For Comparative Analysis. Read the poem by E.E. Cummings

Read the poem by E.E. Cummings.

in Just –

in Just-

spring when the world is mud-

luscious the little

lame baloonman

whistles far and wee

and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and

piracies and it’s

spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer

old baloonman whistles

far and wee

and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it’s

spring

and

the

goat-footed

baloonMan whistles

far

and

wee

Discussion Questions

1. Comment on the external structure and rhythm of the poem.

2. Cummings handles words creatively. Why are the two compounds mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful so effective? What is Just-spring?

3. What is the effect of Cummings’ running together the words eddieandbill and bettyandisbel?

4. Why is wee more meaningful in this poem than small or little?

5. Find the allusion to the god Pan in the poem. How does it add to the scope and meaning of the poem?

6. How would you imagine the character of the poet from this text?

7. Compare the two poems: their sentence structure, word layout, rhythmic organization, rhyme, and punctuation.

Read the poem by E. Dickenson.

Heart! We will forget him!

You and I – tonight!

You may forget the Warmth he gave –

I will forget the Light!

When you have done, pray tell me

That I may straight begin!

Haste! lest while you’re lagging

I remember him!

Discussion Questions

1. Which stanza sets the theme?

2. What is the function of the exclamatory sentences in the poem?

3. Analyze the sentence structure paying special attention to short sentences.

4. Identify keywords in the poem. What message do they convey? What stylistic device do they create?

5. Can the words Warmth and Light be considered as contextual synonyms? Why or why not?

6. Pick out the antonymous verbs and identify their function.

7. Why is the word forget used three times and what is its function?

8. What state of mind of the heroine does the modal verb may indicate?

Read the following translations and say which variant is closer to the original taking into consideration imagery and vocabulary.

Сердце! Мы забыть должны!

Не нужно ждать рассвет!

Тепло его забудешь ты,

А я забуду свет!

Скажи, когда закончишь,

Молю, чтоб мне начать!

Спеши! Пока ты тянешь,

На мне его печать!

(Translated by S. Boichenko)

Под вечер, мое сердце,

В могиле забытья

Схорони его тепло,

А свет задую я.

Как хоронить закончишь,

Дай знать: Тебя молю,

Скорей! Пока ты медлишь,

Я всё еще люблю!

(Translated by B. Leivi)