Form and structure
Task 1

Here are two ways to read the start of the poem (a comma has been added to show where you
might pause). In pairs, look at both approaches and discuss how the meaning changes.
A. next to of course god, america i love you
B. next to of course god america, i love you

When you’ve done this, share your ideas with another pair.
Task 2
In teams of six, divide yourselves into three pairs and give each pair roughly five lines of the poem
(1–5, 6–10, and 11–14).

In pairs, go through your lines, read them aloud and identify where you think punctuation (full
stops, commas, exclamations, dashes, etc) would help to make the meaning of the poem clearer.
Consider how the meaning can change depending on where the punctuation or pause is.

Re-assemble in your groups of six and put together your work, explaining to the rest of the group
why you’ve chosen to punctuate as you have.

Discuss your ideas as a group, but then write individually about why you think E. E. Cummings
chose to write this poem almost entirely without punctuation. Is it because he wanted the meaning
to be ambiguous, or open to the reader’s interpretation, or because he was using radical or
modernist techniques, for example?
Task 3
For most of this poem, someone is speaking. It starts with a quotation mark (“next…) and the speech
ends in line 13 (…mute?”). Discuss with a partner and make notes on these questions:

‘He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water’ – Who is ‘he’? What do his words and actions
suggest about him? Does he have more to say? Is he in a formal environment? Is he nervous or
confident? Does he expect questions?
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
Why does the poet choose not to capitalise America? Does this influence us when we’re thinking
about whether the poem is patriotic or not?

It has been claimed that this poem appears like a series of rambling words, rather than a coherent
poem with a message. Do you agree? Why has the poet chosen the form of a speech? What
does this allow him to explore or achieve?

Does the form or structure of the poem tell us anything about conflict? This conflict could be
political, internal, social, ideological, etc.
Task 4

Read through these features of a sonnet:
► A14-line poem, traditionally divided into an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines), or three
quatrains (four lines) followed by a couplet (two lines).
► Usually has a regular rhyme scheme, although half-rhymed, unrhymed and even unmetrical
variations on the sonnet form have been written by twentieth-century poets such as E. E.
Cummings, W. H. Auden and Seamus Heaney.
► The basic meter or rhythm is an iambic pentameter (di-dum di-dum di-dum di-dum di-dum).
► Traditional sonnets are divided into two sections, each of which has a different pattern of
rhyme. If the sonnet has an octave and sestet, the second section starts in line nine. The
change is known as a turn or volta, and also signifies a change in tone and/or subject matter:
typically a problem will be set out in the octave and the sestet will give the resolution to it. Most
sonnets involve a turn of this kind, although the volta does not always come in line nine.

Which features of the sonnet form does this poem have? Identify any from the list above.

Can you identify a rhyme scheme to the poem? If so, what is it?

Now write a paragraph to explore E. E. Cummings’ choice of form and structure in ‘next to of
course god america i’, using quotations from the poem to support your ideas.
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