if everything happens that can't be done

Notes on "if everything happens that can't be done"

"if everything happens that can't be done" is not supposed to make sense in the ordinary meaning of "sense," following the Cummings' dictum of since feeling is first. It is once again, a salvo in his war against logic and book learning as opposed to passion:

one hasn't a why or because or although

But it doesn't matter why - the books are shut, ad "we" are busy with love:

now i love you and you love me
(and books are shutter
than books
can be)

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.