Friday, September 7, 2012

Why I Love e e cummings' "in time of daffodils"

 http://yogapeace.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/DAFFODIL.jpg

"in time of daffodils," published in Cummings' 1958 book 95 Poems, is fairly straightforward for a Cummings poem. There are few to no puzzling line breaks, made-up words, or strange uses of puctuation. Instead, Cummings presents his words in five stanzas of three lines each. All three lines in each stanza rhyme, albeit sometimes with a stretch. The poem is written in iambic tetrameter, which makes the poem read smoothly, like well-organized speech. Cummings fans will know that this is not always the case in Cummings' poetry.

In the first stanza, Cummings asserts that daffodils know "the goal of living is to grow." This sets the tone for the rest of the poem. It begins to indicate a love for the present, for expansion and improvement of the self. One question that comes to mind after reading the stanza is that of the use of the verb "to grow." Does Cummings mean literally grow bigger? Or does he mean grow with experience and new knowledge? Or does he mean both? I took it to mean "grow with life and learning." He follows with the warning to forget why (e.g. it doesn't matter why you grow; just do it) and remember how (as in, sometimes we forget how to enjoy life as we did when we were small children, growing and knowing).

The next stanza states that lilacs know "the aim of waking is to dream." This can also be read in two ways. The first is that the aim of waking is, quite literally, to go back to sleep and have some more jolly dreams. The second reading is that the purpose, the sole reason for being awake and aware is so that one can have ambitions and hopes. The last line of the stanza says to remember to do so and to forget "seem," which I took to mean "forget seemliness and perfect manners; if you want something, ask."

The third stanza, probably my favorite, states that roses amaze us by showing us paradise in one moment on earth. It reminds us not to get too caught up with promises of the future or memories of the past, but to enjoy the present. To me, this is something very profound. Plenty of people are trying to embrace this sentiment, but are never quite sure how, because if we enjoy the present too much, then the future may be less enjoyable. (Overzealous pursuit of the pleasures of the present is often attempted with the proclamation "YOLO" and consumption of far too much beer.)

In short, I believe Cummings presents a beautifully written, delicate work of art that warns us to take time and enjoy now, because very soon, "now" won't be "now" anymore. He crafts it with care, and his rhyme scheme and meter are clever and discreet enough not to be obnoxious; instead, they seem more like a demure, well-dressed cousin of free verse.

This is why I love in time of daffodils.

3 comments:

  1. My favorite stanza is the last....
    "and in a mystery to be
    (when time from time shall set us free)
    forgetting me, remember me

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  2. I know this is a late comment, but I recommend listening to Sametz's "In time of" for a musical interpretation of this beautiful poem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PriMS_xGXmg

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