this poem really caught my eye, especially because I had no idea what the words were when I first read it. After reading it over, I realized that it says, "a leaf falls" and then "loneliness". This poem really caught my attention because of the form. It is a very horizontally challenged poem, meaning that it can't be read line to line. The direction is always down, which emphasizes the leaf falling from the tree. Then, after being read in the parentheses, Cummings mentions "loneliness".
The use of a few words in each line signifies the loneliness. The line after the two little l's, there is only one letter left, and after that, the word one. To further build on that, it shows that as the leaf is getting further and further from the tree, the loneliness within it, is growing ever more real. The second to last line shows l, which defines loneliness. It seems as though each line illuminates the loneliness of the leaf.
These two terms are parallel to each other. A leaf falling from a tree can be seen as a child almost being excluded from a group, or falling behind. He/she can't seem to hold onto the branch, the group, any longer, and he/she just gives up. As we all know, loneliness is being in solitary isolation, and isn't a leaf falling off of a tree symbolizing just that? That is why, after I read it again, I realized that the leaf falling from the tree is incorporated into loneliness. This falling off, and falling to the ground, is just a part of loneliness that we all have to face sometimes.
sestina: six words
15 years ago
12 comments:
I wrote on this poem as well. I wanted to bring to your attention the two L's in the middle of the poem. They are lowercase so they look like ones and it brought me to think that Cummings was trying to say, within all this lonliness, we are happy when we find someone else. He is saying that everyone who feels lonely is simply searching, deep down, for another person to connect with.
I agree with Kasey's interpretation of the two lower case L's in the middle. I was confused by the fact that for the first six lines of the poem, only two characters are on each line. The siginificance of the word "one" by itself contributes to the idea of loneliness. But the last line of the poem has five characters, giving the poem a fatter shape. After staring at the shape of the poem, I began to see the last line of the poem as the base of the tree.
It's not just a tree, its the number 1, with a base, much like it is shown here 1. It seems though, cummings can write anything, mess up the order and have it sell. If you really look closely, you can confuse yourself into thinking its a falling leaf, solely based on the fact that the ( becomes a ), a leaf turning around in flight.
Wow, that puts a new perspective on things. I never looked at it that way, but I agree with that interpretation as well. :]
I didn't think about the two lowercase l's like that, but I think that's a very interesting interpretation. I agree about the word "one" appearing on a line contributing to the sense of loneliness and solitude. I thought the single "l" on the line after that reinforced that idea as well. I also noticed the 3rd and 4th lines, "af / fa". I felt that it represented one thing flowing into another and loneliness almost "snowballing." Like a leaf falling, once it begins, you can't stop it.
ah, well i of course took this whole thing one step furthur (and possibly one step too far):
so, the first stanza l(a, there are two letters, but the a is separated leaving the l all alone (and the l recurs later). stanzas two three four and five are couples. then the s) is the matching other half of (a. leaving there to be only one l all alone. hahahahahahah well i guess if you're gonna go into it that much, take it all the way, eh?
I enjoy it when poets mix up their style, it adds a little spice to to their work which can get repetitive in terms of style at times. On Kasey's comment I really like the idea of the lowercase L's being 1's. I also noticed that they are in the middle of the poem, furthest away from the outside, which could also highlight their togetherness.
The two lowercase "l"s that look like ones could also represent the number 11. The number 11 leaves a remainder of 1 when divided by the numeric constant 10. Instead of being together with another "1", the remainder "1" is more alone thatn ever. Did that make sense? Also, as stated before, the poem takes the shape of the number "1" which further supports the idea of solitude.
I hadn't thought of the shape as the number 1, but it makes sense. I completely agree with the comments of loneliness as emphasized by the 1 and the two single ls. The 1 as well as the ls add much more to the idea of loneliness than the basic idea of a leaf falling.
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I totally missed the two lls as a method of showing that he desire of every lonely individual is merely to find another lonely person and become a pair, connected in some way both with one another and the world. I believe this repetition also shows a sense of order within the chaotic spread of the parenthetical statement. This symbolizes that by defeating our solitude we also defeat our disorder and lack of control and turn our lives into the state of order that is often taken for granted. I felt that the chaotic state that I mentioned stems from the randomness with which the spaces appear in the parenthetical within this poem, showing utter disregard for all form and control.
I think that Cummings made the poem so simplisitc to show the simple involuntary action of the leaf falling, into the loneliness of the ground. I agree that first six lines symbolize the leaf falling. But i also thought that he purposefully made line 7 "one" instead of breaking it up beacuse it symbolized the "one" leaf, all by itself falling.
Also, i felt that the reason the last line is the longest is to give the allusion of the ground, where the lonley leaf falls.
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