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 (see Works Cited). In it, he wrote, "for me, this poem means just what it says . . . and the ! which begins the poem is whatmight be called and emphatic (=very)." This poem is also concerns the cycle of birth, life, death, and renewal. This is derived from the '.' preceding the last letter. This shows that even though the poem is finished, the circle of life is not, and is ever cycling (Weg 144). Through the poem's shape, !blac also shows a leaf fluttering to the ground. The lines' spacing synchronizes the speed of the reading with that of the leaf at different points in its fall. With its capital 'I's, 'IrlI' also indicates a leaf falling straight down before it hits the ground (147). Reading this poem, one may realize the lone comma on line 12. The poet writes about the sky and a tree, and then a comma intrudes, which makes the reader pause, and realize the new awareness that the comma indicated - that of a falling leaf (145). Lines 1 through 6 are also very important to the poem. Although "black against white" may be referring to the color of the falling leaf in contrast to the bright sky, it is not wrong to assume it means more. As stated above, the poem's theme is the cycle of life, and "black against white" could be indicating life death versus life. It shows that even though a leaf falling may be an indication of death, falling of leaves is an integral part of the whole life cycle of the tree(146). !blac may seem like a simple mess of words, but in reality is much more complex than that. swi( is another poem of Cummings' ideogram form. The essence of this poem is seeing a bird's swift flight past the sun, and the wonder of this experience. The poem mainly tries to convince the reader of the...
