Since Feeling is First by E. E. Cummings interpreted by Faisal Efendi

Since Feeling is First

by E. E. Cummings

interpreted by Faisal Efendi

since feeling is first

who pays any attention

to the syntax of things

will never wholly kiss you;

wholly to be a fool

while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,

and kisses are a better fate

than wisdom

lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry

-the best gesture of my brain is less than

your eyelids' flutterwhich says

we are for each other:then

laugh, leaning back in my arms

for life's not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis

Introduction

Feeling has several possible definitions. The word was first used in English to describe the physical sensation of touch through experience or perception. The word is also used to describe the physical sensation of touch far as "a feeling of warmth". In psychology this word is often interpreted to the subjective experience of emotion conscious. Phenomenology and heterofenomenologi philosophical approach that provides the basis for knowledge about feelings. Many schools of psychotherapy that relies on a kind of understanding the therapist obtain the client's feelings, where applicable methodology. Some theories of interpersonal relationships also have a role in sharing feelings or understanding each other.

feelings come before everything else, and since this is so, anyone who pays attention to how things are supposed to be will never be capable of knowing another's true nature. During Spring, I approves of pure foolishness. I believes that love is much better than being wise, and swears to his love that any gesture I could come up with could never compare to something simple like her eyelids flutter, since it shows their love for each other. The speaker tells her to forget everything else and just enjoy the moment because life must not be a certain way; each person can decide their fate, and he thinks that death is not a sign that anything has ended between them.

 estlin Cummings was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on October 14 of 1894. his mother, Rebecca, first showed him how to write poems. Cummings was twelve when he became a freshman in high school. He attended Harvard and graduated in 1916. He was both a poet and a painter during his lifetime. As a poet, he was first recognized by readers because of his odd ways of phrasing and punctuation. During WWI, he served with an ambulance corps in France. He was arrested as a spy and imprisoned for a while.One of his first books published was based on these war experiences. He wrote twelve volumes of poetry during his life. Cummings died on September 3 of 1962 in North Conway, New Hampshire.

To show the inadequacy of language to kiss, to love, to live and to die, the inadequacy of intellectual activity in general to relate in a direct way to the world. The obvious question therefore is what this poem attempts to be. Does it describe itself as inadequate? Or, maybe, the deliberately inconsistent use of syntax and punctuation in the poem shows that e.e. cummings (notice no capitalization) has found a non-linguistic, non-intellectual form of communication that is more direct, more "vital" and more "emotional" than usual poetry and therefore avoids the pitfalls that are mentioned in the poem.

Analysis

Theme

Feeling is primary, the person who pays attention to the logical structure of things–the syntax–will never wholly kiss you, or, will never be willing to abandon him or herself completely to emotion. Put your trust in logic and you’ll lose the chance to really be overwhelmed by love.

The main theme behind this poem is logic versus emotions.  And, Cummings feels that emotions are much more powerful, joyous, and worth paying attention to.  He addresses the poem to a woman who he feels very connected to, and states that "my blood approves" of the relationship, and "kisses are a better fate than wisdom."  Even if his brain, and logic intercedes, and tells him all of the reasons that he should be cautious, or that they shouldn't be together, or the many, many reasons that they are unsuited or a bad match, he believes more in her "eyelids' flutter which says we are for each other." 

He is telling her to stop worrying so much, stop thinking so much, and that "the best gesture of my brain is less than" the pure feeling and emotion of being with her.  He wants her to trust the feeling of happiness they have, to "laugh, leaning back in my arms" and to enjoy the time that they have together, and to leave all the fretting and worrying behind.  Life can't be calibrated and organized like "a paragraph", so they should just enjoy it in all its happy chaos.  I hope that those thoughts help you to understand the poem a bit better; Cummings can be difficult, as he throws all grammar, punctuation and conventions to the wind and writes in a very unusual style.

since feeling is first

who pays any attention

to the syntax of things

will never wholly kiss you

The poem says that "since feeling is first" (line 1) the one who pays attention to the meaning of things will never truly embrace. The poem states that it is better to be a fool, or to live by emotions while one is young. The narrator declares that his "blood approves"

Since feeling is first” is about feeling (802).  This is immediately evident from the title and first line, which emphasize the word “feeling” in several different ways.  The stresses on “feel-“ and “first,” as well as the alliteration between those two words, make explicit their connection and importance, and the repetition of the same line in both title and first line serves to enhance the effect.

The meaning of the first line is clear, but because of cummings’ characteristic absence of punctuation and capitalization as well as sentence structure, the next few lines are more ambiguous.  The first three lines together could be paraphrased as, “Because feeling comes first, who cares about the rules?”  Feeling is first in order of importance, and the rest does not matter.  “Who pays attention” is a rhetorical question meaning that no one pays any attention.  However, the ambiguousness of sentence structure means that the last two lines of the first stanza, “the syntax of things / will never wholly kiss you,” can also be read together.  Linked together in such a way, this clause means that structure, such as grammar, is not engaging; it does not seize the imagination or emotions the way feeling does.

This thought is continued in the next stanza, with the repeated word “wholly” linking back to the previous line.  Spring is a time of year known for giddy foolishness, and cummings plays off this idea.  The use of the word “fool” implies that there is a lack of intelligence, therefore that intelligence is important; however, in the next stanza, the speaker lets go of intellect entirely, declaring, “kisses are a better fate / than wisdom.”  It is better not to consider wisdom at all; feeling and experience is much more important. 

The word “flowers” is a reference to the “Spring” mentioned in the second stanza, and moreover, these flowers are elevated to holiness, something worthy of swearing an oath.  Such a simple thing, like feeling, is now transformed into the most sacred and important.  In the line “the best gesture of my brain is less than / your eyelids’ flutter,” mental exertion, which is usually accorded such importance in our society, is reduced to less significance than the blink of an eye.  The important thing is to experience life, not to analyze it or think about it.

 Great life experience is love, which is present throughout the poem in phrases such as “kiss” and “lady”; however, it is addressed more fully in the fourth stanza.  The line “we are for each other” explicitly identifies the speaker and the addressee as a couple.  “Then” links this line to the next in a causal relationship, meaning “because we are together, laugh.”  The speaker is glad to be in love and revels in the delightful, sensual experience.  The line “laugh,leaning back in my arms” has a lovely anapestic rhythm which coincides with the meaning of “leaning” and gives it a free, joyous feeling.  This stanza urges the full experience of love.

            last line of the fourth stanza says that “life is not a paragraph.”  This means that life is not about writing; life is about experience and sensation.  This writing-oriented word connects back to the use of “syntax” in the first stanza; there it was used in a similar way, to contrast merely writing about life with actually living it.  However, it also creates a link to the following line, the last line of the poem, “And death i think is no parenthesis.”  With the reference to death in mind, “life is not a paragraph” could mean that life is not even as long as a paragraph.  Therefore it is very short, and we must make the most of it.  A parenthesis is only the end of a phrase set off inside a sentence; however, death is not one of those; it is presumably a period, a full stop, the final end.  Once the “parenthesis” is passed, there is no going back, so it is important to make the most of life while it is there.

The meter matches the progression of meaning from the freedom of life to impending death.  The poem is in free verse, but many of the feet are anapestic, which gives the poem a rolling, soothing but nevertheless propelling forward motion.  In addition, although there is never any regular meter, the later lines are more regular than the first ones.  For example, the last line of the poem is perfect iambic pentameter. 

This fits the meaning of the poem because the first part is about how feeling is so important, but at the end it is driven home that “death is no parenthesis,” meaning that death is a period, the end, rather than merely a pause or the end of a phase.

The progression of life and death also occurs in a temporal sense.  The introductory “since” in the first line of the poem, if read as a conjunction of time rather than causality, means that feeling comes first in life events, and death is last, both in the poem and in life itself.  Even though during the height of life we may be able to do whatever we want, eventually we will have to follow the rules, so we should make the most of it while we still can.  Because it uses the threat of death to urge the addressee to hurry up and live life to the fullest, especially through love, e. e. cummings’ “since feeling is first” is essentially a carpe diem poem.