A poem capable of creating an emotional response.

Last night I was at an event called Relay for Life, a twenty-four hour fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. During the Luminary Ceremony, the one sad memorial part of the event, a girl read this poem by E.E. Cummings:

i carry your heart with me
i carry it in my heart

i am never without it
anywhere i go you go, my dear;
and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling

i fear no fate
for you are my fate, my sweet
i want no world
for beautiful you are my world, my true

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
here is the root of the root
and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;
which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart
i carry it in my heart

The poem had a lot of sentimental value to the reader, and as the audience it was easy to pick up on it and experience the same effect. I guess this poem can be interpreted two ways: as someone speaking to or about a lover, or someone who has lost someone or something very special to them saying it will always be a part of them wherever they go. Last night, it was interpreted the latter way. It was easy for this poem to evoke an immediate emotional response from me. Of course my surroundings were a part of the experience, but I also wondered what was different about this poem from many of the poems we have read in class. Typically, the work we look at has not made me feel such strong emotions. 


One important factor must be that the language and content is very easy to understand. I did not have to think into it, the meaning was simply there alongside each word. It has certain elements simplicity and confessionalism that we have started to see in more modern poetry. While in general I think this is what makes it so easy to relate quickly to, there are some things I don't care for. The phrases such as "my dear" and "my sweet" that conclude some of the lines in my opinion take away from them. While I assume Cummings purpose was to have the reader feel as if they were being spoken to in sweet, personal words, I feel it draws attention away from the content of the poem. For example, I think the line, "For you are my fate, my sweet," would have been much more powerful without the additional "my sweet." The extra words distract from the strong meaning in the main statement. Overall, I did enjoy this poem. I think the words are soothing and comforting when addressing a subject such as the death as done at the event last night.