“[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]”

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2014

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

While “[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]” is technically in free verse, its form draws inspiration from the traditional English sonnet—a poem composed of 14 lines—and employs a loose rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. However, the poem does not use a meter and has 15 lines, one more than the sonnet. Moreover, its unusual line breaks, especially Line 5, mitigate the traditional rhyme scheme, drawing attention away from any exact or off rhymes at the end of each line. This creates a tension, as the reader/listener may hear the underlying traditional cadence while experiencing the sensation of something formally new.

In the traditional English sonnet, the volta (emotional turn) occurs in the last couplet, which comments on the 12 lines prior often by changing the direction and tenor of the whole poem. However, E. E. Cummings instead borrows from the Italian sonnet form for his volta, using the last six lines of his poem to deepen the speaker’s thoughts of the prior eight. The first two stanzas (Lines 1-9) concentrate on the speaker’s feelings for the beloved, while the third stanza emphasizes the epic and eternal nature of love. The concluding line returns back to the beloved, thus indicating that the love the speaker feels is timeless.

Enjambment

Cummings uses enjambment—or one line continuing into the next—to create multiple meanings in the poem, adding to its thematic richness. The first line prepares us to watch for this for the rest of the almost-sonnet. It reads, “i carry your heart with me(i carry it in” (Line 1). Ending on “in” and thus not specifying where the carrying takes place feels eerie; the image is so corporeal that the scenario could go the way of horror. However, this is quickly diminished when the line enjambs into “my heart)” (Line 2), making it clear that the first line is a metaphor rather than a literal description.

The technique is used several more times in the poem, most noticeably in Line 5, which ends with the phrase “i fear” (Line 5). This phrase serves a trifold purpose. First, it is connected by the sonnet form to the previous line, “whatever is done / by only me is your doing,my darling) / i fear” (Lines 3-5), suggesting a playful look what you’ve done to me vibe. Second, the phrase highlights that the speaker has legitimate anxiety regarding the separation from their lover. Finally, the sentiment enjambs into a dismissal of that fear in “i fear / no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet” (Lines 5-6).

Parentheses

One of the first typographical choices the reader may notice in “[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]” is the abundant use of parentheses. Traditionally—particularly in Shakespeare—this punctuation mark creates an aside in which someone’s true thoughts might be revealed to another character or the audience. In prose writing, a parenthetical statement is often used to add meaning or detail. In the poem, however, this technique creates multiplicity, producing not one definitive version of the poem but three: the complete version, the statement version, and the parenthetical version.

The poem can be read holistically, with the added details bringing more information throughout each line. However, the reader may also read the poem solely without the information in the parentheses. This version emphasizes the speaker’s belief in the celestial correlations to their love, and that “here is the deepest secret nobody knows […] and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart” (Lines 10-14). This stresses the epic and omniscient effect of love. The third version of the poem exists by reading only that which is in the parentheses. In that case, the poem focuses on how the beloved affects the speaker and becomes the center of everything, which like “the tree called life” (Line 7) reaches down to the ground and grows “higher than soul can hope” (Line 8). This version emphasizes the emotions of the speaker.