Much to the chagrin of English students everywhere, E. E. Cummings has a reputation for writing poems that are difficult to comprehend from the first reading. This poem, “mortals)” is no exception. It is not your conventional, tightly structured poem- rather, even without reading it, its unusual shape reveals its disjointed and irregular form. I must admit, I had no idea what to make of this poem the first time I saw it, but through careful analysis of the poem’s components, I was able to form an interpretation.
The very first thing that I did was to look at the title. As I learned from the class discussion on Longfellow’s “Mezzo Cammin,” the title often reveals a key bit of information that provides context for the rest of the poem. This title was slightly different from the other poems that we’ve read in that it’s also the first word of the poem itself. Something that stood out to me was that there was a parenthesis appended to the end of the word “mortals.” I thought this placement of the punctuation mark was significant because, just as someone or something that is mortal eventually comes to an end, so too is the parenthesis typically used to end an addition to a passage.
Second, as previously mentioned, the poem is incredibly disjointed and irregular in its structure. Even without reading the words of the poem, you can see that the poem has a unique shape characterized by these seemingly random indentations and by the breaking up of a word onto multiple lines. However, on closer inspection, I realized that the shape of the poem actually reflects what is being written, which then influences the meaning of the poem. In particular, the word “climbing” is broken up into “climbi” in line 2 and “ng” on line 3, which when combined with the indentation of line 3 and the length of the fourth line, results in a staircase form. This shape reflects the action of climbing. Later on, Cummings shifts to writing about somersaults and trapezes and the shape of the poem follows suit. Unlike climbing which is only in one direction, this motion goes in multiple directions. This is reflected in the poem through the arrangement of words and indentations that give the dizzying sensation of moving back and forth. A possible interpretation of this section is that the subject of the poem is oscillating between life and death. Alternatively this could represent uncertainty about mortality itself. The staircase shape makes a reappearance on the second page, and from there on it’s all downhill. The word “and” is separated letter by letter in order to give the appearance of something falling. Again, this directly connects to the idea of mortality; the placement of the words in this descending order are reminiscent of the end of one’s life.
Now that I had analyzed the structure of the poem, I then began to focus on the words themselves. I had to read it out loud to myself a couple of times without regard to the indentations or spacing in order to get the whole picture: “Mortals climbing into eachness begin dizzily swingthings of speeds of trapeze gush somersaults opening hes shes…” Even still, while this made the poem somewhat more cohesive, I still had trouble understanding what he was trying to say. It seemed like he was just placing random words together, but I knew that there had to be some meaning.
(This was also where I realized that the poem was separated into two pages and that I had only been looking at the first half. I was very confused by the poem’s abrupt “ending”, so I went back to the poetry website and realized that there was another part that I completely missed.)
I then switched the scope of my search to Something else that stuck out to me was the use of “hes” “shes” “theys” and “im.” Through this word choice, Cummings includes everyone in his interpretation of mortality. I think he’s saying that all humans go through life and eventually die. Once again as in the first line, the poem ends with a parenthesis attached to the end of a word, in this case “im.” Not only does it seem to cause a sense of finality, but I believe it’s also meant to be symbolic of mortality, of the end of one’s life.
While I now have somewhat of an understanding of the poem, I still think that there’s something that I’m missing. I realize that he is alluding to the larger concepts of life, death, and mortality, but I’m not quite sure about his commentary on that. What is he saying? What does the speaker of the poem believe about these concepts? The explanation that makes the most sense in my head is that he’s saying that death is inevitable, but I suppose we’ll never know his exact intentions.
Hi Anna-Maria, this was a great post! I must say that you found the perfect poem for this assignment – when I first read it, I couldn’t extract even an ounce of sense. However, I think your analysis was really interesting and gave me new insights: I especially liked the idea of finding meaning behind the poem’s shape, like the climbing motion of the word “climbing.” This was an aspect I hadn’t noticed, but once I reread the poem with this in mind, it made more sense! It was also interesting how “climbing” at the beginning was contrasted with “fall” at the end, which could tie into your discussion on the inevitability of death. Also, your analysis on the theme of mortality was so deep: I hadn’t thought about all the pronouns being a sort of all-encompassing definition for mortality’s limits, and I think it’s super cool that you could find meaning from such small details. Lastly, I liked how you built upon what you learned from reading other poems in class. You mentioned how your analysis of “Mezzo Cammin” helped you analyze this poem, which I think really shows your growth as a reader. Overall, nice job!
Hi Anna-Maria! I enjoyed reading your interpretation of this very unique poem by E. E. Cummings (and applaud your courage for taking it on). In just skimming the poem before reading your analysis, I already had a dozen questions. I like how you approach this poem from the title; despite the fact that it’s a simple word, it says a lot about the poem’s meaning and offers a foothold when reading the poem itself. You point out several interesting details in regards to the structure of the poem, which resembles a staircase in which one climbs and eventually goes down, reflecting the circle of life. This interpretation paves the way for intriguing ideas on the uncertainty of mortality and the finality that inevitably comes with the evolving journey of life. Your structured process to this incredibly difficult poem reveals your great understanding of how to approach poetry with the right tools. Great job!
Hi Anna-Maria! First, I will say bravo for choosing this poem. It’s one thing to choose a poem with a difficult and concealed subject matter, but it’s a whole nother game to choose a poem structured so eccentrically. I enjoyed that you recalled “Mezzo Cammin” as an example of how the title of a poem can help reveal the meaning. I also enjoyed how you looked at the structure of the poem first, then analyzed the meaning behind the words. I need to use that strategy more often. I have a tendency to ignore the structure and try to decipher the meaning of the poem first. The last sentence of your post resonated with me. “I suppose we’ll never know his exact intentions” really does sum up my thoughts behind most poetry.
Anna-Maria, I love how you chose an E.E. Cummings poem! After reading several of his in class, I feel like you definitely start to pick up on the poet’s writing style, which makes it easier to understand their varying complex poems. I was similarly drawn to the unconventional writing style of the poem, which adds a level of complexity that you were brave enough to tackle and analyze. I like how you took us as readers through your entire thought process of attempting to understand this poem, starting wth the title, then onto the structure, and finally starting to focus on the words and what Cummings was trying to portray. Taking the time to understand the background of the poem before the content is a really great strategy, that I definitely want to implement more into my own process as we continue to analyze poetry. Overall, I loved reading your blog!
Anna-Maria, let me start off by saying that this is very impressive! Your interpretation of E. E. Cummings’ poem displays a remarkable depth of insight into both its structure and its thematic elements. Your attention to detail, from dissecting the significance of the title’s parenthesis to analyzing the irregular shape of the poem, demonstrates an amazing understanding of the poetic techniques and their meanings. I really enjoyed your observation of the staircase shape and the descending arrangement of words effectively captures the thematic journey of ascent and descent, illustrating the poem’s exploration of life’s trajectory and mortality. Overall, I loved your interpretation and congrats on tackling such a complex poem. Awesome job!
Hi Anna Maria, I like your analysis to the E.E. Cummings poem. You note that you still don’t fully get what he means, and I think that there is no singular meaning or we will never know what he truly meant, unless we ask him himself. I too when I first read this poem, didn’t really get what he was saying, but then as you mentioned the title is mortals and I like your interpretation about the parenthesis at the end of mortals signifying how all mortals die and how he structures his poem using the meaning of the words to structure how the poem looks.
Anna-Maria,
When I was browsing through PoetryFoundation, I came across this poem too. It made me laugh, really hard, because it all just seemed like gibberish — but I guess that’s the cool thing about E.E. Cummings. Now that we’ve watched a few videos and looked at a few of his poems, I feel like I have a better understanding of what his writing style is like. Having that background also makes it easier when interpreting his use of punctuation which we can see in “mortals)” really clearly. Reading your approach to understanding this poem felt really natural and logical, which I appreciated. I think that most of your assumptions were those of which I would have made too, like with the climbing. The one thing that I definitely would have done differently is that I most likely would not have gone searching for that second page…I probably would have assumed that E.E. Cummings just wanted to end it like that.