Carson Talley
HE3 5th Hour
January 20th, 2014
“I carry your heart with me(I carry it in]” by E.E. Cummings
“Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.”-Oscar Wilde. Oscar Wilde believed that in order to truly love the life you’ve been given; you must always carry the love you have for the people in your life with you everywhere you go.E.E. Cummings agreed with this idea, as showed in his poem about love. The purpose of E.E. Cummings’ “I carry your heart with me(I carry it in]” is to reflect on the speaker’s affection towards a person in their life, as well as to prove that their love will follow them anywhere that they go. This purpose is shown through a series of poetic devices like repetition, visual imagery, use of parenthesis, and personification which are incorporated throughout the poem.
One of the major poetic devices used within the poem is repetition, or parallel structure. This is shown throughout the poem in order to achieve a better rhythm of words and to put emphasis on the terms that are repeated. An example of this repetition would be in phrases like “my dear” (13), “my darling” (4), “my sweet” (6), and “my true” (7). This is not exact repetition, but incorporates parallel structure throughout the poem. The speaker’s purpose for this type of repetition is to draw attention to the terms of endearment without sounding redundant. Another example of repetition that the poem uses is the phrase, “I carry your heart with me(I carry it in my heart)” (15). The purpose of this repetition is to highlight the speaker’s love for their lover, and to show, and to focus on the purpose of the poem.
Another important poetic device used by the poem is visual imagery. This is shown in phrases throughout the poem like “(here us the root of the root, and the bud of the bud, and the sky of the sky, of a tree called life” (11-12), and “and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart” (14). These phrases use visual imagery because they help to create an image of love growing like a tree, or stars being held apart by love. The purpose of the use of visual imagery in this poem is to compare the speaker’s love for this person to the beauty of nature by using words associated with nature like root, bud, and tree.
The poem’s use of parentheses is another poetic device which plays a huge role in the overall purpose. Parentheses are used many times throughout the poem. Some examples of this are: “(I carry it in my heart)” (1-2, 15), “…(anywhere / i go, you go, my dear; and whatever is done / by only me is your doing, my darling)” (2-4), “(for beautiful, you are my world, my true)” (7), and “(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud / and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)” (11-13).the purpose of using parentheses in these places is to show the further meaning of the speaker’s love for this person. This means that the words on the outside of the parentheses are connected to the words on the inside of the parentheses. An example of this is the line, “I carry your heart(I carry it in my heart)” (15), because the speaker is showing that he loves this person so much that their love for them is a part of them self.
One of the most important forms of poetic devices incorporated in the poem is personification. This is shown in the phrases “and whatever a sun will always sing is you” (9), “…of a tree called life; which grows / higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)” (12-13). This is personification because the poem is bringing humanlike characteristics to nonliving things in order to show their love for this person.
These uses of poetic devices help to create a clear and concise theme within the poem that shows the speaker’s love for this person. Repetition, visual imagery, use of parentheses, and personification are all poetic devices which are each important in defining the speaker’s true love for this person.
Citations
Cummings, Edward Estlin. “i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]” Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 14 Jan 2013.