How to teach e e cummings to middle schoolers

April 26, 2007 6:56 AM

Poets and poetry enthusiasts: how to read aloud and analyze an e e cummings poem for middle schoolers?

My mother is special ed aide at a middle school, and one of her students has a poetry project wherein they (seventh graders) are supposed to select and read poems to fifth graders. This student has chosen the e e cummings poem that begins "how tinily of" (full poem here) and my mother isn't sure how the poem is supposed to be read or, frankly, what it means. Of course, she doesn't want to discourage a student who's taking an interest in poetry by brushing it off or telling the student to pick another poem, either.

I was an English major in undergrad but focused much more on prose than poetry, so I figured I'd pass the question along to see if the hive mind has any ideas. Googling returned results saying that e e cummings poems are often best read aloud but not how to read them, and the text of the poem but no analysis.

Other information that might be helpful: From what I gather, the teacher who assigned the project is not sympathetic to the 'it means what you think it means' approach to interpreting poetry. Mom is quite smart and enjoys poetry herself (just not e e cummings), and can be trusted to help the student figure it out rather than just telling him or her what to say. She has access to a large university library if anyone thinks a certain book or journal article might be of use.

posted by AV to education (18 comments total)

For starters, please teach the student the correct capitalization of E. E. Cummings, as he preferred it.
posted by grouse at 7:14 AM on April 26, 2007 [3 favorites]

I can't help you with this particular poem but there are two excellent books on teaching poetry to children that your mother may want to read: Rose, Where Did You Get Your Red? and Wishes, Lies & Dreams. They're both by Kenneth Koch.
posted by dobbs at 7:20 AM on April 26, 2007

Oops. That should be Rose, Where Did You Get That Red?
posted by dobbs at 7:24 AM on April 26, 2007

Given ee cummings fascination with spring, the poem seems to be describing the first efforts of a budding plant. As to how to read it, tough call. Depsite the fact the man was a pretty sweet formalist when he wanted to be, he did write a lot of poems that are closer to paintings, in that they work visually more than they work aurally. That being said, the best way to tackle it is simply to start reading it aloud, following the ebb and flow of the lines and likely treating the sections in parentheses as (quieter moments). And I second the Koch recommendation.
posted by theinsectsarewaiting at 7:26 AM on April 26, 2007

Given ee cumming's fascination with spring, the poem seems to be describing the first efforts of a budding plant. As to how to read it, tough call. Depsite the fact the man was a pretty sweet formalist when he wanted to be, he did write a lot of poems that are closer to paintings, in that they work visually more than they work aurally. That being said, the best way to tackle it is simply to start reading it aloud, following the ebb and flow of the lines and likely treating the sections in parentheses as (quieter moments). And I second the Koch recommendation.
posted by theinsectsarewaiting at 7:26 AM on April 26, 2007

"not all of my poems are to be read aloud—some . . . are to be seen & not heard."
posted by zamboni at 7:31 AM on April 26, 2007

When I was in high school, I spent my summers teaching what us middle class white liberal types call "disadvantaged" 6th and 7th graders writing and literature, and we got a lot of mileage out of Buffalo Bill's and next to god of course america i. Part of the reason that ee is such a great way to introduce kids to reading and thinking about poetry is that he forces us to pay attention to things we usually take for granted- such as capitalization, the spaces between words, line breaks, etc.- and, correspondingly, because *how* we read the poems, aloud and silently- determines what we think it's trying to say.

So while the teacher may not be down with the "what do you think it means/every interpreter for himself or herself" approach, it might help to start not with meaning but with sounding- having the students read the poem aloud over and over in various ways, with various emphases, various tones, various speeds, various breaks, to foreground how language and form determine- at least in this case- content and meaning. You can do this in several ways- asking them to read it silently to themselves and then calling on a few of them to read it aloud so they can experience the difference in both interpretations and in reading alound vs. reading silently; asking them to work in groups and develop a consensus within their group on how to read the poem and then present it to the class, etc. But what this approach allows you to do is place form in the spotlight, and then move from form to content since with ee, form is so key to content.

I haven't worked with "how tinily" before, but the students' choice is especially well-suited for this excercise, because the parentheticals add even more dimensions to how one might read/speak the poem. And I think it would be exciting for the kids to see that there are a number of ways in which one can read it, some of which they and the teacher may find more plausible and coherent than others. Having a range of interpretive and aural possibilities isn't the same thing as saying that anything goes.

Hope this helps.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 7:41 AM on April 26, 2007

I agree with theinsectsarewaiting, this sounds to me like a seedling growing between stones and blooming (white?).

Could the student make some sort of visual aid? I think ee cummings poems are best understood when seen, so perhaps having the student create a poster or even write the poem out on the blackboard? That way he/she can discuss how the poem itself is sort of sprouting with stones between...?
posted by sarahmelah at 7:41 AM on April 26, 2007

if the goal of the discussion is to "decipher" what the poem means, everyone will end up frustrated and will think to themselves "i don't understand poetry. it's too difficult. i can't figure out what it's trying to say." consider that the reason this poem doesn't "mean" things in the traditional sense of having an argument or thesis, is because it isn't trying to. it is more painterly, a little bit musical. this might be a good time to expose the students to a whole school of poetry that takes issue with the idea of poetic narrative. instead of asking them what it means, ask them what it looks like, what it sounds like, what is in it and what is not. what gets referred to? where is its place? who is the speaker? these kinds of things. maybe another way to explore the poem is have the students write a creative response to it. have them try to do an imitation of it. or a line-by-line response to it. they might learn more from the inside of the poem out.
posted by apostrophe at 7:43 AM on April 26, 2007

Another thing you might look at is the shape of the poem - it is almost symmetric. Does the physical shape of the poem on the page reflect anything that the poem talks about (between stones)? Do the lines and words themselves "squirm?" Perhaps. Leading the class to discover the visual patterns of the poem could be a good exercise. After the poem is read, maybe hand out the text of the poem as cummings structured it and also written out as a sentence. Then you could talk briefly about the meaning of the language and then discuss the form of the poem.

Also, the first and last words/lines are interesting because they are homophones - how and hou. Of course, the hou is a broken 'thou.' (look - even how t and t hou!) The action of the poem is green becoming white, two becoming one. I don't really know where to go with this as I don't know cummings well, but discussing the seasons (as theinsects suggests), if the children are more hungry for meaning than pattern, is probably as good a place to start as any.
posted by taliaferro at 7:45 AM on April 26, 2007

You're mom/her student might even draw a graphical representation of the poem sideways on the chalkboard to show the peaks and valleys it creates and highlight the 1-2-3-3-3-2-1 line per stanza pattern. This could actually be a really good poem for fifth graders. (how + hou = 2 becomes one?) Oh, and check out what word is at the very center of the poem: "you" - middle word, middle line. Nice.
posted by taliaferro at 7:59 AM on April 26, 2007

Seconding sarahmelah and taliaferro. It would help to see it on the blackboard, maybe even without the line breaks:

how tinily of squir (two between stones) ming a greenest you becomes whi (mysteriously) te one thou

Or, they could write each word (or syllable) on a separate piece of paper or flashcard, and hang them on a clothesline or string, so the class can help rearrange it into their own interpretations or readings.
posted by steef at 8:08 AM on April 26, 2007

Not directly related to Cummings, but the Third Coast Radio Festival had a piece in 2004 about teaching children analysis of modern poetry, specifically Wallace Stevens' Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. It was a wonderful audio piece and may give her some ideas.
posted by rabbitsnake at 11:32 AM on April 26, 2007

How to read:

How tinily of squir-
two between stones
-ming a green nest you
becomes whi-
mysteriously
-t one thou




What it says:

How tinily a squirming
two between stones
a green nest
You mysteriously (white) become
one “you”.
posted by ewkpates at 11:56 AM on April 26, 2007

You now its about sex, right? Besides sprint = sex = new life ... the placement of words between other words, as if something foreign is joining. The use of the verb "squirming", "between", "you become one", white is the traditional color of virginity.

Also the structure of the poem looks like a guy with his arms out and a huge boner.
posted by geoff. at 12:53 PM on April 26, 2007

Oh I was taught the "binary" technique to poems. It involved (this is rather a stripped down explanation) but diagramming what's actually happening in the poem and what is happening symbolically. We would do the entire poem, then the structure, then the words themselves, etc.
posted by geoff. at 12:56 PM on April 26, 2007

This might not be allowed, but could two people read it? One student could, for example, read the main body of the poem, and the other could interrupt to recite the parentheticals. This would be a good way to illustrate how independent voices can operate in the same poem, even in the absence of traditional narrators or speakers. Good luck!
posted by Powerful Religious Baby at 1:10 PM on April 26, 2007

How much time does your mother have with this student? If my experience with middle school teachers is accurate. this student is not going to be able to receive a good grade with that poem, no matter how well he does it. This does, however, seem like an excellent opportunity for him to work through what the poem means to him and perhaps find more poems like it that interest him outside of his English class. Meanwhile, he can choose a poem for class that allows him to complete the assignment in the way his teacher intends.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 4:20 PM on April 26, 2007