Analysis
[I carry your heart with me (I carry it in]
Alone
About
E. E. Cummings was one of the famous romantic American poets in the 20th century. He was born in 1894 and died in 1962. As a well-educated poet at that time, Cummings received his BA and MA in 1915 and 1916 during his study in Harvard University. He was known as a rebel for he experimented with form, punctuation, spelling, and syntax for abandoning traditional techniques and structures to create a new and highly idiosyncratic means of poetic expression. In his lifetime, Cummings has received numerous honors as the Academy of American Poets Fellowship, the Guggenheim Fellowships, and the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship at Harvard. In 1962, Cummings was the second most widely read poet in the United States.
Source: http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/e-e-cummings , http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/e__e__cummings
[I carry your heart with me (I carry it in]
by E. E. Cummings
[I carry your heart with me (I carry it in] is a unique type of love poem among all the modern poems, which is written by E. E. Cummings.
The mood of the poem is romantic and delight. There are many delicate descriptions written in the poem, for example of the using of metaphor as the speaker compares his love with his fate and world like he says he carried his love’s heart into his heart.
According to the declaration of love from the speaker, “I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)” (line 7, 8), the illustration of their love not only shows how important his lover is for him to the audience but also demonstrates their sacred entwinement finely.
E. E. Cummings uses rhyme as “apart”, “heart” and repetition as the word of “heart” repeats several times. In the poem, the poet tends to express his strong and passionate affection instead of being pedantic. The writing of the poem is bold and unique as, “which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide”, which both looks and sounds different.
About
Maya Angelou was one of the most famous black poets in the United Stated, who was also know as a dancer, actress, and singer. She was born in 1928 and died in 2014. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the first series of her autobiographical that tells a story of her own life works was a huge success in 1970. In Angelou’s life, she has received many awards for her work, such as the Pulitzer Prize nomination, the Tony Award nomination, and the Grammy Award.
Source: http://www.notablebiographies.com/An-Ba/Angelou-Maya.html http://www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388
Alone by Maya Angelou
In the Alone, one of the famous black poets in 20th century, Maya Angelou represents the isolation in the early 19s in her poem as the speaker who lays awake at night and ponders the meaning of life. Since the poet links tradition and innovation of that time in the poem, the mood of this poem is neutral but critical.
In this poem, Maya Angelou uses the repetition of “that nobody, but nobody, can make it out here alone” after her main stanzas for this phrase is given new meanings after every stanza.
In stanza 2, “where water is not thirsty, and bread loaf is not stone,”(stanza 1, line 5,6) reflects that the living conditions of the speaker are poor, as they have limited food and water supply.
In the stanza 3, the speaker represents a contemporary world that has a common social issue of isolation. Comparing to the poor living conditions that are mentioned before, this stanza not only illustrates the rich people at that time but also pity for their overwhelm life greatly base on “there are some millionaires, with money they can't use” (stanza 3, line 1, 2). Also, the “blues” that children from wealth family sing reflects their pampered lifestyle.
Although the people that the speaker shows in her poem have the opposite status and race at that time, they all need others to make a better life. The theme of the poem is about that nobody can make their life on their own.