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omgnikki's review
3.0
august 2023 poetry challenge day 22. a dadaist of language. most poems a 2 or 3 of 5, but then sometimes there will be a poem thats a 10 and its more than worth all the rest
iphios's review
4.0
While I have read e.e. Cummings poetry before this was the first time I read a collection of his work. He is an experience, as his poetry isn't necessarily read out loud but read as its construction is part of the poem. While some were too strange to me, majority was beautiful and surprising.
rfelt's review
3.0
I was actually a little disappointed by this. I didn't really understand a lot of the poems, and I definitely acknowledge that it is in due to my lack of study or time spent with the poems. I've learned by experience that something that appears to be over my head or of little worth is completely flipped if I spend time with it or someone teaches me where and how to read a work of art (be that a book, poem, movie, painting, etc). His poems are interesting and I did like the ones that had fun sounds--they were fun to listen to if I read them aloud. Here are two that caught my attention most profoundly though:
34:
"nothing" the unjust man complained
"is just" ("or un-" the just rejoined
42:
n
OthI
n
g can
s
urPas
s
the m
y
SteR
y
of
s
tilLnes
s
I liked the first one because it's so true--when we feel one way it is very hard to see it any other way. The just see it only as just, the unjust only as unjust. How can I combat that within myself?
The second one is fun--stillness as a mystery. That alone is intriguing, but the way the poem is set up with capitalization errors and the deconstruction of words makes the whole poem a mystery--and not a still one at that.
34:
"nothing" the unjust man complained
"is just" ("or un-" the just rejoined
42:
n
OthI
n
g can
s
urPas
s
the m
y
SteR
y
of
s
tilLnes
s
I liked the first one because it's so true--when we feel one way it is very hard to see it any other way. The just see it only as just, the unjust only as unjust. How can I combat that within myself?
The second one is fun--stillness as a mystery. That alone is intriguing, but the way the poem is set up with capitalization errors and the deconstruction of words makes the whole poem a mystery--and not a still one at that.
ingerlouise's review against another edition
5.0
my favourite poet of all time, though not for the faint of heart. this collection will leave you stunned by its beautiful imagery and at the same time utterly confused by its phrasing. i will have to keep rereading this for the rest of my life before i understand all of what Mr Cummings is trying to say.
andybysea's review
3.0
Some of the poems are annoying to read and seem to have no meaning at all. Maybe it's just my inability to understand what tf they're saying
hyacinth_girl's review
4.0
I have read a few e. e. cumming poems before, but never one right after the other. I thought he was a strange, but interesting and beautiful poet. And after having just read 73 of his poems, I now find him to be even more strange and more beautiful. I picked 2 of his that were my favorites:
Me up at does
out of the floor
quietly Stare
a poisoned mouse
still who alive
is asking What
have i done that
You wouldn't have
AND
everybody happy?
WE-WE-WE
& to hell with the chappy
who doesn't agree
(if you can't dentham
comma bentham;
or 1 law for the lions &
oxen is science)
Q:how numb can an unworld get?
A:number
I think these poems are fantastic and have endings that are extremely poignant. I also like e. e. cummings use of "i" and "you" which are sometimes interchangeable, sometimes the same thing... I find it all very fascinating. Totally worth it to read!
Me up at does
out of the floor
quietly Stare
a poisoned mouse
still who alive
is asking What
have i done that
You wouldn't have
AND
everybody happy?
WE-WE-WE
& to hell with the chappy
who doesn't agree
(if you can't dentham
comma bentham;
or 1 law for the lions &
oxen is science)
Q:how numb can an unworld get?
A:number
I think these poems are fantastic and have endings that are extremely poignant. I also like e. e. cummings use of "i" and "you" which are sometimes interchangeable, sometimes the same thing... I find it all very fascinating. Totally worth it to read!
ismay's review
4.0
At first, I couldn’t make any sense of this poetry book. Then I gave it to my dad. He read a poem aloud, once, and then again, and then again, unravelling sense like a tangle of string.
I haven’t read them all, but this is my favourite so far. (It is disarming, and has more than one meaning, I think.)
Me up at does
out of the floor
quietly Stare
a poisoned mouse
still who alive
is asking What
have i done that
You wouldn’t have
I haven’t read them all, but this is my favourite so far. (It is disarming, and has more than one meaning, I think.)
Me up at does
out of the floor
quietly Stare
a poisoned mouse
still who alive
is asking What
have i done that
You wouldn’t have