American Poetry

» Linda Sue Grimes - i have never traveled,gladly beyond

Dear kiribai,

You make a good point. If E. E. Cummings' poem "somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond" is addressed to a newborn, a different critical response is definitely in order.

Regarding Cummings' fatherhood experience, it is true he was the father of one daughter, Nancy, born in 1919. He wrote the poem in question around 1931; also, he was not married to Nancy's mother, Elaine Thayer, at the time of Nancy's birth. Elaine Thayer was the wife of Scofield Thayer, a Harvard friend of Cummings'. Elaine gave birth to Nancy before she and Scofield divorced. It is unlikely, though not impossible, that Cummings' would have experienced Nancy as a newborn and then waited over a decade to write a poem about it.

Still, as you pointed out, the poem might make more sense if we think of the addressee as a newborn, and I especially think the "small hands" image might work better.

I am not aware of any Cummings' discussion about this poem. If he said it was addressed to a newborn, then we would have to take his word for it; however, many readers have interpreted it to be addressing a woman.

My own analysis starts with the usual assumption that the speaker in the poem is addressing a woman/lover. But since you have pointed me in a different direction, I think I will rethink the poem, and see what I can come up with if I think argue that the speaker is addressing as newborn.

One more point: E. E. Cummings did not want his name written lowercase. There is a useful discussion about this at http://www.gvsu.edu/english/cummings/cap...

Thank you for your important contribution. If others are aware of any Cummings' discussion about this poem, I hope they will let us know.