love is a place
by E. E. Cummings
love is a place& through this place of
love move
(with brightness of peace)
all places
yes is a world
& in this world of
yes live
(skilfully curled)
all worlds
Here is a short little poem by E.E. Cummings. The poem stands out as an affirmation of life and love where the ideal qualities of life hold sway over the concrete.
It starts off with the metaphor of love as a place. The second line builds up anticipation about what will move through this place of love. The third line love move is a near rhyme with the O in love being a short O and the O in move being a long O. Here the two syllable line love move is one of those classic Cummings phrases that stand out apart from the pieces of the whole itself. The fourth line continues in brackets and colors the places that move through love, that they move with brightness of peace. And the last line of the first stanza explains that the places that move through love are all places. So love is the stationary place and the actual physical locations move through a place called love, with brightness of peace. The poem isn't exactly sensible in this aspect on the first read through as idea of other places moving through love doesn't appear until the end.
The second stanza begins with yes is a world. It will follow the same pattern as the first stanza wherein an abstract concept will be given more concrete reality than reality itself. In this case the world of yes. The second line builds up to what lives within the world of yes, and the third line like as in the first stanza can be either taken alone in it's intensity to mean yes live, or as part of the whole in this case pertaining to what lives in the world of yes. The fourth line of the second stanza remains symmetrical with the first and is bracketed. It shades and colors how things live in the world of yes, which is skillfully curled. And the final line states that all worlds live in the world of yes.
It starts off with the metaphor of love as a place. The second line builds up anticipation about what will move through this place of love. The third line love move is a near rhyme with the O in love being a short O and the O in move being a long O. Here the two syllable line love move is one of those classic Cummings phrases that stand out apart from the pieces of the whole itself. The fourth line continues in brackets and colors the places that move through love, that they move with brightness of peace. And the last line of the first stanza explains that the places that move through love are all places. So love is the stationary place and the actual physical locations move through a place called love, with brightness of peace. The poem isn't exactly sensible in this aspect on the first read through as idea of other places moving through love doesn't appear until the end.
The second stanza begins with yes is a world. It will follow the same pattern as the first stanza wherein an abstract concept will be given more concrete reality than reality itself. In this case the world of yes. The second line builds up to what lives within the world of yes, and the third line like as in the first stanza can be either taken alone in it's intensity to mean yes live, or as part of the whole in this case pertaining to what lives in the world of yes. The fourth line of the second stanza remains symmetrical with the first and is bracketed. It shades and colors how things live in the world of yes, which is skillfully curled. And the final line states that all worlds live in the world of yes.
Who is the speaker in "love is a place"?
ReplyDelete