Difference between revisions of "Edward Estlin Cummings, Pity This Busy Monster, Manunkind (1944)"

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==Text==
 
==Text==
 +
pity this busy monster, manunkind,<br>
 +
<br>
 +
not. Progress is a comfortable disease:<br>
 +
your victim (death and life safely beyond)<br>
 +
<br>
 +
plays with the bigness of his littleness<br>
 +
--- electrons deify one razorblade<br>
 +
into a mountainrange; lenses extend<br>
 +
unwish through curving wherewhen till unwish<br>
 +
returns on its unself.<br>
 +
::::: A world of made<br>
 +
is not a world of born --- pity poor flesh<br>
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<br>
 +
and trees, poor stars and stones, but never this<br>
 +
fine specimen of hypermagical<br>
 +
<br>
 +
ultraomnipotence. We doctors know<br>
 +
<br>
 +
a hopeless case if --- listen: there's a hell<br>
 +
of a good universe next door; let's go<br>
  
 
==Critical Edition==
 
==Critical Edition==
 +
e.e. cummings. "pity this busy monster, manunkind [1944]." ''Poems 1923-1954. First Complete Edition''. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968. 397.
  
 
==Further Reading==
 
==Further Reading==
 +
*Yaron, Iris and Routledge, Michael (translator). "Hermetism in the Poetry of E. E. Cummings: An Analysis of Three Obscure Poems." Spring: The Journal of the E. E. Cummings Society, 11 (2002 Oct), pp. 107-19.
 +
*Eastwood, David R. "Poetry Hypotheses." Hypotheses: Neo-Aristotelian Analysis, 3 (1992 Fall), pp. 6-8.
 +
*Slotkin, Alan R. "The Negative Aspect of Homo Faber: A Reading of E.E. Cummings' 'pity this busy monster, manunkind'." Language of Poems, 2:2 (1973), pp. 34-41.
  
 
==External Links==
 
==External Links==
 +
*[http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/57.html The Wondering Minstrels]
  
[[Category:Text]]
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[[Category:20th century|1944]]
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[[Category:1940s|1944]]
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[[Category:By author|Cummings, Edward Estlin]]

Latest revision as of 16:47, 8 April 2008

Text

pity this busy monster, manunkind,

not. Progress is a comfortable disease:
your victim (death and life safely beyond)

plays with the bigness of his littleness
--- electrons deify one razorblade
into a mountainrange; lenses extend
unwish through curving wherewhen till unwish
returns on its unself.

A world of made

is not a world of born --- pity poor flesh

and trees, poor stars and stones, but never this
fine specimen of hypermagical

ultraomnipotence. We doctors know

a hopeless case if --- listen: there's a hell
of a good universe next door; let's go

Critical Edition

e.e. cummings. "pity this busy monster, manunkind [1944]." Poems 1923-1954. First Complete Edition. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968. 397.

Further Reading

  • Yaron, Iris and Routledge, Michael (translator). "Hermetism in the Poetry of E. E. Cummings: An Analysis of Three Obscure Poems." Spring: The Journal of the E. E. Cummings Society, 11 (2002 Oct), pp. 107-19.
  • Eastwood, David R. "Poetry Hypotheses." Hypotheses: Neo-Aristotelian Analysis, 3 (1992 Fall), pp. 6-8.
  • Slotkin, Alan R. "The Negative Aspect of Homo Faber: A Reading of E.E. Cummings' 'pity this busy monster, manunkind'." Language of Poems, 2:2 (1973), pp. 34-41.

External Links