Poetry Across Time
Conflict
Introduce
next to of course god
america i
By E. E. Cummings
Establish
America?
Identify/Discuss
Identify/Discuss
next to of course
god america i
By E. E. Cummings
Edward Estin Cummings was born in Massachusetts, USA on 14
October 1894 and died in 1962. In the First World War he was a
volunteer ambulance driver, but was imprisoned for 3 1/2 months in
a French concentration camp when his letters home drew the
attention of the military censors. He is known as an avant-garde
poet, well known for experimenting with punctuation, syntax and
structure and playing with both words and ideas. This poem was
published in 1926 when anti-war sentiments where considered
unpatriotic and shocking.
"The chief effect of Cummings' jugglery with syntax, grammar,
and diction is to blow open otherwise trite and bathetic motifs
through a dynamic rediscovery of the energies sealed up in
conventional usage.... He succeeds masterfully in splitting the
atom of the cute commonplace." M. L. Rosenthal, The Modern
Poets: A Critical Introduction
"Cummings' innovations are best understood as various ways of
stripping the film of familiarity from language in order to strip
the film of familiarity from the world. Transform the word, he
seems to have felt, and you are on the way to transforming the
world." Norman Friedman, E. E. Cummings: The Growth of a
Writer
Author's Ideas and Background
next to of course god america i
“next to of course god america i
love you land of the pilgrims’ and so forth oh
say can you see by the dawn’s early my
country ’tis of centuries come and go
and are no more what of it we should worry
in every language even deafanddumb
thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry
by jingo by gee by gosh by gum
why talk of beauty what could be more beautiful than these heroic happy dead
who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter
they did not stop to think they died instead
then shall the voice of liberty be mute?”
He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water
E. E. CUMMINGS
Poem
next to of course god america i
Where is
this line
taken from?
American slangWhy?
Powerful image
of battle and
death. Implies?
{
“next to of course god america i
love you land of the pilgrims’ and so forth oh
say can you see by the dawn’s early my
country ’tis of centuries come and go
and are no more what of it we should worry
in every language even deafanddumb
thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry
by jingo by gee by gosh by gum
why talk of beauty what could be more beautiful than these heroic happy dead
who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter
they did not stop to think they died instead
then shall the voice of liberty be mute?”
What does this
suggest about the
speaker?
Purpose/Effect of
enjambement?
Dismissive,
undermines his
commitment.
Speaking so hastily
that he has
mispronounced
'golly'
He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water
What does this last line suggest?
E. E. CUMMINGS
Framed
Overview:
‘next to of course god america i’ is a satirical poem. The
absence of punctuation and capitalisation allows the
reader to engage with the poem’s ambiguity – what does
the speaker actually intend with his words? It is
interesting that he chooses to capitalise the pronoun
‘He’ as if placing the speaker in a place of superiority or
distance. He initially appears to glorify America,
although this is also ambiguous as he tempers this with
phrases such as ‘and so forth’. His oxymoronic
description of the soldiers as ‘heroic happy dead’ also
leaves the reader feeling ambivalent. In many ways one
can view this as a very modern poem, with many of the
criticisms Cummings levels at his country being as
relevant today as they were in the 1920s.
What criticisms are
contained within the poem?
Establish/Discuss
Jingoism
Definition:
extreme patriotism in the
form of aggressive foreign
policy"
There is much talk about
'jingoism'. If by 'jingoism' they
mean a policy in pursuance of which
Americans will with resolution and
common sense insist upon our rights
being respected by foreign powers,
then we are 'jingoes'.
It refers to the use of threats or
actual force against other countries
in order to safeguard national
interests, and colloquially to
excessive bias in judging one's
own country as superior to others –
an extreme type of nationalism.
Etymology:
The phrase 'by jingo' was a long
established oath, but the specific
political label 'jingoism' originated
from a song that was commonly
sung in British pubs and referred to
by a prominent British radical
George Holylake in the Daily News
on 13th March, 1878.
Theodore Roosevelt,
8th October, 1895
We don't want to fight but by Jingo if we do
We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money too
We've fought the Bear before, and while we're Britons true
The Russians shall not have Constantinople...
G. W. Hunt
Establish/Discuss
Endings:
they did not stop to think they died instead
then shall the voice of liberty be mute?"
He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water
Reflection...
* Who is 'He'?
What impression do we get of
him?
* Is his speech rambling words?
Does the poet have a deeper
purpose?
Explain your ideas.
Skill: Symbolism
Interpreting the text:
1
Language
Think about the use of hyperbole, oxymorons
and alliteration. What effects do they achieve?
Imagery
Find where the poet uses a simile and personification
in this poem. Why are these images used?
Punctuation
Track the punctuation of the poem.
Is its use significant? What about capital letters?
Skill: Interpreting the Text
Look at the images below:
Can you find the quotation/idea
that they refer to?
Agree or Disagree!
Which 3 statements do you think are most useful?
1. Because Cummings capitalises the H in
'He' but not the pronoun 'i', he is placing
the speaker and his personality at the centre of the poem.
2. Cummings leaves out most of the punctuation so the reader can
choose where to pause for humorous/ironic effect.
3. The poem initially comes across as rambling and a little
incoherent but this effectively emphasises the internal conflict
of the speaker.
4. The use of rhyme and alliteration gives the poem an internal
structure that makes it seem to sound quite pleasant.
5. The glorification of war and the soldiers is a form of hyperbole
as the speaker doesn’t seem to mean it; it is used for effect.
6. Without Cummings' use of oxymorons, the poem would lose its
uncertainty as it could either be read as either patriotic or antiAmerican.
7. Not having a capital A for America in the title confirms that the
poem is not patriotic.
Agree/Disagree
Question Time!
1. How can we tell the poet is mocking
the speaker?
2. How does the title of the poem
relate to the content?
3. How does the poet build up to an emotive end?
4. What do you think the poet wants the public to do?
5. Why has the poet used extracts from well known
American patriotic songs?
Quick Questions
The Star Spangled Banner
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY (1814)
Additional
America
1
My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring!
2
My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.
3
Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
4
Our fathers' God to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright,
With freedom's holy light,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King.
SAMUEL FRANCIS SMITH (1831)
Additional
Links:
Poet reads the poem:
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/
singlePoem.do?poemId=7158
Biography of poet:
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/
singlePoet.do?poetId=7157
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/e-e-cummings
Analysis of poem:
http://bookstove.com/poetry/patriotism-and-poetrynext-to-of-course-god-america-i-by-e-e-cummings/
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/
cummings/nexttoofcourse.htm
Recording of poet talking about what an artist is:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/
profilepages/cummingse1.shtml
Links and References