Somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyond by E. E. Cummings

somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyond

any experience, your eyes have their silence:

in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,

or which I cannot touch because they are too near

 

your slightest look easily will unclose me

though I have closed myself as fingers,

you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens

(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose

 

or if your wish be to close me, I and

my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,

as when the heart of this flower imagines

the snow carefully everywhere descending;

 

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals

the power of your intense fragility: whose texture

compels me with the color of its countries,

rendering death and forever with each breathing (video of nanay sa sleepover)

 

(I do not know what it is about you that closes

and opens; only something in me understands

the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)

nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands (makahiya plant)

 Literal Meaning

After you read the poem, what does the literal meaning seem to be? What is happening in the poem?

Details the deep feelings of love that the speaker has for their lover, and the power that their beloved has over them

Imagery

1].       IMAGE: whose texture compels me with the colour of it’s countries (Line 15) (tactile)

MEANING: similar to how a traveller is awed by new discoveries it’s the same for the speaker with his lover discovering new things about them

2].       IMAGE: the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses (line 19) (visual)

        MEANING: the speaker is mesmerized when they look into their lover’s eyes for they are deep and mysterious

3].       IMAGE: you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens (touching skillfully, mysteriously) her first rose (Line 7-8) (tactile)

         MEANING: Sunlight and rain. An image of him being opened up without any literal sense to it

4].      IMAGE: your slightest look will unclose me (Line 5)(visual)

MEANING: The lover can open their clenched fist with minimal glances

Lyric Qualities

1].       Lyric Device: whose texturecompels me with the colour of it’s countries (Line 15) (alliteration)

Meaning: similar to how a traveller is awed by new discoveries it’s the same for the speaker with his lover discovering new things about them

2].       Lyric Device: (Lines 17-20)

          Meaning: The poem is a free verse, the last stanza is the only one with a regular rhyme scheme

3].       Lyric Device: nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals (Line 13) and nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands (Line 20)

          Meaning: “nothing” and “nobody” concludes the speaker’s description of his beloved intertwining with these two words

Figurative Meaning

1].           Figurative Device: you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens (Line 7) (personification)

Meaning: speaker slowly opening up to their lover

2].       Figurative Device: though I have closed myself as fingers (Line 6) (simile)

         Meaning: comparing to the way the lover is opening them emotionally

3.].     Figurative Device: my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly, as when the heart of this flower imagines the snow carefully everywhere descending (Line 10-12) (simile)

Meaning: comparing the way the speaker’s love can close them down emotionally the way flowers shut in winter

4.]       Figurative Device: I do not know what it is about you that closes and opens; only something in me understands the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses (Lines 17-19) (metaphor)

Meaning: the way that the speaker’s lover can easily open and close them like a flower and not knowing how they have such power over them.

Theme

The narrator is trying to describe the ferocity of his emotions. Expressing his awe and bewilderment at how mysterious love can be.