Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2017

visualizing a world that is beautiful because it isn’t conventionally sensible. Instead of trying

so hard to understand the world, he suggests that instead, one should marvel at its beauty as if

one was still young. The structure and technique of his poems reflect this essential hopefulness,

youthful vivacity and spontaneity. His use of idiosyncratic techniques paradoxically, both

conceal and clarify the meaning of his poetry – the more one attempts to ‘pin it down’, the less

one is able to grasp it. This technique only magnifies the idea that the youthful spirit that he

captures cannot be put into words and can only be conveyed through feeling. Thus, more often

than not, the meaning in cummings’ poetry resides in the sound, form and holistic sense of the

poem.

The spontaneous delight and youthful spirit of cummings’ poetry can be categorized into four

key ideas. These ideas culminate to form the elusive spirit that cummings’ poetry exudes. The

Irony of Youth provides the foundation for many of cummings’ poems. In first analyzing this,

it is obvious that cummings treasures youth as a thing of transient beauty and reverence. It

allows him to capture the bittersweet paradox of life that is bound to haunt us all – the idea that

as we grow older, we forget how to live. To enhance this, cummings introduces the importance

of being Young at Heart. This infers a suggestion as to how one can hold on to the eternal

optimism and spontaneous delight evident in youth; even in old age. Furthermore, cummings

accentuates the idea of Youthful Passion over Reason. Reason that develops as one grows older

can often hinder the ability to act purely out of passion. To deepen the understanding of the

youthful spirit embodied in cummings’ poetry, the Symbol of Spring as a reference to growth,

childhood and new beginnings is also investigated. These four elements culminate to create the

spontaneous delight and youthful spirit that e.e. cummings conveys so poignantly in his verse.

In addition, e.e. cummings’ poetry is an expression of self belief that opens the locked door to

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