All in green went my love riding
on a great horse of gold
into the silver dawn.
four lean hounds crouched low and smiling
the merry deer ran before.
Fleeter be they than dappled dreams
the swift sweet deer
the red rare deer.
Horn at hip went my love riding
riding the echo down
into the silver dawn.
four lean hounds crouched low and smiling
the level meadows ran before.
Softer be they than slippered sleep
the lean lithe deer
the fleet flown deer.
Four fleet does at a gold valley
the famished arrows sang before.
Bow at belt went my love riding
riding the mountain down into the silver dawn.
four lean hounds crouched low and smiling
the sheer peaks ran before.
Paler be they than daunting death
the sleek slim deer
the tall tense deer.
Four tall stags at a green mountain
the lucky hunter sang before.
All in green went my love riding
on a great horse of gold
into the silver dawn.
four lean hounds crouched low and smiling
my heart fell dead before.
ee cummings
Notes on "All in green went my love
riding"
All in green went my love riding is very different from
much of Cummings' later love poetry. It was published in "Tulips and Chimneys" in 1923. It it very probably an allusion to
the Knights Tale by Geoffery Chaucer
...
This show I now by mighty Theseus,
Who to go hunting is so desirous,
And specially of the hart of ten, in May,
....
Clear was the day, as I have told ere this,
When Theseus, compact of joy and bliss,
With his Hippolyta, the lovely queen,
And fair Emilia, clothed all in green,
A-hunting they went riding royally.
And to the grove of trees that grew hard by,
In which there was a hart, as men had told,
Duke Theseus the shortest way did hold.
And to the glade he rode on, straight and right,
For there the hart was wont to go in flight,
Joan Baez and others have made Cummings' poem into a
song. The poem is young, romantic, earnest, more academic than Cummings' later work and a conscious imitation of
medieval style and cadence for the modern reader. It was written when he was about 22 years old. He creates a melodious
and misty reality, conjuring up images as he needs them. It is possible to dissect this poem to pieces, as some have
done, finding the trinity in it and various other mysteries, but that doesn't seem to have been Cummings' intention.
The last line,
my heart fell dead before.
also appears in the poem "Where's Madge then,"
published in the same collection, which is much more similar to the conversational tone and pithy language of most of
his poetry.
E. E. Cummings' (1894 - 1962) writing and approach
represented a new departure in poetry. He first flourished in the intellectually innovative and daring world of the
1920s. His work has never been fully appreciated by critics, but has an avid following among both connoisseurs and
"ordinary" folk, because his poems touch people directly, especially young people.
The modern era was born in the 1920s, out of the ruins
and desolation of World War I. The war smashed more than cities and people. It smashed Victorian conventions and class
distinctions. Suddenly, people were not afraid to speak and write about sex as something enjoyable and beautiful. This
was the era of James Joyce's Ulysses and Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, but also, especially in America, the era of
Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender is the Night." A time of daring and romance in literature.
His poetry is informed by his unique philosophy of life and
art. Cummings would laugh at most of the pedantic and trite dissections of his work by "objective" critics. Cummings had
nothing against science and logic, but he didn't think it applied to feelings. He was intensely against regimentation
and conventional thinking. His rebellion and unconventionality were symbolized superficially by his refusal to use capital
letters in his poems, but they went far beyond that.
Typography and layout of the poem were often very
important to Cummings, who was also an artist. Please note that we will not always be able to be faithful to the
original typography, because of limitations of the medium. Like some other modern poets, ee cummings' often
conveyed images and feelings by indirect allusions that would make readers see the images and feel the feelings
he was feeling, though he also made skilful use of poetic conventions. He also had the gift of making the English
language do unexpected and wondrous things, a gift that has made great poetry since the time of Shakespeare and
before.
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