E. E. Cummings'

A detailed Summary of E. E. Cummings'

E. E. Cummings was known for his experimentation with form, punctuation, spelling and syntax, abandoning traditional techniques and structures to create a new, highly distinctive means of poetic expression that was all his own. In the poem "Spring is like a perhaps hand", the use of irregular word patterns is flagrant and at first seems to present a serious obstacle to understanding the poem. Through the course of the poem, however, both Cummings' verbal devices and the meaning of the poem are revealed as the reader breaks down any hurdles that the style of poetry presents at first. The prejudices regarding language dissipate and give way to derivation of universal meaning and the underlying theme within the poem.

The tongue practically trips over itself when reading the title aloud, abandoning the rules of grammar. The first stanza is hectic and cramped, with words

The second and fourth stanzas reaffirm the image of spring's perhaps hand as that of a mother. The second stanza, "changing everything carefully", and the fourth, "without breaking anything" perfectly describe the motions of a mother's hand, and its svelte consistency. When has mother ever tipped over and shattered her own porcelain bowl? Never. Mother's hand may seem spastic in her spring cleaning, but every minor movement is deliberate and with purpose. Just as the living room is transformed within a couple hours by mother, the spring landscape changes from winter to summer.

In the third stanza, aspects of nature are associated with the "perhaps Hand". "spring is like a perhaps Hand...(carefully to and fro moving New and Old things...moving a perhaps fraction of flower here placing an inch of air there)". This emphasizes the theme of spring in the poem. In the sp

Some common words found in the essay are:
E Cummings, E Cummings', spring hand, poem cummings', spring cleaning, mother's hand, word patterns,

Approximate Word count = 587
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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