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This poem is an amusing one, as it shows the effects of a trapeze act within
the arrangement of the words. On line 10, the space in the word 'open ing'
indicates the act beginning, and the empty, static moment before it has fully
begun. 'of speeds of' and '&meet&', lines 8 and 12 respectively, show a sort of
back-and-forth motion, much like that of the motion of a trapeze swinging. Lines
12 through 15 show the final jump off the trapeze, and 'a/n/d' on lines 17
through 19, represent the deserted trapeze, after the acrobats have dismounted.
Finally, '(im' on the last line should bring the reader's eyes back to the top
of the poem, where he finds 'mortals)'. Placing '(im' at the end of the poem
shows that the performers attain a special type of immortality for risking their
lives to create a show of beauty, they attain a special type of immortality
(36-7). The circularity of the poem causes a feeling of wholeness or
completeness, and may represent the Circle of Life, eternal motion (Fri 26).
Cummings first tightly written ideogram was !blac, a very interesting poem. It
starts with '!', which seems to be saying that something deserving that
exclamation point occurred anterior to the poem, and the poem is trying
objectively to describe certain feelings resulting from '!'.
black against white
is an example of such a description in the poem; the clashing colors create a
feeling in sync with '!'. Also, why (whi) suggests amusement and wonder, another
feeling resulting from '!' (Weg 145). Cummings had written a letter concerning !blac
to Robert Wenger, author of The Poetry and Prose of E. E. Cummings
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