Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"W (VIVA): 31" by E.E. Cummings is a richly evocative poem that blends memory, sensory imagery, and the passage of time to create a vivid, almost surreal depiction of a town. The poem reflects on the lingering presence of a place in memory, intertwining feelings of decay, death, and a strange beauty.

The poem begins with the phrase "memory believes," suggesting that the recollections of the speaker are not necessarily rooted in reality but are shaped by the emotions and perceptions that memory carries. The "fragrance of a town" serves as the entry point into this memory, with the sensory detail of smell evoking the past in a deeply personal way.

Cummings immediately sets a somber, almost haunting tone with descriptions of the town: "whose / dormers choke / and snore the steeples writhe with / rain." The dormers, which are windows projecting from a sloping roof, are personified as choking and snoring, creating an image of a town that is suffocating or struggling to breathe. The steeples "writhe with rain," adding to the sense of discomfort and unease. Rain, often a symbol of cleansing or renewal, here contributes to the town's sense of turmoil.

The faces at the windows "do not / speak and are ghosts," emphasizing the ghostly, insubstantial nature of the inhabitants or perhaps the memories of them. These figures are silent and spectral, suggesting that the town is either abandoned or filled with people who are disconnected from one another and from life itself. The mention of "huddled in the darkness of / cafes" further underscores this sense of isolation and disconnection, where people gather in darkness but remain emotionally distant.

The poem then shifts to a description of the town's physical environment: "like lopsided / imaginations / filled with newly murdered / flowers whispering barns / bulge." This imagery is strikingly surreal, with "lopsided imaginations" suggesting a skewed or distorted reality. The "newly murdered flowers" add a sense of violence or abrupt endings, contrasting with the typically gentle and life-affirming image of flowers. The "whispering barns" and their "bulge" suggest an overabundance of something—perhaps memories, stories, or emotions—barely contained within the town.

Cummings continues to explore the theme of death with "a tiniest street or / three contains these prettiest / deaths without effort." The use of "prettiest deaths" is both ironic and poignant, as it contrasts the finality of death with the aesthetic beauty of the town. The idea that these deaths are contained "without effort" suggests an ease or inevitability to the passage of life within this memory.

The poem concludes with the image of "hungering churches (topped / with effigies of crowing / gold) nuzzle against summer / thunder." The churches, typically symbols of spiritual nourishment, are described as "hungering," perhaps indicating a lack of fulfillment or the desperation of the townspeople. The "effigies of crowing gold" atop the churches add a sense of false grandeur or hollow celebration, as if the churches are adorned with empty symbols of wealth or power. The churches "nuzzle against summer thunder," implying an intimate, almost comforting relationship with the storm—a natural force that could symbolize both destruction and renewal.

The final lines, "smell only / such blue slender hands of god," bring the poem back to the sensory experience of smell, now associated with "blue slender hands of god." This image evokes a sense of divinity that is delicate and ethereal, perhaps representing the elusive presence of grace or beauty in a decaying, dying town. The color blue, often linked with calm and spirituality, contrasts with the darker, more unsettling imagery earlier in the poem, suggesting that even in decay, there is a trace of the divine.

In "W (VIVA): 31," E.E. Cummings creates a layered and haunting portrayal of a town as it exists in memory, blending the real with the surreal, and the beautiful with the morbid. The poem captures the complexity of memory, where past experiences are tinged with both nostalgia and unease, and where the remnants of life—however distorted—are still touched by a sense of the divine.

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