4.5* Absolutely beautiful. The work of a true master. Have never read anything quite like it. I’m not going to give it 5* purely on the basis that I read it so sporadically and many of the poems in the middle I didn’t give my full attention to. However, for me, the beginning and the end were absolutely stunning.
I feel like these
were poems
I could read again
and again (and again
and again)
and still find
meaning (the truth
that I had always
sought) within
them
Cummings’ experimental (yet thoughtful) style really makes you take a step back and analyse the poem as a poem. The length of the lines, the punctuation, the depth of the stanzas, they all have a clear purpose and they all change how the words themselves are experienced — more so than anything I’ve ever read before.
Reading these so randomly over the space of a couple of months (in PDF form on a laptop [the formatting didn’t work on kindle]) was somewhat of a disservice. I’ll next pick up a book of Cummings poetry when I’m in a situation where I can purchase a hard copy and keep it with me at all times. I have no doubt I will get even more from it than I did from this edition.
