my sweet old etcetera

e e cummings

my sweet old etcetera

my sweet old etcetera aunt lucy during the recent

war could and whatis more did tell you justwhat everybody was fighting

for, my sister

isabel created hundreds(and hundreds)of socks not tomention shirts fleaproof earwarmers

etcetera wristers etcetera, mymother hoped that

i would die etceterabravely of course my father usedto become hoarse talking about how it wasa privilege and if only hecould meanwhile my

self etcetera lay quietlyin the deep mud et

cetera(dreaming, et cetera,ofYour smile eyes knees and of your Etcetera)

e. e. cummings (1894- 1962) Poet and Painter

Experimental

Typographical non-conformity

Break-down of syntax

Romantic; apparent cynicism

New words

POETRY

Typographical innovation:

Two capital lettersThree commasNo full stops

One long run-on sentence – meaning can be clarified by “rewriting” the poem into acceptable sentences.

My sweet old Aunt Lucy during the recent war could and what is more did tell you just what everybody was fighting for. My sister, Isabel, created hundreds and hundreds of socks; not to mention shirts, flea-proof earwarmers and wristers.

My mother hoped that I would die bravely.

Of course, my father to become hoarse talking about how it was a privilege and if only he could.

Meanwhile I lay quietly in the deep mud dreaming of your smile, eyes, knees and of your….

Content?

EXPERIENCE OF WAR (WW1)

AT HOME:

AUNT LUCYSISTER, ISABEL

MY MOTHERMY FATHER

ON THE FRONT:

SOLDIERSON

SPEAKER

Typographical innovation:

Two capital lettersOne commaNo full stops

One long run-on sentence – meaning can be clarified by “rewriting” the poem into acceptable sentences.

Use of “etcetera” and playful ambiguity (typography) creates and interesting poem.

my sweet old etcetera aunt lucy during the recent

war could and whatis more did tell you justwhat everybody was fighting

for

His aunt had told him (and others) about the war and

what is was all about…

ADJECTIVE

my sister

isabel created hundreds(and hundreds)of socks not tomention shirts fleaproof earwarmers

etcetera wristers etcetera, ADJECTIVE

NOUN NOUN

His sister was busy knitting and sewing…making

clothes and other items to keep the soldiers on the

front warm…

mymother hoped thati would die etcetera bravely of course my father usedto become hoarse talking about how it wasa privilege and if only hecould

PLACEMENT OF THIS “ETC” DELIBERATELY MISLEADS OF

CONFUSES THE READER – SOUNDS AS THOUGH MOTHER HOPES THAT

HER SON WILL DIE

meanwhile my

self etcetera lay quietlyin the deep mud et

cetera(dreaming, et cetera,ofYour smile eyes knees and of your Etcetera)

While they think of him, he lies sleeping in the muddy trenches, dreaming…

Typography visually shows the soldier drifting off to sleep

Poet/speaker becomes an “etcetera” of the war…Used when one does not want to go into detail…Details are continually “cut off” through the use of “etcetera”

Rushworth M. Kidder (1979)

...it contrasts the reality of a soldier's life on the front with the fictions entertained by his family at home. His "aunt lucy" is the

newsmonger; his sister knits socks, shirts, and "fleaproof earwarmers"; his parents tout such abstractions as courage and

loyalty; and all the while the soldier himself lies "in the deep mud" dreaming of "Your smile / eyes knees and of your Etcetera." cFirst used to amplify adjectives ("sweet old"), it next amplifies the nouns

in the list of things his sister knits. It then modifies a verb ("my / mother hoped that / I would die etcetera / bravely"). This gradual

shift stresses its use in the last line as a noun in its own right, where "your Etcetera" stands for some noun or nouns which, if printed, would call down the wrath of Sumner [secretary of the New York

Society for the Suppression of Vice] and his Vice Society....