EE Cummings the Word Choice in Ee Essay

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EE Cummings

The word choice in ee cummings' "god america I" specifically directs the reader to the sarcastic overtones in the poem, in particular his criticism of American patriotism. The reader can understand the poem better when he or she understands that many of the words are intended as sarcasm. This shapes his argument in a more critical light. Written in 1926, the poem conveyed cynicism at a point in time when America's economy was booming and patriotism was running at a high after the Great War, but cummings saw that there were still a lot of reasons to make the case that blind patriotism was unwarranted.

In the opening line he states "next of course to god america…," showing two key elements of sarcasm immediately. The "of course" is a flippant reaction to the need to "of course" love god, because that is a given in American society at the time. Whether his lack of capitalization on "god" and "america" is intended to downgrade them to the status of regular nouns or is simply a reflection of his style -- as in the way he renders his own name -- is something that is left for the reader to decide. Regardless, when he adds "and so forth" in the second line, it becomes clear that he is showing disregard as well for the idea that America should be loved unconditionally. He is setting the tone here for a poem that challenges the idea of blind patriotism.

In the middle section, he makes some interesting word choices that affect the way that the reader would interpret the poem. One is the use of "deafanddumb" as one word, which it is not. This proprietary rendering of the concept may serve to call attention to it, and it contrasts with mute at the end of the poem.

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The deaf and dumb are included to bring continuity to the idea that at some point liberty and justice must take leave of their senses in order for blind patriotism to flourish. Additionally, in this section there is the 'by gorry by jingo by gee by gosh by gum', which serves two purposes. The first is that it is alliterative, which helps with the flow of the poem. Also, however, these are different ways of expressing the same idea, perhaps in different regional dialects of the time. They all mean 'by god', but would be more polite expressions of the idea. He is at this point, however, speaking about America, which recalls the opening line and how love for God and America have become equally blind at that point.

The latter lines of the poem also have interesting word choices that help the reader to understand cummings' message. The alliterative line 'heroic happy dead' refers not to the dead as being happy, but the irony of those who did not suffer that fate viewing them as heroic and happy for their sacrifice. Lions do not normally rush to a slaughter unless they are the ones doing the slaughtering, so that is a curious choice of word. The line in all likelihood references the Great War, where….....

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