EE Cummings the Word Choice in Ee

EE Cummings

The word choice in ee cummings' "god america I" specifically directs the reader to the sarcastic overtones in the poem, in particular his criticism of American patriotism. The reader can understand the poem better when he or she understands that many of the words are intended as sarcasm. This shapes his argument in a more critical light. Written in 1926, the poem conveyed cynicism at a point in time when America's economy was booming and patriotism was running at a high after the Great War, but cummings saw that there were still a lot of reasons to make the case that blind patriotism was unwarranted.

In the opening line he states "next of course to god america…," showing two key elements of sarcasm immediately. The "of course" is a flippant reaction to the need to "of course" love god, because that is a given in American society at the time. Whether his lack of capitalization on "god" and "america" is intended to downgrade them to the status of regular nouns or is simply a reflection of his style -- as in the way he renders his own name -- is something that is left for the reader to decide. Regardless, when he adds "and so forth" in the second line, it becomes clear that he is showing disregard as well for the idea that America should be loved unconditionally. He is setting the tone here for a poem that challenges the idea of blind patriotism.

In the middle section, he makes some interesting word choices that affect the way that the reader would interpret the poem. One is the use of "deafanddumb" as one word, which it is not. This proprietary rendering of the concept may serve to call attention to it, and it contrasts with mute at the end of the poem. The deaf and dumb are included to bring continuity to the idea that at some point liberty and justice must take leave of their senses in order for blind patriotism to flourish. Additionally, in this section there is the 'by gorry by jingo by gee by gosh by gum', which serves two purposes. The first is that it is alliterative, which helps with the flow of the poem. Also, however, these are different ways of expressing the same idea, perhaps in different regional dialects of the time. They all mean 'by god', but would be more polite expressions of the idea. He is at this point, however, speaking about America, which recalls the opening line and how love for God and America have become equally blind at that point.

The latter lines of the poem also have interesting word choices that help the reader to understand cummings' message. The alliterative line 'heroic happy dead' refers not to the dead as being happy, but the irony of those who did not suffer that fate viewing them as heroic and happy for their sacrifice. Lions do not normally rush to a slaughter unless they are the ones doing the slaughtering, so that is a curious choice of word. The line in all likelihood references the Great War, where soldiers did rush heroically into battle only to be slaughtered. They were driven by their patriotism; they did not think about what they are doing. Cummings here expresses the futility of that effort. This was not a time in history when one would normally be critical of the war, since the U.S. was on the winning side, but cummings saw that the war itself was futile. He is in these last couple of lines commenting on the absurdity of blindly rushing into battled to be slaughtered.

This criticism is, however, a metaphor for blind patriotism itself. That nobody would normally question the soldiers is precisely the point he is making -- nobody would question patriotism either, and certainly not when the victory was achieved and life in post-war America was good. Yet, cummings saw the dangers in this blindness, and the poem was written to caution against taking liberty for granted. He uses the word mute, aligned with the earlier 'deafanddumb', to express how people cede their own ability to think and be free, to such blind patriotism in the same manner in which they cede their liberty to worship God.

There is also an interesting element in the way that cummings does not use punctuation. While not specifically wording, it does convey to the reader a certain amount of unthinking. In the final line, "He spoke, and drink rapidly a glass of water," cummings illustrates that there is a rant element to the speech that comprises most of the poem. Where there is no punctuation, there is no pause for thought. Indeed, to digest the message, one would need to pause and think about what is being said. However, the narrative is spoken, and the reader can only pause when the entire speech is finished, at the end when the speaker reaches for his water. Cummings is using, with a sense of irony, the lack of punctuation to make a point about the mental shorthand that people use when they, too, become unthinking like the soldiers, and reading cede their liberty to the nation as they would to their religion.