poem,+or+beauty+hurts+Mr.+Vinal

media type="custom" key="6191785"

Modernism is a time when people said what they thought and did not care who heard. It is also the time when the writing style was drastically changed. This was not like the time before where everyone felt safe; this is a time where people lost hope with their country and God (Worthington). E. E. Cummings has a great example with these characteristic in his poem //Poem, Or Beauty Hurts Mr. Vinal.//

From the beginning this work seems confusing. The title just does not make sense. After looking closer to the poem Cummings is saying what he wants to say about his country. It starts off by saying “take it from me kiddo” showing that the speaker thinks he knows what he is talking about. After his introduction he starts to list off the faults of the United States. He does not seem to have any hope he just wants to get his word out. After stating all that is wrong with the country he just seemed to be hopeless

Before this time no one dared make fun of or critique the country, but he did. They never thought the worst of the situation, but he did. They never wrote with a confusing diction, but he did. He was not afraid to be different and this is what the modernist did. He broke away from traditional forms and made his own (Worthington). He did not care what others thought. His way thoughts were just as good as their thoughts.

In this poem he loved to mess around with the way he wrote. Instead of saying America he said, A- mer i ca, Why would one do it this way? He was trying to split up the word so it was read differently. No one had ever done this before. Some other examples are “hun-dred-mil-lion-others” and “littleliverpil-heated-Nujolneeding-There’s-A-Reason”. Why did he do this? No one knows. It might just be nonsense. Anyway though it is different and he was just experimenting with the language (Worthington).

Nothing in this poem seems to flow. It is all disordered and confusing. There is no real plot just a jumbled mess. This goes along with the language, but it is also a new way of writing. No matter if it was small or big the modernist would try to change it (Worthington). This is just how modernism is and what they did.

Cummings creativity probably came from his parent who from early on encouraged him to develop his creative gifts (Everett). During World War I Cummings volunteered to serve in the Norton-Harjes Ambulance group in France. While serving he was imprisoned for three months in a French detention camp (Everett). This may have led to him doubting his country and having the feeling of hopelessness.

Cummings almost always writes with his new style of writing. It does not always make sense, but it is his way of writing. His diction usually separates him from other modernists. Other than his diction he is a lot like other modernists. They all seem to be hopeless and they are always differing from the normal. They usually have similar subjects.

Everett, Nicholas. "E. E. Cummings' Life." //Modern American Poetry//. Department of English, College of LAS, University of Illinois, 18 Mar. 2001. Web. 04 May 2010. <[]>.

Worthington, Leslie. "Characteristics of Modernism." //SOCRATES//. Troy University, 8 May 2007. Web. 30 March 2010. <[|http://socrates.troy.edu/~lworthington/eng2206/mod.htm]>.