Friday, August 15, 2008

l(a


l(a

l

e

af

fa

ll

s)
one
l

iness

by E.E. Cummings

Text from The Book of Forms: A Handbook of Poetics by Lewis Turco

2 comments:

Dr Jack Ross said...

I use this poem in my stage one Creative Writing Course -- it really irritates the students, but the more we discuss it, the more they begin to respect it, I think -- albeit grudgingly.

After that I play them Hone Tuwhare reading out his poem "Cummings" ...

by kd said...

It really is a beautiful poem. Everything fits together so well in just four words.

I love the parenthesis within the word -- it seems to mime the connoting process itself.

And then the form mimes BOTH a falling leaf AND the letters' 'loneliness' from each other.

And finally the last '-iness' suggests that it is the grounding noun-marker/thing-maker for the preceding sum.

Damn -- now I have to hear Tuwhare's poem. I guess I'll have to get a hold of this:

NZ Poets in Performance...
http://aonzpsa.blogspot.com/2007/11/classic-nz-poets-in-performance.html