Compare And Contrast If You Forget Me And Ee Cummings

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Pablo Neruda and Edward Estlin (E.E) Cummings are poets from the 20th century who have been praised by many literary critics because of their prestigious works in poetry. For this extended essay, I have decided to compare and contrast the poems, which have interested me, due to their differing perspectives and ideas on the subject on love and also the uniqueness in their respective poems.

I have chosen ‘If You Forget Me’ and ‘Love Sonnet 17’ by Pablo Neruda and [I carry your heart with me(I carry it in] and [love is more thicker than forget] by E.E Cummings. These poems have drawn my attention in particular because of the different poetic devices Neruda and Cummings have carefully utilized to present the theme of love in their poetry. In …show more content…

This movement was seen as a response to globalization and industrialization, which were clearly thriving in the 20th century. The modernist movement clearly reflected the way Cummings wrote his poetry, as he was well known for “his lack of stylistic and structural conformity.” Cummings’ poetic style was seen to be unique and non-traditional as he altered the conventional grammar and linguistic rules for his own purposes. Although Cummings did not follow the usual conformities, Randall Jarrell, a literary critic, said, “No one else, has ever made avant-garde, experimental poems so attractive to the general and the special reader.” (1969) Just as with Pablo Neruda’s poetry, Cummings mainly focused his poetry on the theme of love, often writing …show more content…

However, there have been different interpretations of this poem. Many say that the poem was not actually about Neruda’s great love for Matilde but rather his love for his native country, Chile. In 1948, Neruda was forced into exile and it would make sense for him to use his appalling situation during that time to express his passion for his country. He had many political ideals as a diplomat and it could be interpreted from this poem that Neruda had an immense desire to return to Chile someday. This can be seen from the quote, “everything carries me to you, as if everything that exists, / aromas, light, metals / were little boats / that sail /toward those isles of yours” This suggests that everything surrounding him reminded him of Chile, which may also reflect the nostalgia and hope he must have felt. Although this interpretation does not represent romantic love, which we would expect it to do, it does present Neruda’s patriotic character. In the same manner, the quote implies that Neruda may be suddenly reminded of Matilde when he encounters certain everyday things in life, which may imply his romantic desire for

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