In its entirety, the poem Since Feeling is First by E.E. Cummings is full of metaphors. Indeed, some scholars have suggested that there is some euphemism in the way his name is written in small letters in the initial publication. It is impossible to make a full initial reading of the poem without first checking the heading again to see if it is indeed an English literary work and not a jumbled collection of words (Li & Shi, 2015). This has however been judged to be intentional and a form of euphemism referred to as linguistic metaphors. Secondly, several intellectual metaphors relating to issues of wisdom and folly have been applied in his works. The third form of metaphors applied is the metaphors of fertility and/or vitality, which deal with sensual issues. There is even a school of thought that considers the poem to be sensual in totality. Finally, there are emotional metaphors, both active and passive (Petchauer et al., 2015). The combination of the four types of metaphors combined in such a small poem has led to the point of view that the poem is a metaphor in itself.
The use of linguistics of grammar as a metaphor in the poem is done both using words commonly used in linguistics such as syntax, paragraph, and parenthesis (Li & Shi, 2015). The linguistic term syntax is used in verse 1 line 3 in the same way that it would be used to describe the organization of words in a sentence during a linguistic lesson. Instead, Cummings applies it to things to create the impression of order (Petchauer et al., 2015). This creates the meaning of issues of life meticulously organized and arranged to create a form of practical syntax. The second use of a linguistic term is the word paragraph, to describe life in verse 4 line 3. A paragraph in linguistics is a portion of a passage. The metaphor ‘life is not a paragraph’ is meant to bring out the holistic nature of life of an individual in that it is not merely a section of something else but an entity by itself (Petchauer et al., 2015). This is a common philosophical concept. The very last word in the poem is parenthesis, a linguistics terms meaning a clause or word that has been inserted into a sentence as an afterthought. This is another metaphor that creates the meaning that death is not merely an afterthought or an accident but an integral part of living.
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Intellectual metaphors involve issues relating to the intellect as used in the poem, yet not for their literal meaning (Li & Shi, 2015). These include brain, fool, pay attention, and wisdom. Ordinarily, ‘pays any attention’ means listening intently to something at some instance yet in stanza 1 line two, it is given a wider meaning extending to the entirety of life. However, this attention should for some reason not be paid during spring as paragraph 2 line one advices the auditor to be a fool during spring. This makes fool as the opposite of paying attention which denotes a metaphor. Brain, which is an organ without limbs, is shown to make gestures in paragraph 3 line 5 (Petchauer et al., 2015). This denotes intellectual, not actual gestures and is compared with eyelid gestures. Eyelid gestures are mainly wiry while a gesture from the brain can only be witty (Fitzpatrick, 2016). The preference of kisses over wisdom shows a victory of emotions over intellect (Fitzpatrick, 2016).
Vitality metaphors are used to bring in sensuality to the poem and may have a more sensual meaning than the simple acts suggested (Li & Shi, 2015). Among the words used to create vitality metaphors include kiss, spring, and flowers. The word kiss at the end of stanza one is a broad metaphor that denotes the acts shared by lovers when they are together (Li & Shi, 2015). The extent of these acts is revealed by the existence of the word spring in stanza 2 line 2. Spring is the season of fertility, the time of planting and germination. The term fool takes away all restrain from the kissing leading to what happens in spring, which advances the entire act of love (Li & Shi, 2015). Flowers in paragraph 3 line 4 however shows that there is romance involved in the affair thus it is not a mere escapade.
This introduces the fourth metaphoric use of emotion, which uses words such as eyelids and feeling. In normal parlance, eyes are said to be a window of the soul (Petchauer et al., 2015). As indicated in the metaphor of the brain, the gesture of the eyelid prevails over the gesture of the brain. Love has always been said to be inversely proportional to intelligence hence the word fool in paragraph 2 as explained above. Therefore, the gesture of the eyelid is romantic love, which overcomes conventional wisdom creating euphemistic foolishness (Fitzpatrick, 2016). All these are metaphors. Finally feeling is used to denote the emotional aspect of romantic love, which is affection.
The totality of the foregoing indeed confirms that so many metaphors have been used in so many ways, as to euphemistically create a metaphor out of the entirety of the Poem. The metaphors considered together create a journey of sensual romantic relations between the poet and the auditor. Emotional contents of romantic love come in creating disarray in the organized life of the poet. This leads to a physical romantic encounter between the poet and the auditor and results in a long term romance. Different types of metaphors are employed to tell this long story full of so much meaning in few words.
References
Fitzpatrick, K., & Fitzpatrick, E. (2016). Since Feeling is First. In Global South Ethnographies (pp. 59-69). Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
Li, X., & Shi, M. (2015). A stylistic study on the linguistic deviations in EE Cummings' Poetry. Journal of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics , 19 (2), 23-54.
Petchauer, E., Baker-Doyle, K. J., Mawhinney, L., & Ciarkowski, B. (2015). “Since Feeling is First": Exploring the affective dimension of teacher licensure exams. REMIE Multidisciplinary Journal of Educational Research , 5 (2), 167-195
