Essay Questions

How is life presented in the poem "Humanity, I love you’’?

Humanity is personified in this satirical poem that makes fun of the thing we call humanity. In this poem, humanity is almost presented as a drunken man, not knowing what to do with his life. Even though humanity should focus on the value of the human life, this is not the case as the narrator points out that humanity is more keen to have economic growth rather than caring about a soul in danger of perishing. For humanity, the human life has no value and this is proved by the countless wars waged in its name. Humanity is also presented in an ironic way as a person who has the secret of happiness and yet forgets about it and sits on it, crushing the secret. Thus, the poem points out how even we often claim we want the best, we do counterproductive things, ruining the good things in our life.

What does etcetera transmits in the poem "My sweet old etcetera?

In this poem, the narrator is a young man in a time when everyone goes to war. Because of the time he lives in, he is pushed to do the same, namely to join the army and fight for the country. The narrator does not want to do this and so he is criticized for his decision by his close ones. ‘’Etcetera’’ becomes the word he uses when the narrator feels overwhelmed by the people around him. It is thus used as a word to suggest the rambling of the people in his life, words that do not have any influence on him because he does not care for what other people want him to do.

How is war presented in the poems?

E.E. Cummings was a soldier during the World Wars and he even fought in France during the Second World War, an experience which influenced him for the rest of his life. In his poems, E.E. Cummings criticized harshly the wars that were taking place but more than often he criticized those who were in charge and thus sending young people to die. War is described as being pointless, a battle everyone loses because human lives are presented. Many people feel pressured into joining the army because they see everyone doing it and because they do not want to be seen as cowards. Thus, the reason why so many people die is not because they love their country, but because they are afraid they will be criticized by the rest of the population. In this sense, the war is presented in a negative light, as something that should be eliminated since it has no real value.