Decoding E.E Cummings’ Purposeful Idiosyncrasies Through Stylistic Analysis

Of all literary genres known to mankind, poetry is one form that has an unclear distinction, standard, and structure. Indeed, 21st century literature is replete with evidences of deviation from the usual form of language – or poetic license as they put it. Many poets are going interested in linguistic experimentation in which syntax, lexis, capitalization, and punctuation are deemed to be unconventional and unique. Speaking of deviation of the norm, Edward Estlin Cummings, or often stylized as E.E. Cummings, is quite the pioneer of an avant-garde poetry, especially how he writes his poems in a peculiar and unusual fashion.

With the rise of stylistic analysis in literature, the works of E.E. Cummings are being put into the limelight wherein readers and critics can view his poetry into a linguistic perspective and how looking into its form would reveal a new meaning and interpretation. This paper would look into the poem mOOn Over tOwns mOOn (1935) and will be analyzed in terms of linguistic deviations in two levels (graphological, and lexical levels). Likewise, peculiarities in grammar, and syntax will also looked into the poem correspondingly.

In analyzing Cummings’ poems’ it’s graphology is the easiest to identify, since it is in the most superficial level of linguistic deviation (Li & Shi, 2015). In the poem, spacing, punctuation, uppercase and lowercase letters, line divisions and breaks are styled unusually. These purposeful idiosyncrasies have effectively employed all the possibilities of visual patterns in this poem. Take for example, of all the letters in the poem, the letter ‘O’ seemed to appear 18 times (11 times capitalized, 7 times decapitalized). Given much emphasis to the letter ‘O’, the reader is left to assume that the letter ‘O is the symbolization of the moon. In the first two stanzas, the letter ‘O’ is in uppercase – it can suggest a magnification or emphasis of the moon, showing the fullness and roundness of the moon hanging high and watching over the towns. Additionally, the capitalized ‘O’ may also imply wide-open eyes and mouths of the townspeople that reveals their excitement, eagerness, and anticipation at the sight of the moon. On the other hand, it can be seen on the last stanza the decapitalization of the letter ‘O’ while the other letters are in uppercase. This may indicate that in the latter part of the poem, the previously excited townspeople lost its interest while looking at the moon, and turning into a blind eye to the beauty the heaven has to offer to them. This meaningful scattering of small and capital letters on the poem is only one of Cummings’ usual typographical oddities. He used letters to effectively employ all the possibilities of visual patterns, especially in this poem.

In relation to words and lexicon, it is observable that this poem consists of his infamous neologisms and lexical coinages, through affixation such as ‘gropingness’ and ‘dreamest’. The addition of the suffixes –ness (noun suffix to express a state, condition, quality, or degree) and –est (adjective or adverb suffix used to form the superlative degree) intend to imply newly-formed concepts on searching for something by reaching (groping) or visualizing something in its extreme (dream). These neologisms help in evoking the visual imagery in the readers’ minds. Furthermore, it is also manifested in the first and second stanzas of the poem, its second line is always a verb – ‘whisper’ and ‘float’. The use of these verbs also imply to describe the moon – ‘whisper’ can be a personification of the moonlight, a silent connection between the moon and the man, while ‘float’ can be used to describe the position of the moon in the sky. These verbs indeed are used wisely in the poem to induce an image of the moon.

As far as grammar and syntax is concerned, the poem sacrificed the formal rules of language. In the second stanza, the second ‘who’ takes an unlikely position in the sentence as its inclusion is somehow redundant. However, if it was grammatically correct, the pattern 5-1-5-2 syllabication may have been broken. Likewise, despite an obvious chaos in grammar and word order, the poem has effectively commenced an expression of spontaneity and precision.

Indubitably, E.E. Cummings lived up to his reputation of producing novelty and experimental poems. Despite this, he has excellently seamed words that maybe peculiar at first glance, but will incorporate a lot of meaning and imagery. Discerning these purposeful idiosyncrasies of Cummings’ poetry through stylistic analysis is somehow an attempt to comprehend his liberties in art, aesthetics, and visual style, command of vocabulary and remarkable innovation which he enjoys to reflect his feelings of appreciation of natural beauty, particularly in this poem.