Analysis on (E. ec) um! Mi, n, g-s' poem:
r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r
r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r Who
a ) s w (e loo)k
Upnowgath PPEGORHRASS eringint( o-
aThe:) l eA ! p: s
a to aThe):l eA !p:
S a (r rIvInG gRrEaPsPhOs to rea(be)rran(com)gi(e)ngly
la ,grasshopper;
A possible translation:
A grasshopper who we look up now gathering a GRASSHOPPER into leaps: arriving grasshopper rearrangingly become a grasshopper
Introduction
E. E. Cummings, born in 1894, was an , painter, essayist, , and . His body of work encompasses approximately 2,900 poems, two autobiographical novels, four plays and several essays, as well as numerous drawings and paintings. He is remembered as a preeminent voice of , as well as one of the most popular.
He loved cubism and futurism in painting, while all the achievements he made in other areas can hardly be compared with what he did in poetry.
In general, his poems can be classified into 3 categories: Blues Poetry, which just like the Blues music, utilizes lyric, rhythm and rhyme, and shares some similar themes such as lost love; concrete poetry, in which typographical arrangement of the words is important in conveying the effect and elements of the poem; futurist, which believes that the constraints of syntax were inappropriate to modern life and that it did not truly represent the mind of the poet. Syntax would serve as a filter in which analogies had to be processed and so analogies would lose their characteristic \
was the top concern. In this way, he was able to create a now language free of syntax punctuation and full of free expression.
Attached to his free and creative way of relating, I would like to give a brief stylistic analysis of his famous poem: \The examination will deal with phonological, graphological, lexical, syntactical, and semantic analyses respectively.
Graphological Features
1) Punctuation
. Cummings had a constant love for punctuation, especially in a random way. Hyphens are used to link the randomly spelled letters，which creates an impression of coherence；brackets are used to limit the letters into a certain space, such as (e loo), in order to create an effect of closure which coperate with the phrase of \effect of bouncing, which characterizes the motions of the grasshopper. Colons are also used to attract readers' attention. The punctuation takes up an organic part of the Cummings's poems；however, it consists only an auxiliary part some other poems. It seems clear that from the perspective of modernism, every part of the poem can contribute to the wholeness of its poetic effect. Punctuations are endowed with a sense of freshness and novelty in cummings' poetry.
2) Capitalization
Capitalization as well as decapitalization is a device frequently applied in Cumming's poetry. The basic function of these devices is to emphasis. Take his name for example, he usually spelled his name as to illustrate his own self-identification that he was nothing more important or distinguished than others and in addition, he wanted himself to be modest.
In this poem, there are two outstanding capitalizations which catch my eyes: PPEGORHRASS and gRrEaPsPhOs. These two achieve the effect of foregrounding. Seen from a distance, these two words can call readers' attention more easily and successfully.
PPEGORHRASS, through proper arrangement, can form the word \The first grasshopper in this poem is decapitalized and is linked by hyphens so that create a picture of a grasshopper crawls or stays with no apparent motions, while by highlighting the word PPEGORHRASS, the picture suddenly become dynamic, and the grasshopper all of a sudden become active, which arouses the interest of the readers and adds vitality into the poem.
Another example is gRrEaPsPhOs. As we can see, the second half of the poem takes the shape of a grasshopper( I will cover this point shortly afterwards.), and through the picture I gave above, this word gRrEaPsPhOs is exactly the abdomen of this insect. Judging from our common sense, we know what external form it is. And arrangement of the letters in this way can just depict the abdomen of an insect with stripes.
Here, we can see that through the devices of capitalization and decapitalization, the poet can achieve a far-reaching denotative meaning as well as a picturesque effect.
3) Paragraphing
By paragraphing, we mean the way in which a text is divided into paragraphs. And this poem is divided into two halves. The first half is in words and in the second half, the shape of a grasshopper is composed. The result is that when we read this poem, we are welcomed by a short introduction and a grasshopper at the bottom of the poem. The way he divided this poem is quite creative and imaginative. It makes a breakthrough in the traditional form of poetry and set foot in combining poems with pictures, or composing pictures in letters. It challenges people's common understanding of poetry and provides a broader view of modernism.
4) Graphic signs
Graphic signs are frequently used in cummings' poems, for this part is an indispensable component in his expression of his thoughts. This poem is a visual poem. The shape of his poem can also convey certain meaning, for example, this poem is arranged in the shape of a grasshopper; another poem of his took the shape of a cat. The graphic sign indicates the theme of his poem and also becomes a trick to the readers' eyes and creates a different and
imaginative way of composing as well as reading a poem.
Another trick played by cummings is enjambment, in which the words jump from line to line randomly and wait for the reader to rearrange them. In this poem, this feature is quite obvious. This poem is said to create a figure of an erratic grasshopper and jumping is involved in its nature. Our eyes move from side to side to catch the trace of the grasshopper, otherwise, we run the risk of losing ourselves in the poem.
In addition to enjambment, the poems leave much room for margins. The bouncing of the letters in the first paragraph creates large chunk of margin in the middle of the poem. Instead of calling for pausing or introspective as the margins in other literature works, this chunk of margin is not provided for the rest of the eyes but for exercises. By constantly moving the eye from side to side can he understands the poem and also gets a sense of the dynamic movement of the insect as if there were a grasshopper on the paper, before the eye. This is one of the major fun or power of ' poetry. He successfully combines visual effect with written forms.
5) Spelling
Misspelling is another device enjoys cumming's favor. In each line of his poem, one should not take its spelling into serious consideration, but to read it out loud as a whole and not in parentheses as one word. For example, r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r, only by understanding with proper insight can we catch the real form of the word and follow the poet's intention.
Lexical features
1）The use of specific words
In cumming's poems, subordinate words are used more regularly than the superordinate ones. In this poem, such as grasshopper, look up, leap and so on. Subordinate words are easier for people to understand and give people a more specific view of the content of the poem.
2）The use of connotative words
文体学e.e.cummings诗歌分析
