FACULTY OF EDUCATION TSL653

CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF POETRY

RESEARCH PAPER: POEM COMPARE & CONTRAST If by e.e.cummings & Whatif by Shel Silverstein

BY: SITI MARYAM BT MOHAMAD ZAMBERI (2011433372)

LECTURER: MDM ROSALIND XAVIER THAMBUSAMY

E. E. Cummings (1894 - 1962)

If
If freckles were lovely, and day was night, And measles were nice and a lie wasnt a lie, Life would be delight, But things couldnt go right For in such a sad plight I wouldnt be I. If earth was heaven and now was hence, And past was present, and false was true, There might be some sense But Id be in suspense For on such a pretense You wouldnt be you. If fear was plucky, and globes were square, And dirt was cleanly and tears were glee Things would seem fair, Yet theyd all despair, For if here was there We wouldnt be we.

Whatif
from the book "A Light in the Attic" (1981) Last night, while I lay thinking here, some Whatifs crawled inside my ear and pranced and partied all night long and sang their same old Whatif song: Whatif I'm dumb in school? Whatif they've closed the swimming pool? Whatif I get beat up? Whatif there's poison in my cup? Whatif I start to cry? Whatif I get sick and die? Whatif I flunk that test? Whatif green hair grows on my chest? Whatif nobody likes me? Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me? Whatif I don't grow talle? Whatif my head starts getting smaller? Whatif the fish won't bite? Whatif the wind tears up my kite? Whatif they start a war? Whatif my parents get divorced? Whatif the bus is late? Whatif my teeth don't grow in straight? Whatif I tear my pants? Whatif I never learn to dance? Everything seems well, and then the nighttime Whatifs strike again!

~ Shel Silverstein

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.
Robert Frost

Life is viewed in hundredth of ways, good, bad, confusing, but nonetheless, as quoted by Robert Frost; It goes on. Therefore, in celebrating the uniqueness of how people viewed life, two wonderful poems that revolve around the theme life had been selected for this research paper. The first poem is entitled If by e.e. cummings, a famous 20th century poet and the second poem, Whatif written by Shel Silverstein, a contemporary poet whose name is quite famous within the children literatures circle. Both poems reflected the views

regarding life from two different perspectives. Thus, in this paper, both selected poems will be further analysed via compare and contrast method and be further discussed.

The first element to be compared is the speakers of the poems. Who is the speaker? For the poem If by e.e. cummings, the speaker is most probably an adult who had experienced the ups and down of life to know that it is better if bad things in life is considered as good instead. Moreover, perhaps the experiences had mould the speaker to be wiser as he could also see that if the world is perfect without negativity like measles or fear, the speaker might not be the person he/she is right now. On the other hand, the poem, Whatif by Shel Silverstein, is probably written from a point of view of a child who has n ot go out and explore the world just yet and is scared by the haunting thoughts of what might happen in his/her future life. The speaker of this poem is most probably a highly imaginative child as well because he was afraid of things that could be considered as illogical. For example, Whatif green hair grows on my chest?

Logically, it is impossible for human to grow green hair but in a childs logic, this could be one of the thought that is acceptable to be worried of.

Moving on to the next aspect is the target audience for the poems. The poem If most probably had been written for a more mature, in term of thinking, audiences. Based on the poem, the poet had shown how marvellous a perfect world would be but ended each stanza with lines indicating the speaker might prefer the current world better. Actually, it requires a person to be well experienced in life to be able to agree with such judgement. So, the kind of audience that will understand and agree with the poets judgment in the poem would most probably be adults or young adults who are reaching adulthood. For the poem Whatif, on the surface, the target audience is clearly children who are both afraid and curious of what they will find in their future life. Nevertheless, the poem actually targeted to almost everyone, young and old. Not only children but adult also worried about things like divorce or sickness that might happen someday. So, unlike the first poem If by e.e. cummings, everyone could be the target audience for this poem because no one could escape from the fear of the unknown future.

In term of settings, generally, both poems, If and Whatif are timeless, could happen anywhere and to anyone because there is no mention of anything that could indicate a specific time, place and social settings within each poems. However, if the poems are being examined closely, there are a few hints that may distinguish the settings of the first poem to the later. In If by e.e. cummings, the poet had used measles as an example of disease that could be considered as a significant disease and not nice. If being compared to nowadays world, measles are no longer the biggest threat unlike during the 20th century when there was still no vaccine invented to treat measles. Hence, the time setting of the poem If would probably be during the 20th century where measles is still considered as a fatal disease. On the other hand, in the poem Whatif by Shel Silverstein, the usage of the words What and if in a single term Whatif indicates that the poem is most probably set in a modern world where the creation of new terms are common. Nowadays there are a lot of new terms being created due to the frequent usage of two words (or more) together. Words like what and if that are commonly used together had been turned to a single term Whatif. Thus, it could be concluded that both poems might differ from each other in term of the time setting.

Next, the context of both poems If by e.e. cummings and Whatif by Shel Silverstein is mainly about how people see life. The poem If portrays the idea that life would be better if it is perfect. Nevertheless, the poem also suggests the imperfection of life had actually shape the speaker to be the person he/she is now. If the speaker do has a perfect life, perhaps he/she would miss the chance to learn from mistakes, experience pain and loss that will enable him/her to be a better person. The next poem, Whatif shows to the reader that life is a mystery and due to that people tend to be afraid or feel insecure about what will happen in the future. The poem tries to highlight that people could be worried of various kinds of things, from common issue likes being tardy towards a more serious issue such as death.

Although the poems shared the same main context, the central purpose for each poem differs from each other. The poem If by e.e. cummings highlighted on the importance of being grateful of the life that we have. The poet used repetition of the word If most probably to show that human beings are rarely satisfied with things they already have and keep on wanting something out of their grasp, for example, a perfect life. Nevertheless, the poet brings out an argument within the poem that the idea of a perfect life may sound ideal but if we look closely, a life without pain or obstacle is not exactly perfect. The elements of pain and obstacles in a human life actually contributed in toughen a person up and without them, human will turn soft and weak. Thus, human should be grateful with life as it is because the imperfection that exist in a humans life is the best teacher of all.

On the other hand, the central purpose of the poem Whatif by Shel Silverstein is to emphasize that it is common for human beings to be bothered by thoughts about the unknown especially important things like relationship and death. There are repetition of the word Whatif in the poem which probably suggest that human will keep on being curious and at the same time scared of what might happen in the future. When a person could not predict what will happen in future time, basically the person is vulnerable as he or she is exposed to any possibilities. The feeling of vulnerability could actually make a person feels helpless. The poet emphasizes on the fear and uncertainty that will haunt a person when he or she is going to bed. It is most possibly because bed time is like the interval between today and tomorrow.

Human could not help but worry on unknown things that might happen when they wake up. Hence, the poet could be suggesting that because it is common for human to be worried about the unknown, thus human should never let uncertainty becomes a cause that could bring a person down but a reason to be braver to face tomorrow.

Moving on to the next element that is to be compare and contrast is the structure of the poems. The poem If by e.e. cummings consists of three stanzas with six lines. Each stanza has a regular rhyme pattern of ABAAAB, CDCCCD and EFEEEF. The usage of this structure is probably due to the fact that the poem might be a lyrical poem where someone is expressing his or her thoughts about life. It is common for lyrical poetry to have a regular rhyme quality that is almost song-like. Same goes with the poem Whatif by Shel Silverstein where the poem is consist of a single long stanza that has regular rhyming pattern of AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLL from the beginning towards the end. At first the poem might seems like a narrative where there is a story being told in it, but in closer inspection, it is actually a lyrical poem that contain the expression of thoughts by the persona. Both poems are similar in term of the regularity of rhyming patterns as well as the genre; which is lyrical. In term of structure, the only difference between both poems is the number of stanzas of the poems.

The next element is the imagery that could be found in both poems. The similarity that both poems shared is the large usage of visual imagery within the poem. In the poem If by e.e. cummings, there is a few examples of visual imagery such as; If freckles were lovely, and day was night, The poet had triggered the readers sense of sight by using examples that could be seen to emphasize his point. By using freckles which is commonly described as not really lovely, the readers could immediately see the image of freckles in their head and understand the poets point of how contradicting the two things he had used as comparison.

Another example would be day which is naturally bright and sunny compared to night where everything is dark and quiet. The second poem, Whatif by Shel Silverstein had a plenty examples of visual imagery within it. As an example; Whatif my teeth don't grow in straight? The visual imagery lies within the underlined sentence above. The poet had used the common physical flaws found among human which is the arrangement of teeth within a person mouth. This example could be easily visualized by readers in their mind. Crooked teeth will not be as pleasing to the eye as a straight one so people might not prefer their teeth to not grow straight. Therefore, the poets usage of imagery will enhance the readers understanding of the restlessness felt by the persona within the poem. Therefore, the usage of visual imagery in both poems will enable readers to understand the poem better. The difference between both poems is that in the poem Whatif by Shel Silverstein, there is the usage of kinaesthetic imagery when there is none in the poem if by e.e. cummings. The example of kinaesthetic imagery within the second poem is; Whatif I get beat up?? The poet, Shel Silverstein had used this example to trigger the sense of pain so that the reader could understand the agony of being beaten up.

Besides that, the literary devices found in both poems will also be compare and contrast. The common type of literary device that could be found in both poems is caesura. Caesura is a short pause between sentences. In the poem If by e.e. cummings, the example of caesura could be seen in the line; Life would be delight, But things couldnt go right The dash between the sentences represents a short pause when reading the lines. This short pause most probably indicates that the persona is thinking about something before continuing the next sentence. The pause was used by the poet to emphasize the significant of the line that comes after the pause which is despite the previous comment about how delightful life is without any negativity, he still thinks that the kind of world he is living now is the best.

The example of caesura in the second poem, Whatif by Shel Silverstein could be seen through the line; ..and sang their same old Whatif song: Whatif I'm dumb in school? The colon symbol used between the sentence shows that there is a short pause when reading the lines. Similar to the explanation given for the previous example, the short pause had been inserted by the poet to give emphasis to the next lines that come after the pauses. Here, the poet was trying to emphasize on the kind of Whatif that will be haunting the persona before he or she go to bed.

Nonetheless, there are more differences in term of literary devices between the poems. In the poem If, there are many usage of paradox in each stanza of the poem. Paradox refers to a contradicting statement found within the lines of a poem. For examples; ..fear was plucky,.. The statement has contradicting quality in it. The statement shows that the sense of fear is actually plucky when both qualities are actually opposed to each other.

On the other hand, the poem Whatif, there is no usage of paradox but there is a usage of objectification within the line. Objectification means that an abstract idea is given a physical or human-like qualities or when human is given the quality of an object. The example could be seen in the line; ..some Whatifs crawled inside my ear and pranced and partied all night long, Here, the abstract idea of Whatif had been given physical qualities which are the ability to crawl, dance and party. The usage of objectification by the poet was possibly because he wanted to emphasize on how disturbing the thought of whatif is to the persona.

Last but not least, the tone of the poems will be the next element to be compared and contrast. Both poems shared similar tone of a person wondering about something. This could be proven via the usage of If and Whatif to start a line within both poems. The persona in both poems is wondering about something. The persona in the poem If wondered about how nice life would be without any problems or negativity while the persona in the poem Whatif wondered about what will happen to him or her in future time. Nevertheless, there are differences in the second type of tone available in both poems. Aside from the tone of wondering, the poem If also has the tone of realization in the last three lines of each stanza. Here, the persona had started to rethink about the idea of a perfect life and realized that the life he or she had lived in was the most suitable life for him or her. The poem Whatif, on the other hand, has the tone of distress at the last two lines of the poem where the persona was still scared of what might happen tomorrow and remain restless.