I wish I could find a credit for the author of this, because it's brilliant:
"Although one may think of l(a as a poem of sadness and loneliness, cummings probably did not intend that. This poem is about individuality - oneness. The theme of oneness can be derived from the numerous instances and forms of the number '1' throughout the poem. First, 'l(a' contains both the number 1 and the singular indefinite article, 'a'; the second line contains the French singular definite article, 'le'; 'll' on the fifth line represents two ones; 'one' on the 7th line spells the number out; the 8th line, 'l', isolates the number; and 'iness', the last line, can mean "the state of being I" - that is, individuality - or "oneness", deriving the "one" from the lowercase roman numeral 'i'. cummings could have simplified this poem drastically ("a leaf falls:/loneliness"), and still conveyed the same verbal message, but he has altered the normal syntax in order that each line should show a 'one' and highlight the theme of oneness. In fact, the whole poem is shaped like a '1'."
wow, that's really interesting. i'm actually just about to start a small paper on this piece for english class so if you could find that source, would you mind dropping me a line? i'd really appreciate it. thank you :)
This is really interesting to me, because I have always thought of the poem as primarily twos, and a progression of one to more...
l(a - two letters
le - two letters, la-le work together well af
fa - again, two letters af/fa palindromic ll - two lls s) - the plural, two characters
one - the e is silent - one =two l - this does appear as one, but in the poem does not function alone iness - two syllables
lastly, it represents the quickening fall of a leaf in the number of lines per "stanza" - 1 2 3 3
i really like how many ones in thes poem are composed of plurals - the content-combo of object (leaf) and concept (loneliness) as well as the visual/stylistic effects of syllables, etc. - a combination leads to a(1) whole.
additionally, i don't think that "a leaf falls:/loneliness" would be the same as cummings' poem, because he is showing a leaf falling in loneliness, as if loneliness is actually composed of a leaf falling, rather than the leaf merely representing loneliness. i guess the line between those two interpretations is very fine. cummings does a beautiful job of illustrating a concept into tangible existence.
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Date: 2004-08-24 04:03 am (UTC)I wish I could find a credit for the author of this, because it's brilliant:
"Although one may think of l(a as a poem of sadness and loneliness, cummings probably did not intend that. This poem is about individuality - oneness. The theme of oneness can be derived from the numerous instances and forms of the number '1' throughout the poem. First, 'l(a' contains both the number 1 and the singular indefinite article, 'a'; the second line contains the French singular definite article, 'le'; 'll' on the fifth line represents two ones; 'one' on the 7th line spells the number out; the 8th line, 'l', isolates the number; and 'iness', the last line, can mean "the state of being I" - that is, individuality - or "oneness", deriving the "one" from the lowercase roman numeral 'i'. cummings could have simplified this poem drastically ("a leaf falls:/loneliness"), and still conveyed the same verbal message, but he has altered the normal syntax in order that each line should show a 'one' and highlight the theme of oneness. In fact, the whole poem is shaped like a '1'."
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Date: 2004-08-24 04:58 am (UTC)♥
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Date: 2004-08-24 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-25 06:15 pm (UTC)l(a - two letters
le - two letters, la-le work together well
af
fa - again, two letters af/fa palindromic
ll - two lls
s) - the plural, two characters
one - the e is silent - one =two
l - this does appear as one, but in the poem does not function alone
iness - two syllables
lastly, it represents the quickening fall of a leaf in the number of lines per "stanza" - 1 2 3 3
i really like how many ones in thes poem are composed of plurals - the content-combo of object (leaf) and concept (loneliness) as well as the visual/stylistic effects of syllables, etc. - a combination leads to a(1) whole.
additionally, i don't think that "a leaf falls:/loneliness" would be the same as cummings' poem, because he is showing a leaf falling in loneliness, as if loneliness is actually composed of a leaf falling, rather than the leaf merely representing loneliness. i guess the line between those two interpretations is very fine. cummings does a beautiful job of illustrating a concept into tangible existence.
thanks for sharing!:o)
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Date: 2004-08-24 04:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-24 04:59 am (UTC)♥
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Date: 2004-08-24 04:52 pm (UTC)