one's not half two. It's two are halves of one:
which halves reintegrating,shall occur
no death and any quantity;but than
all numerable mosts the actual more
minds ignorant of stern miraculous
this every truth-beware of heartless them
(given the scalpel,they dissect a kiss;
or,sold the reason,they undream a dream)
one is the song which fiends and angels sing:
all murdering lies by mortals told make two.
Let liars wilt,repaying life they're loaned;
we(by a gift called dying born)must grow
deep in dark least ourselves remembering
love only rides his year.
All lose,whole find
ee cummings
"one's not half two. It's two are halves of one" is from 1 x 1 [One Times One] (1944). It reiterates
many common Cummings' themes including the danger of destroying love, beauty and poetry by over-analysis:
minds ignorant of stern miraculous
this every truth-beware of heartless them
(given the scalpel,they dissect a kiss;
or,sold the reason,they undream a dream)
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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