After learning that "The boys I mean are not refined" was written by E.E. Cummings, a man, I have had a whole new interpretation to this poem. At first, when I assumed the speaker/author was a female, the poem, to me, had a tone of bitterness or maybe even envy. It seemed to me that the poem was about the destructive, abusive nature of the young male. They have no inhibitions and with that, so much power in the world; they even "shake the world when they dance." Now that I know a male, war veteran wrote this poem, everything changed for me. I no longer get the tone of bitterness but one of disgust. Though the poem still sends the message of the vulgar, destructive nature of the young male, it also has a subtle commentary of war. These "boys" who are already so dangerous, brash and stupid, who "kill like you take a piss," are perfect for war. They are your soldiers, who are accustomed to the controversial scandal of war.
2 comments:
September 6, 2008 at 8:56 PM
At first I thought this poem might be lyrics to a song. After finding out that the poem was written by a war veteran, and a male, the context of the poem does completely change. I think this was a valuable exercise to help prepare our minds to be able to read a piece of literature e without any bias or contextual interpretations.
September 6, 2008 at 10:24 PM
I'll admit, I thought this poem was written by a present day disillusioned youth. The crassness and vulgarity of the language made me almost certain of it. However, when I researched online and found out that this poem was written by E.E. Cummings, a notable American writer, my entire attitude toward the poem changed. As stilldoug mentioned, many of us, including myself, must work on judging literature without bias or preconceived notions.
Post a Comment