4. The history behind E.E Cummings:
• In April of 1917, with the First World War raging in Europe and the United
States not yet involved, he volunteered for the Norton-Harjes Ambulance
Service in France.
• Ambulance work was a popular choice with those who, like Cummings,
were pacifists.
• He was stationed on the French-German border, with fellow American
William Slater Brown, and the two young men became fast friends.
• To relieve the boredom of their assignment, they inserted veiled and
provocative comments into their letters back home, trying to outwit and
baffle the French censors.
• Such activities resulted in them being held on suspicion of treason and sent
to an internment camp in Normandy for questioning, in September of
1917.
5. • In July of 1918, with the United States entering the war, Cummings
was drafted into the U.S. Army and spent six months at a training
camp in Massachusetts.
• Upon leaving the army in January of 1919, Cummings resumed his
affair with Elaine Thayer, the wife of his friend Schofield Thayer.
Thayer knew and approved of the relationship.
• Also, because Cummings was a painter and an artist, one of his main
aims when writing his poetry was that it had ‘visual effectiveness’, he
wanted people to be able to ‘see’ his poetry.
6. 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)
• It appears as though when discussing each individual family
member, for example: Aunt Lucy, sister Isabelle, his mother and
father a new stanza is started.
• This works well as it creates a sense of detachment between
those at War and the family members back on the home front,
hence the stanza’s representing this wedge that the War caused
between loved ones.
• The stray enjambment and lack of punctuation acts
to really increase the pace at which the poem is read
aloud.
• This could illustrate how E.E. Cummings is possibly
frantic, or even rushing to express these thoughts
that he has of the War.
• It is as though his thoughts have been building up
over a period of time and he Is just reeling out all of
his thoughts.
Continuous repetition of
‘etcetera’ is very ambiguous,
can be interpreted differently
depending on the reader.
7. my sweet old etcetera
aunt lucy during the recent
war could and what
is more did tell you just
what everybody was fighting
for,
All lowercase letters could act to
reflect the idea that so many
hundreds of soldiers believed the
War to be futile, but despite their
opinions, the were still not
heard. Hence the lowercase
letters may portray the
insignificance of soldiers own
opinions during the time of War.
Names of the people
are not capitalised-
could act to reinforce
the lack of significance
to those on the home
front.
It appears that the soldier
is referring to his ‘aunt
lucy’ as being able to
provide justification as to
the War they were
fighting, however to me as
a reader this doesn’t make
sense as she is not fighting
the War and therefore is
unable to realise the sheer
extremity of the War.
It could also be interpreted that E.E Cummings may be using
the repetition of ‘etcetera’ as a way to denote his thoughts,
but also he may be using this word because revisiting the
memories of the War may be too painful for him.
Under the illusion of the War, it is not
what she believes it to be.
In fact she would never be able to
understand or even imagine the sheer
horror of the War
8. my sister
isabel created hundreds
(and
hundreds) of socks not to
mention shirts fleaproof earwarmers
etcetera wristers etcetera,
‘my sister’ on a single line,
appears as though it is
isolated from the rest of
the poem, highlights the
idea of the isolation that a
soldier on the frontline
may be feeling.
‘(and hundreds)’ E.E
Cummings has used the
repetition of ‘hundreds’ to
reflect that despite how
many pairs of socks that his
sister made, the amount of
socks was never enough for
the demand needed by
thousands of soldiers.
It is quite ironic that the earwarmers
are ‘fleaproof’ because the soldiers
clothes tended to be in infested with
fleas.
Again, the use of irony because a
common illness of the soldiers, was
that they often suffered significantly
with ulcerated feet and gangrene.
This was due to the fact that their
boots and socks were often
saturated through with water for
endless periods of time.
9. my
mother hoped that
i would die etcetera
bravely of course my father used
to become hoarse talking about how it was
a privilege
The repetition of ‘etcetera’
proves to be of extreme
importance as it acts to give a
sense of emptiness about the
poem- it gives me as a reader
the impression that something
is missing, he is not saying
everything that he wishes to
express.
It is important that ‘i’
is in lowercase, this
could act to reinforce
the insignificance of
the soldiers and how
one death was just
one of millions. The
idea of loss of identity
for the soldiers, they
became recognised as
this one entity rather
than the single
individuals that they
entered the War as.
This lack of certainty, once a son
left for the War the mothers could
only ‘hope’ that they returned or
‘hope’ that they were brave.
This idea of the soldiers dying ‘bravely’
is regarded to as a common theme, a
mother would not wish to hear that her
own son had died in the War as a result
of cowardice. This can be compared to
’The Hero‘ by Sassoon as despite the
fact that the soldier that died was in fact
a ‘useless swine’ the officer reporting
his death had lied and pretended to the
mother that he died bravely.
The father appears to be so preoccupied
and enthusiastic talking about the War, that
he becomes ‘hoarse’ however he did not
know the grim realities- similarly to many of
the fathers of young soldiers during World
War One.
It is as though to
‘die’ at War is an
honour.
The ‘etcetera’ here it
appears to create a pause,
and this could represent the
pain and void that is left in
your life after somebody
close to you dies.
10. and if only he
could meanwhile my
self etcetera lay quietly
in the deep mud et
cetera
Takes quite a pleading tone, it is
though the E.E. Cummings, similarly to
the majority of soldiers of World War I
would have only wished that those
back home would understand the grim
realities of the War.
The adjective ‘quietly’ proves to
be of significance as it makes
reference to the senses and
enables you as the reader to
realise that the soldier did not
scream or shout for help, he
would just simply ‘lay quietly’ and
this contrasts greatly with the
chaos and conflicting environment
of War.
Could illustrate that whilst he is
physically trapped in the ‘deep
mud’, the War itself has trapped
him mentally.
Appears that his father is clearly completely
oblivious to the harsh realities of War. ‘If only’
he really knew what went on.
11. (dreaming,
et
cetera, of
Your smile
eyes knees and of your Etcetera)
Notice that the last word ‘Etcetera’ is one of the
two only capitalised words out of the entire
poem, this could act to reflect the importance
of this thing to him (possibly the physical
aspects of a women). The listing of the various
aspects of the body for example the: ‘smile’
‘eyes’, ‘knees’ evokes the last ‘etcetera’ to be
determined by us.
‘Your’ is the first word capitalised out of the entire
poem, this just illustrates the significance that this
female has in his life. Indicates that he is referring
specifically to the women that he loves.
‘dreaming’ acts as a form of escapism for
the soldier, he is able to think of this
women’s ‘smile’ and ‘eyes’ whilst he is
asleep.
Cummings writes well, as he reflects
a realistic portrayal of emotions the
majority of the young men sent into
a War of which they did not
particularly know what they were
fighting for. Hence why the thought
of their lovers back home
preoccupied their minds.
The structure here:
the lines lose all
sense of
organisation, which
could best aim to
reflect the
unplanned thought
processes of
Cummings.
Brackets could act to illustrate how
the soldier may be quite secretive
of talking about such things.
