt lucy during the recent war could and what is more did tell you just what everybody was fighting for, my sister isabel created hundreds (and hundreds) of socks not to mention shirts fleaproof earwarmers etcetera wristers etcetera, my mother hoped that i would die etcetera bravely of course my father used to become hoarse talking about how it was a privilege and if only he could 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 poem's speaker is writing a letter back home while he's at war. Notice how he lists "socks" and "wristers" - the speaker got socks, gloves, and other items from his family back home. People with relatives serving in WWI would often send care packages to the soldiers much like they do today. It's likely Cummings himself received things from his family when he was stationed in Europe. The next thing to look at is "bravely of course my father used to become hoarse talking about how it was/ a privilege" right after the speaker talks about dying in battle. The next image right after that is the speaker sitting in the "deep mud" (WWI saw a lot of trench warfare - google it!) dreaming about his girlfriend. Cummings gives us an image of a family safe back home becoming overly emotional about the possibility that the speaker (and others like him) may die in battle - he's critiquing patriotism and glamorizing war. This is contrasted with the less-glamorous reality of being in the service, sitting in the mud, scared and bored by turns, wanting some intimate company.
In one poem, Cummings makes a commentary on military life, patriotism, and human desires - as you can see there's a lot going on under the surface of this odd-looking poem!
Stay tuned for updates and photos!!
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