POETRY JOURNAL #3 (A)

TITLE: since feeling is first
AUTHOR: e. e. cummings
STYLE: Literary critic

Speaker: someone in love
Occasion: looking back on their past and how it has helped their future
Audience: speaking to his/her lover
Purpose: to reinstate his/ her love for one another
Subject: they are in love despite their differences and their flaws
TONE: reflective, purposeful, glad

In since feeling is first Cummings reveals the love two persons have for one another despite their differences and/or their flaws. He begins by addressing the different stages in building a relationship, “since feeling is first” to after a few dates, “kisses are a far better fate than wisdom”. Cummings conveys the idea that true love is looking past one another’s flaws and bringing together each others’ differences, uniting as one. Cummings does a great job through choosing his words precisely and concisely; his structure and style just reemphasizes his message.
Cummings writes his poems in lower cases; he is known for writing with a unique style of syntax. Also, he is known for writing sonnets. Cummings use of syntax and lowercase words helps paint the picture; oddly enough, he is able to write a poem with errors and still be able to convey the necessary message. For instance, “for life’s not a paragraph” and “death I think is no parenthesis” are both incomplete thoughts yet as a reader, it is obvious that Cummings understands that love is not an everlasting thing or does not last long as a paragraph would however even after death love is limitless and has no boundaries. Cummings use of both syntax and lowercase words is idiosyncratic and therefore distinguishes his poems from any other poets.