September 2010

Somewhere I Have Never Traveled
e. e. cummings

somewhere I have never traveled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which I cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though I have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skillfully, mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, I and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(I do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

Part of Mica’s language arts program is reading classic books and poetry. She just got done reading Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. And after that, I gave her the poem above to read, discuss, and memorize.

“Somewhere I Have Never Traveled” is probably my favorite poem ever. It’s just so intense and romantic – makes you fall in love. The first time I encountered the poem was in my freshman English class in college. My professor played us this song from Beauty and the Beast (the TV series) as an introduction. Oh did my heart melt! I got lost in Vincent’s voice (the Beast). While listening to the song in class, I tried to hold back tears. I glanced over at my friend and saw that she was crying! It made me feel better to know I wasn’t the only sentimental one. {Ahh! Wonderful memories!}

Anyways, Mica’s probably too young to appreciate the poem. She finds it too sappy. But I still discussed it with her. Rinoa listened and she got wide-eyed and excited when she understood the metaphor between the poet and a rose in springtime and wintertime.

Analysis of the poem:

First Stanza
{somewhere I have never traveled, gladly beyond any experience}
Cummings starts out by saying he’s gone to a place he’s never been to before and he’s happy.

{your eyes have their silence}
Here we see that he’s using metaphors and allegories in the poem and we get a hint that this “somewhere” he “has never traveled” is not an actual place but more of a state of being. He’s captivated by the gaze (“your eyes”) which takes him to this quiet, peaceful place where everything else seems to vanish.

{in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me, or which I cannot touch because they are too near}
The phrase “frail gestures” gives us a clue that he is talking to a woman. Now “frail” might be construed as negative but it’s actually a compliment, indicating that the woman is tender and delicate. Here we start to understand that the poem is a love story. Her gaze and delicate gestures are so powerful that he feels “enclosed” by them. Her effect on him is so deep within him – it’s at his very core – that it’s “too near to touch”.

Second Stanza
{your slightest look easily will unclose me though I have closed myself as fingers}
He is saying that, before he met her, he has guarded himself from love. Maybe he has been hurt before. But he easily lets his defenses down and bares himself to her even with just a “slight look” from her.

{you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens, (touching skillfully, mysteriously) her first rose}
He compares himself to a rose and she to nature. Just as a rose bud blooms in the spring, so does the woman have the power to open him up and breathe life into his soul.

Third Stanza
{or if your wish be to close me, I and my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly}
Even though he willingly opens himself up to her, he will just as easily and readily draw himself away from her, if she so wishes.

{as when the heart of this flower imagines the snow carefully everywhere descending}
Again, he compares himself to a rose, now facing its imminent death in the winter – a death that is not tragic but beautiful since the flower will bloom again in the spring. He describes her power over his life and his death – which, like the rose’s and if she so chooses, will not be a tragedy but a glorious celebration just the same as life.

Fourth Stanza
{nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals the power of your intense fragility}
He points out that her feminine ways are so powerful that they go beyond what we know and understand – they transcend the physical world.

{whose texture compels me with the color of its countries}
He compares her traits and characteristics to countries – countries in the woman’s ethereal world, and he is enthralled by them.

{rendering death and forever with each breathing}
Here, he re-emphasizes her power over his life and his death.

Fifth Stanza
{I do not know what it is about you that closes and opens; only something in me understands the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses}
He can’t quite tell why she has so much power over him, although deep inside him, he understands – and that is enough for him.

{nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands}
So far in the poem, Cummings has been comparing the woman to nature but in this last line, he goes as far as saying that she is more powerful than nature. He is describing the rain as having small hands because a raindrop can go through even the minutest of opening in the soil to get to the seed which it enables to grow and open up. And he is saying that the woman has a much deeper effect than that of rain. (This is actually my favorite line in the poem. So romantic!)

Cummings wrote this poem for his second wife, Anne Barton. His first wife, Elaine Orr, left him for another man, taking their 4-year old daughter with her. The court gave him custody of their daughter for three months in each year but his first wife did not acknowledge this and he didn’t see his daughter until 22 years later. They were only married for two months (although they had an affair for years before that). Hence the “I have closed myself as fingers” in the poem.

Unfortunately, his second marriage did not last long as well. Cummings and Barton separated only after three years. (I know, a tragic ending for such a lovely poem.)

Con mucho amor,

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