Cumming's Poetry

i carry your heart with me by E. E. Cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is 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 the 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)

The poem encompasses an exaggeration right from the start in that it is physically impossible to carry someone’s heart inside your own. This exaggeration though shows the powerful feelings love has brought into E.E. Cummings’ life.

The poem only has one major shift that can be identified and it occurs in the transition between stanza two and three. The entire poem is about the strong emotions that love makes you feel but in the third stanza, there are no real descriptions of the love that is felt like there is in the first and second stanza.

From the E.E. Cummings poems I have read, he always alters the physical structure of his stanzas in some way that is significant to the meaning of the poem. I will touch on this after I try to analyze Cumming's meaning benign the work. upon first reading the work strikes me as a profession of love  to some woman. This is not just any love however, this is a deep connection. He "carrries" her heart meaning this person is with him in physicality and spirit, an achievement only feasible through a deep romantic connection. The speaker states that he carries the other's heart inside of his own. Their hearts (representative of internal love and care) are one meaning that they have become one being, beating together in the name of love. This unity is expressed when the speaker states, "anywhere i go you go, my dear..." (line 2-3). 

In the second stanza, the speaker continues to pour his "heart" out to the person that he loves. However, I think that this love could be negative.  The love the speaker feels is blinding. He feels no fear of the future (or sense of it for that matter).

Also, I think Cumming's use of parentheses inside the poem represent how this object of the speakers affection is so close to them that they are inside of him. Like a part of the same being.

I think the theme of this poem is that love unites and prevails over all. The speaker reveals that the "deepest secret"  is that love is the meaning of life, The tree is symbolic of life and "here is the roost" which is love. This love is "higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide". Love is not an idea but an entity in this poem. Cumming's almost makes a devotion like love seem like a religious practice in his elevation of its effect on existence and spirit. 

*p.s. I just realized how I kind of made a huge assumption about the poem based on gender stereotypes. I assumed that the professor of love is a man. this is most likely because, stereotypically, men are the one who are the pursuers in a romantic relationship. 

Initial thoughts on Age of Innocence

     Our first Literature circle assignment was the first ten chapters of Age of Innocence and thus far, I cannot see past the blazing gender stereotypes that pervade almost every part of the novel. So far, Edith Wharton (if she truly wanted this to be a "muckraking-esque" piece) succeeds in making me annoyed by the blind neutrality to gender discrimination in this "elite" New York society. The story introduces us to Newland Archer whom I cannot tell so far if the man is characteristic of an antagonist or protagonist. He seems to float around the skirts of this high society men. However, there is a point of distinction in his self awareness (besides the mere fact that eh seems to be the only one who is self aware or introspective at all). He claims that he is different from these superficial men though, but I will just have to see as I read further into the novel. I have noticed a lot too that women are pretty much like objects. the first metaphor that comes to my mind is a Thanksgiving turkey (I am already in the holiday spirit). For instance, at the Opera, the women basically "dress" themselves up in their finest jewels and attire to attract the eye of these high society men. This objectification is so central to the livelihood of this society I believe. Women seem just to be another object to attain just as the newest garment or best decor.. Thus, the I think that further into the book there will be the persistence of men having dominance over women. The objectification of women not only is impressed upon men I feel but also ingrained into the conditioning of the young women. I can only presume that from childhood they are taught to be obedient, soft-spoken, and kind basically be submissive and don't speak your mind so that you might find a good husband. The funny thing is though that the women in this cult of domesticity appear to be perfectly contempt with their "bottom fo the ladder" social status. May Welland is perfectly oblivious to Archer's sly and well-hidden view of her as a child.
      Thus, I I cannot refrain from referencing the title of the text. The "age of innocence" I believe is the period in time in which Wharton lived in which the only thing that fed the continuance of such ignorant, elite living is the innocence of women. Maybe she is stressing the strength of women. It seems that they are pawns in the grand scheme of things but maybe they are really keeping everything together...more to come on this later.

Blake and Literature Connections

In the epigraph of Grendel, an excerpt is included from William Blake's poem "The Mental Traveler". When I researched the critical reception of this poem, many critics agreed that the poem expresses so many contradicting ideas that it is difficult for the reader to identify to anyone. Even this relates to Grendel in some ways. Grendel, a monster, is affected by his not human yet not entirely animal form. Thus, as he feels himself to possess a combination of both creatures, he also feels a combination of sadness and frustration at his isolation from humans and his angst towards the thoughtlessness of animals. Furthermore, the character Orc first is from Blake's poem. Orc is representative of rebellion yet he is a positive figure. Thus, as a breaker of tradition, this character is a metaphor towards Grendel's disruption of thane culture and system. "The Mental Traveller" and Grendel both address the cyclic nature of life. In Grendel this is representative by the zodiac signs and the seasons which mark cosmic rotations as a tracker of time. Grendel’s actions too have a cyclic nature. As a youth, Grendel experienced a tragic event that wounded him mentally and physically. When Grendel is stuck in the tree, he describes the shrieks and call for help. It can even be said that Grendel has been tortured his whole life. Thus, he continues a cycle of pain and torture towards others through his terrorizing of the thanes. By terrorizing them, Grendel attempts to interrupt the order of their society and in doing so he is trying to break out of his own cycle of torture. Blake's poem has been thought to portray the idea of liberty. In Grendel, this concept is reminiscent in Plato's allegory of the cave in which Grendel's venture from outside of the cave is him trying to gain his freedom. Furthermore, I think the image of the “woman old” is manifested in the book through Grendel’s mother. In the poem, this woman is a very painful figure for the boy. In the novel, I think Gardner parallels this woman to the frustration and pain that Grendel’s mother has caused Grendel. Progressively in the novel, Grendel becomes more and more critical and disgusted by his mother’s seemingly thoughtless and mechanical actions. He wishes not to be reduced to the likes of an animal yet his mother seems to be stuck in her role as a monster. When Grendel screams for his mother’s help she does not come even further distancing himself from her. I think that Grendel gradually outgrows his mother. He is enlightened simply by the fact that he decides to leave his cave to venture into the unknown. Thus, when she does not answer his calls, I feel this is because she cannot understand him anymore because she is not enlightened. At this point, I am not quite sure if Gardner‘s novel was entirely influenced by Blake’s poem; however, both works address similar and connected themes. My question really is: Is Grendel is more of an extension of Beowulf or “The Mental Traveler”?