On "i like my body when it is with your"

2007-09-13T12:56:00.000-07:00

1.) I read the poem “i like your body when it is with your” and I derive it to be about sex. Images like “shocking fuzz” (10) especially in the context of describing the speaker’s lover’s body and what he’s doing to her, can only mean he’s talking about sexual contact. This poem is explicit and devoid of overly “frilly” allusions. I like it’s raw, to the point nature, especially the climactic end. I just don’t know how to discuss it without sounding depraved.

2.) The writing style that E. E. Cummings applies to “i like my body when it is with your” aids to the mood and allows the reader to envision the poem without the author needing to add additional imagery. If you take the view that the speaker is engaging in these acts while he’s speaking about them, then the way he speaks reflects how he feels. In the beginning he speaks slowly and erotically about what he’s doing. Lines 4-5 show this dramatic eroticism, “i like your body. i like what it does, i like its hows.” This deliberate speech directly contrasts line 10 especially “i like,slowly stroking the,shocking fuzz.” This quickening of speech seems to indicate a build-up of intensity; how things get faster toward the end. Then in line 12 it happens, the climax, indicated by an ellipses with four periods instead of the usual three. Moreover, the large gaps between lines 12 and 13, and also 13 and 14 suggest the speaker may be out of breath, or has temporary diminished brain activity due to dramatic changes in blood pressure. As you can see, the writing style of E. E. Cummings adds to the imagery dramatically.

On Ode to a Grecian Urn

2007-09-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

1) This poem seems rather odd to me. I took a literal approach to reading the poem and interpreting a meaning and derived it to be about beauty as a theme though history. It seems like he talks a lot about the stuff on the urn throughout the whole piece, describing it in vivid detail and concludes with the urn saying beauty is paramount. All in all I felt that the imagery was wonderful but the ending wasn't as good as the rest of the poem. It left me saying, "Aww, that's it?"

2) In the beginning of the poem, the author introduces the urn with the title and the fact that it is quite old with the statement, “Thou foster-child of silence and slow time”. The author then sets the scene with a “Sylvan historian” posing questions about the art on the urn such as “What men or gods are these?” Next the author starts to describe the different sets of images on the urn, and that it is frozen in this state for all eternity. This idea is expressed in lines like “Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave”, and “And, little town, thy streets for evermore, Will silent be”. The point of this comes to fruition in the last part of the poem. He implies that when our civilization will waste away and a new one will rise, the urn will remain as a testament to the eternity of beauty. This idea is summed up by lines like these: “Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe, Than ours” and the urns decree, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,--that is all, Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

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On "i like my body when it is with your"

On Ode to a Grecian Urn