E.E.

Cummings and Marianne Moore

After Reading
Mr. Christopher Cathis

E.E. Cummings and Marianne Moore

After Reading

Comprehension

1. Clarify Who are the lovers described in “anyone lived in a pretty how town”?

2. Clarify What does the speaker of “Poetry” dislike about poetry? What does she value in
it?

Text Analysis

3. Analyze Modern Poetry Review the chart you filled in as you read. In the Cummings
poem, it is important not to try to read every line literally, but rather aim for the gist of
these nonsense phrases. Choose one stanza from this poem and explain the general
impression you get from the language in each line. Then paraphrase the entire stanza,
making use of these impressions.

4. Interpret Ideas In “Poetry,” what idea about poetry is represented by each of the
following items? Explain.

• “hands that can grasp” (line 4)

• “elephants pushing” (line 13)
• “business documents and school-books” (lines 18–19)
• “‘imaginary gardens with real toads in them’” (line 27)

5. Evaluate Form in Modern Poetry Each of these poems has a playful, irreverent quality,
sometimes achieved by breaking rules of traditional poetry and sometimes by following
them. Examine the poems in this lesson, identifying the most playful elements of each.
In your opinion, which poem is the most radical? Cite evidence to support your answer.

Text Criticism

6. Critical Interpretations In a review, the critic Edmund Wilson argued that “Behind [the]
formidable barrier of punctuations for which Mr. Cummings seems unfortunately to
have achieved most celebrity, his emotions are conventional and simple in the
extreme.” Do you agree or disagree with Wilson’s argument? Whether or not you agree,
do you view Wilson’s statement as a positive or negative comment? Cite evidence to
support your opinion.
E.E. Cummings and Marianne Moore
After Reading
Mr. Christopher Cathis

Do poems have to follow the rules?

7. Do you think poetry—or any form of art, for that matter—should adhere to particular
“rules”? Explain.