I Carry Your Heat With Me

E.E. Cummings
We often hear stories about pure love and how wonderful it must be. When I first read the poem I Carry Your Heart With Me written by E.E Cummings, I was amazed to see how simple, on the other hand complicated, he managed to express the feeling of absolute love. After a second lecture of the poem, I was able to see a lot of underlying emotion hidden beneath the text. The author stars the poem by repeating the title I carry your heart with me , which is the motif of this poem. Cummings continues in the parenthesis with the statement I carry it in my heart, which shows the unity of the lovers, and how two hearts become one. In the next verses, he shares with us how strong their unity is: I am never without it. Cummings love for the unknown woman is beyond logic. He loves her so deeply, that everything he does, or everywhere he goes, she is right there with him, she lives through him: anywhere I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling. By calling her my dear and my darling, we can understand that he pampers her with his love. The author starts the second stanza with a contradiction, saying first I fear no fate, and then continuing with for you are my fate, my sweet. Using the word fear he shows how frightened he is of what fate can do to him, to them. This fear of him, disappear when he states: for you are my fate. Cummings love for the unknown woman is so strong, that she became the centre of his universe, of his world: for beautiful you are my world. In this stanza, we can remark also metaphors and its you are whatever a moon has always meant. The author compares his beloved with the moon, which is the symbol of femininity and love. After that, he states and whatever a sun will always sing is you. The singing sun is the warmth and light of love. In the third stanza, we have another metaphor: tree called life. The tree is the life itself, but every tree needs a root, and every tree will bloom eventually. The same is with love. He compares the absolute love with the tree of life that grows beyond understanding: which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide. Cummings describes this love

mythical and divine. On the other hand he used the word hope, which means that this love is between two humans, because only humans can hope to have such divine love, happiness and bliss. The poem ends, conveniently, with the verse I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart), which is the same as the beginning verse. With this we can truly see the real motif of the poem, the hearts that are carried. The poem written by E.E. Cummings is the proof of the existence of infinite love. This love goes beyond everything we know, which makes us see the beauty in the world, in our beloved ones. We can only hope to feel the warmth of pure love now and forever, eternally.

Student: Ioja Claudia Major: Italian/English