Nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands, but is a very slower walker
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 will easily 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
(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
So, there was a discussion among some friends about what this poem, particularly the last line, means and I thought I would add my two cents in the bargain.
I think that in this poem, Cummings has decided to use flowers as a method of describing what it feels like to be in love, or to fall in love, with someone so completely, that the subtlest look or touch can "open or close" him (be his undoing, cause his heart to open and soar, make him feel as though he were flying or crashing, make him feel closed off and 10,000 miles away). And "nobody" has this ability (such small hands) but the other, not even the rain, which would be the typical effect to cause a flower to open or close (or sunlight. Sunlight would also probably have that effect, depending on the type of flower and time of day).
The point being that even something as crucial as rain does not affect him as strongly or as subtlety as this person does.
When I first heard this poem though, I wondered whether the "nobody" in "nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands" could be an entity or a character, such as "anyone" from another of Cummings' works "anyone lived in a pretty how town" where "anyone" is the equivalent of a main character (who lived in a pretty how town).
This reminded me of another author who loved to play with syntax and meaning -- Lewis Carroll, who wrote the excerpt below:
..."the King cried in a tone of delight, on seeing Alice. `Did you happen to meet any soldiers, my dear, as you came through the wood?'
`Yes, I did,' said Alice: several thousand, I should think.'
`Four thousand two hundred and seven, that's the exact number,' the King said, referring to his book. `I couldn't send all the horses, you know, because two of them are wanted in the game. And I haven't sent the two Messengers, either. They're both gone to the town. Just look along the road, and tell me if you can see either of them.'
`I see nobody on the road,' said Alice.
`I only wish I had such eyes,' the King remarked in a fretful tone. `To be able to see Nobody! And at that distance, too! Why, it's as much as I can do to see real people, by this light!' ...
`Who did you pass on the road?' the King went on, holding out his hand to the Messenger for some more hay.
`Nobody,' said the Messenger.
`Quite right,' said the King: `this young lady saw him too. So of course Nobody walks slower than you.
`I do my best,' the Messenger said in a sulky tone. `I'm sure nobody walks much faster than I do!'
`He can't do that,' said the King, `or else he'd have been here first." - [Alice] Through the Looking Glass, Ch. 7 "The Lion and the Unicorn"
In this instance, the king thinks of the "Nobody" that Alice "sees" on the road as a kind of person, albeit not a "real" one: "I only wish I had such eyes,' the King remarked in a fretful tone. `To be able to see Nobody! And at that distance, too! Why, it's as much as I can do to see real people, by this light!...`Who did you pass on the road?' the King went on...`Nobody,' said the Messenger. / `Quite right,' said the King: `this young lady saw him too. So of course Nobody walks slower than you."
What do you think the king meant when he said "it's as much as I can do to see real people, by this light!" in conjunction to refering to "Nobody" as "him"?
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 will easily 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
(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
So, there was a discussion among some friends about what this poem, particularly the last line, means and I thought I would add my two cents in the bargain.
I think that in this poem, Cummings has decided to use flowers as a method of describing what it feels like to be in love, or to fall in love, with someone so completely, that the subtlest look or touch can "open or close" him (be his undoing, cause his heart to open and soar, make him feel as though he were flying or crashing, make him feel closed off and 10,000 miles away). And "nobody" has this ability (such small hands) but the other, not even the rain, which would be the typical effect to cause a flower to open or close (or sunlight. Sunlight would also probably have that effect, depending on the type of flower and time of day).
The point being that even something as crucial as rain does not affect him as strongly or as subtlety as this person does.
When I first heard this poem though, I wondered whether the "nobody" in "nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands" could be an entity or a character, such as "anyone" from another of Cummings' works "anyone lived in a pretty how town" where "anyone" is the equivalent of a main character (who lived in a pretty how town).
This reminded me of another author who loved to play with syntax and meaning -- Lewis Carroll, who wrote the excerpt below:
..."the King cried in a tone of delight, on seeing Alice. `Did you happen to meet any soldiers, my dear, as you came through the wood?'
`Yes, I did,' said Alice: several thousand, I should think.'
`Four thousand two hundred and seven, that's the exact number,' the King said, referring to his book. `I couldn't send all the horses, you know, because two of them are wanted in the game. And I haven't sent the two Messengers, either. They're both gone to the town. Just look along the road, and tell me if you can see either of them.'
`I see nobody on the road,' said Alice.
`I only wish I had such eyes,' the King remarked in a fretful tone. `To be able to see Nobody! And at that distance, too! Why, it's as much as I can do to see real people, by this light!' ...
`Who did you pass on the road?' the King went on, holding out his hand to the Messenger for some more hay.
`Nobody,' said the Messenger.
`Quite right,' said the King: `this young lady saw him too. So of course Nobody walks slower than you.
`I do my best,' the Messenger said in a sulky tone. `I'm sure nobody walks much faster than I do!'
`He can't do that,' said the King, `or else he'd have been here first." - [Alice] Through the Looking Glass, Ch. 7 "The Lion and the Unicorn"
In this instance, the king thinks of the "Nobody" that Alice "sees" on the road as a kind of person, albeit not a "real" one: "I only wish I had such eyes,' the King remarked in a fretful tone. `To be able to see Nobody! And at that distance, too! Why, it's as much as I can do to see real people, by this light!...`Who did you pass on the road?' the King went on...`Nobody,' said the Messenger. / `Quite right,' said the King: `this young lady saw him too. So of course Nobody walks slower than you."
What do you think the king meant when he said "it's as much as I can do to see real people, by this light!" in conjunction to refering to "Nobody" as "him"?