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A Stylistic Analysis Of
E. E. Cumming's 'Love Is More Thicker'
(PP. 133-140)

Dr. Wirya Ahmed Ameen

Salahaddin University - College of Languages-English Dep.
wiryagm67@gmail.com

Received: 28 /08/2014
Accepted: 11 /11/2014

Abstract
The present paper views the stylistic method to literature as an approach that takes part in two important
aspects of the study of literature: its understanding and enjoyment. It is evident that such a topic will concentrate
on the detailed analysis of the use of language in a given literary text, and the effect of this use on the reader,
rather than evaluating a literary work by intuition. As this branch of linguistics is complex and involves various
levels, the paper will confine itself to the concept of 'foregrounding' in stylistics. The data is derived from an
untitled poem by the American poet and novelist E. E. Cummings. As the poem is untitled, literary analysts often
use the first line of the poem 'love is more thicker' as its title.
To conduct the analysis, the paper is divided into four sections: Section one presents the preliminaries;
section two deals with the levels of language that are usually at work in literary analyses; section three is the core
of the study; it is the practical section in which the poem in question is analysed in terms of a stylistic
perspective. In this section, selected levels of language, that are clearly seen to be at work in the poem, are
analysed on the basis of foregrounding. Section four, eventually, presents the conclusion in which the major
findings are summed up and discussed. The paper ends with the researcher's suggestion for further relevant
study.
Key Words: Style, Stylistics , foregrounding

1. Preliminaries

T he study of style in literature can be regarded as a study of the fusion of form with
content. Stylistics can be considered as a linguistic description and analysis of the
language used in literary texts, i.e., it is the application of theoretical ideas and
analytical techniques drawn from linguistics to the study of literary texts (Fowler 1981: 12).
Stylistics, to Niazi and Gautam (2007: 3), attempts to establish principles capable of
explaining the particular choices made by individuals and social groups in their use of
language.
The literary work to be analysed in this paper is an untitled poem by an American writer
known as E. E. Cummings (whose name is initiated with small letters by some writers). The
purpose behind choosing a poem for the data analysis is that its usefulness, as Leech and
Short (1981: 2) claim, is generally more observed than any other literary genre; as a poet is
more likely to do interesting things with language than other literary writers. Cummings was a
20th century poet and novelist known for his innovations in style and structure. Born on
October 14, 1894, in Massachusetts, E.E. Cummings went on to become an innovative poet
known for his lack of stylistic and structural conformity. After self-publishing for much of his
career, he eventually found wide recognition. He died on September 3, 1962 (The
Biography.com website).
The following is the untitled poem that was published in 1939 by the American poet E. E.
Cummings (https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/search)
love is more thicker than forget
more thinner than recall
more seldom than a wave is wet
more frequent than to fail
it is most mad and moonly

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and less it shall unbe

than all the sea which only
is deeper than the sea
love is less always than to win
less never than alive
less bigger than the least begin
less littler than forgive
it is most sane and sunly
and more it cannot die
than all the sky which only
is higher than the sky

2. Levels of Language in Stylistic Analysis

Broadly speaking, the terms 'style' and 'stylistics' have been given different definitions and
viewed from different perspectives by different linguists. Peter Verdonk (2002: 3) maintains
that 'style' can be defined as a distinctive manner of expression, nor matter through what
medium this expression is given a physical shape. Accordingly, 'style', in language, can be
defined as a distinctive linguistic expression. Lyons (1981: 266) views 'stylistics' as a well-
established branch of macro-linguistics that deals with the stylistic variation in language and
the way this is exploited by their users. Turner (1973: 238) claims that 'style' has to do with
'choice', and this choice is not entirely free, but there are conditions that determine a writer's
choice in writing a piece of literary work. This view is backed up by Beaugrande and Dressler
(1981: 16) who believe that 'style' refers to the choices a speaker or writer makes from among
the phonological, grammatical and lexical resources available to him. A more conspicuous
clarification of the term 'style' is given by Crystal and Davy (1973: 10). They suggest that four
senses of the term 'style' have to be distinguished: First, 'style' refers to some or all of the
language habits of one person; i.e., it refers to a selection of language habits which
characterize an individual's uniqueness. Second, 'style' may refer to some or all of the
language habits shared by a group of people at one time or over a period of time. Third, 'style',
in an evaluative sense, refers to the effectiveness of a mode of expression, i.e., saying the right
thing in the most effective way. Fourth, in the wide-spread use of the term, 'style' refers solely
to literary language, i.e. the characteristic of good, effective and beautiful writing. Thus, the
words 'style' and 'stylistics' have now the specialized, narrow usage of linguistics applied to
literature. And the ultimate aim behind this usage is to utilize linguistic principles in
interpreting the message behind literary works. This view is claimed by Wales (2001: 4) who
states:
"the goal of most stylistics is not simply
to describe the formal features of texts
for their own sake, but in order to show
their functional significance for the
interpretation of the text; or in order to
relate literary effects to linguistics 'causes'
where these are felt to be relevant"

We can deduce from this section that stylistics is a broad-based discipline which deals
with the functional aspect of language. It aims to show why and how the text means what it
means; i.e., how the intended theme is communicated.
Before indulging into the details of the linguistic levels involved in a stylistic analysis, it
is necessary to reiterate what is often claimed by linguists that language, in its broadest
conceptualization, is not a disorganized mass of sounds and symbols, but an intricate web of
levels, layers and links. Hence, it is presupposed that any utterance or piece of text is

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organized through several distinct levels of language. This means that to stylistically analyze
any text, it is necessary to bear in mind the levels of language that have to investigated in
order to arrive at the correct interpretation of the text. The following are the possible levels of
language to be investigated along with their relevant disciplines (Simpson 2004: 5):

Level of language Branch of language study

The sound of spoken language;
the way words are pronounced. phonology; phonetics

The patterns of written language;

the shape of language on the page. Graphology
The way words are constructed;
words and their constituent structures. Morphology

The way words combine with other

words to form phrases and sentences. syntax; grammar

The words we use; the vocabulary

of a language. lexical analysis; lexicology

The meaning of words and sentences. Semantics

The meaning of language in context. Pragmatics /

Discourse analysis

The above language levels are at the stylistician’s disposal to analyze a literary text,
though it is not necessary to probe all these levels in one text. The analyst determines which
level of language is to be investigated according to the nature of the text to be analyzed. Any
deviation by the writer from the norm, i.e. from the rules imposed by the above levels of
language is regarded as foregrounding (Crystal & Davy 1973: 15).

3. A Stylistic Analysis of 'Love is MoreThicker'

There have been two important theoretical contributions that have had tremendous
influence on stylistics and helped to shape its development over the years: foregrounding and
the poetic function of language. The former was postulated by the Czech literary scholar
Mukarovesky, who noted that literary texts deviate from what he termed the 'standard
language', and that the consequence of this deviation is the creation of a defamiliarising effect
for the reader. The latter was developed by the Russian scholar Roman Jakobson whose work
focused on defining the qualities of what he termed 'poetic language'. According to Jakobson,
the 'poetic function of language' is realized in those communicative acts where the focus is on
the message for its own sake (Simpson: 2004: 50).
In this paper, we adopt the concept of foregrounding as a basis for analyzing the levels of
language that are at work in the poem under study.
Foregrounding refers to a form of textual patterning which is motivated specifically for
literary-aesthetic purposes. Capable of working at any level of language, foregrounding
typically involves a stylistic distortion of some sort, either through an aspect of the text which
deviates from a linguistic norm or, alternatively, where an aspect of the text is brought to the
fore through repetition or parallelism. That means that foregrounding comes in two main
guises: foregrounding as ‘deviation from a norm’ and foregrounding as ‘more of the same’.
Foregrounding is essentially a technique for ‘making strange’ in language (Simpson: 2004:
51).

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Stylistics characteristically deals with the interpretation of texts by focusing in detail on

relevant distinctive features, patterns, structures or levels and on their significance and effects
on readers (Sockwell 2006:755). To do a comprehensive stylistic analysis of any text, one has
to think of three general stylistics levels from which one can begin his investigation: the
linguistic form or substance (the micro level), the discourse dimension (the intermediate level)
and the communicative situation of the text (the macro level) (Finch 2003: 211). To sum up,
we can say that a linguist is interested in asking "what do you say?"; whereas a stylistician in
"how do you say ?" (Hickey 1993: 517).
To stylistically analyse the poem Love is MoreThicker, we will adopt the notion of
foregrounding as the basis to investigate the levels of language that are at work in this poem
and how these levels give the text its contextual meaning. In section four, we mentioned the
levels of language that are usually at work in literary analyses. Of course it is not necessary to
probe all the mentioned levels in one text. The analyst determines which level of language is
to be investigated according to the nature of the text to be analyzed. Any deviation from the
rules and norms set by these levels of language is regarded as foregrounding. The following
are the levels observed to be at work in the poem, and via which the writer has been able to
convey his message to the reader:

1. Graphology
The poem certainly bears many of the familiar stylistic imprints of its author, notable
among which is the conspicuous spelling and orthography resulting from the removal of
standard punctuation devices such as commas, full stops and capital letters. Thus, lack of full
stops, commas, and lack of the use of capital letters in sentence initial positions all refer to a
deviation from the norms of English punctuation marks, which play a vital role in text
organization.

2. Lexicology
In relation to words and lexicon, we can observe the following:
1. The poem contains a number of invented words, neologisms, such as the adjectives ‘sunly’
and ‘moonly’, as well as the verb ‘unbe’ which suggests a kind of reversal in sense from
‘being’ to ‘not being’.
2. The poem treats existing words in the English lexicon, especially adjectives and adverbs, in
a striking and colorful way. If we observe the poem we find that adjectives are used more
frequently than any other word classes, and this is to give qualities to entities, objects and
concepts. Some of the examples are large, bright, good, bad, difficult and regular. A notable
feature of adjectives, and one which Cummings exploits with particular stylistic force, is their
potential for gradability.
Of course, a useful test for checking whether or not an adjective is gradable is to see if the
intensifying word ‘very’ can go in front of it.
Indeed, all of the adjectives cited thus satisfy this test: ‘a very bright light’, ‘the very good
decision’, ‘this very regular routine’ and so on.
The test does not work for another group of adjectives, known as classifying adjectives, which
specify more fixed qualities relative to the noun they describe. In the following examples,
insertion of ‘very’ in front of the classifying adjectives ‘former’ and ‘strategic’ seems odd:
‘the very former manager’, ‘those very strategic weapons’.

3. Morphology
1. In spite of their one-syllable status, adjectives like ‘thick’ and ‘thin’ receive both the
inflectional morpheme and the separate intensifier (‘more thicker’). Moreover,
superlative forms of other one-syllable adjectives like ‘mad’ and ‘sane’ do not receive the

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inflectional morpheme (as in ‘maddest’ or ‘sanest’) but are instead fronted, more
unusually, by separate words: ‘most mad’ and ‘most sane’.
2. A further variation emerges where markers of both positive and inferior relations are
mixed together in the same adjective phrase. For example, ‘big’ is converted to ‘less
bigger’ and, even more oddly, ‘little’ to ‘less littler’.
3. Conventionally, in comparative constructions, the comparative adjective normally
compares entities that are compatible at least in some features, e.g. ‘blood is thicker than
water’. The sharing feature is that both are liquids. Whereas Cummings, in ‘love is
thicker than forget’, compares the incomparable: ‘love’ which denotes one of human
emotions is compared to a verb ‘forget’ which expresses a mental process.

4. Syntax
Syntactically speaking, the writer's manipulation of certain syntactic structures helps in
conveying his ideas to the reader:
1. One of the syntactic features is the way the grammar of English allows for materials to be
placed after the adjective in a given sentence, e.g.,
(a) The pilot was conscious.
(b) The pilot was conscious of his responsibilities
Obviously, different meanings can be assigned to the adjective conscious in the above
two examples and this is due to the syntactic structures in which this adjective is used: in (1) it
suggests a general state of being awake; whereas in (2), the complement phrase provides a
special kind of awareness on the part of the pilot. Thus, we can say that the syntactic
structure with an adjective at the end (love is more thicker…), with which the writer initiates
his poem invites different interpretations when repeated throughout the whole text.
2. The writer constantly ‘reduplicates’ the grammatical rules for comparative and superlative
gradation; and all with deviations from the standard rules of the language.
3. Another deviation from the norm is Cumming’s use of adverbs of time like: seldom,
always, never into the main slot in the adjective phrase frame. And we know that adjectives
describe qualities, whereas adverbs describe circumstances, examples in the poem involve
phrases like: more seldom, less always…etc.
4. Moreover, the type of the adverbs used in the poem generally express a negative kind of
meaning, and when they are piled up on one another, they make the text very hard to unravel
conceptually. For instance, the cumulative build up of words like fail, seldom, forget,
less…etc crates a complex framework and makes the text impenetrable as a unit of
meaning; and meanwhile shows the writer's negative opinion about 'love' as a complex human
emotion.

5. Semantics
1. Another deviation from the norm is done by Cunnings in the aspect of semantics. One of
the semantic devices or techniques he uses in the poem is 'tautology' which means saying the
same thing twice.
This is usually embodied in everyday phrases like ‘war is war’, ‘If she goes, she goes’.
Cumming’s examples in the poem are ‘the sea is ..deeper than the sea’, ‘the sky is …higher
than the sky’.

2. Other features embedded in the semantic fabric of the text include lexical antonyms like
‘thicker’ and ‘thinner’, ‘never’ and ‘always’, and the adjectival neologisms like ‘sunly’ and
‘moonly’.

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4. Conclusion
Summing up the whole points, we can say that the stylistic analysis of the poem under
study has come out with the following points:
1. Levels of language are always at work in literary analyses; they are interrelated and
each has its role in expressing part of the ultimate goal behind a literary work.
2. Any deviation made by a writer from the rules and norms set by levels of language is
not randomly done; there is always the writer's intention behind using them in a text. No
matter how weird the way the language is used; it has its own communicative value.
3. The writer's violation of linguistic norms, and his repetition of comparative
constructions throughout the poem proves the identifying of foregrounding as 'deviation
from the norm' and 'more of the same'.
4. The complex and odd structure utilized by the writer shows his belief in the 'instability
of love'.
5. The writer may be said to have deliberately ignored the issue of giving the poem a
specific title, and this seems to show the writer's indeterminacy regarding the concept of
'love', and he might possibly have left the matter open for the reader to decide upon.
6. The instability observed in human 'love' feeling can be regarded as a general human
phenomenon, as it is reflected by different social cultures and expressed in the literature
of different social groups.
7. It is observed throughout the poem that although 'love', as a human emotion, is
involuntary, it is better not to be deeply involved in for its unreliability and instability.

Suggestion for Further Research

Though it is generally claimed that poetry is more suitable than other literary genres for
practical analyses, it is recommended that analyzing such poems, from other other
perspectives like 'pragmatic relevance' for example, might prove fruitful.

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Crystal, D. and Davy, D. (1973) Investigating English Style. London:
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Edward Estlin Cummings. (2014). The Biography.com website. Retrieved
12:13, Aug 20, 2014.
Finch, G. (2003). How to Study Linguistics. London: Macmillan.
Fowler, R. (1981). Literature As Social Discourse: The Practice of
Linguistic Criticism. London: Batsford Academic and Educational.
Hickey, L. (1993). "Stylistics, Pragmatics and Pragmastylistics". (np.):
Modern Taalen Letterkunde.
Jakobson, R. (1960). "Closing Statement: Linguistics and Poetics". In Sebeok, T. A.
(eds.) Style in Language. Cambridge: The MIT Press, pp 350-377.
Leech, G. N. and Short, M. H. (1981). Style in Fiction: A Linguistic
Introduction to English Fictional Prose. London: Longman.
Lyons, J. (1981). Language and Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Mukarovsky, J. (1932). "Standard Language and Poetic Language". In Garvin, P.L.
(ed.) A Prague School Reader on Esthetics, Literary Structure, and Style.
Washington: Georgetown university Press, pp. 17-30.
Niazi, N. and Gautam, R. (2007). How to Study Literature: Stylistic
and Pragmatic Approaches. Tehran: Rahnama Press.
Simpson, P. (2004). Stylistics London: Routledge.
Stockwell, P. (2006). "Language and Literature: Stylistics". In Aart, B. and
McMahon, A. (ed.) The Handbook of English Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Turner, G. W. (1973). Stylistics London : Hazell Watson & Viney
Verdonk, P. (2002). Stylistics Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wales, K. (2001). "Stylistics" In Brown, K. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Language and
Linguistics. 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press
http://www.biography.com/people/ee- cummings-9263274.
(https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/search)

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‫بةرطى‪ ، 81 .‬ذمارة‪ ،6.‬سال‬ ‫طؤظارى زانكؤ بؤ زانستة مرؤظايةتييةكان‬

‫پوختەی باسەكە‬
‫ئەم تىێژین ەوەیە رێبازی شێىازگەری ‪ ،‬بۆ شرۆڤەكردنی كارە ئەدەبیەكان ‪ ،‬وەكى یێبازێكی پەیىەست دەبینێت‪ ،‬كە بەشداری لە دوو الیەنی گرنگی كارە‬
‫ئەدەبیكان دەكەن ‪ :‬الیەنی تێگەیشتن و الیەنی چێژلێىەرگرتن‪ .‬ئەم یێبازە چەندین بىاری جیا جیا لەخۆ دەگرێت‪ .‬بەاڵم جەختی ئەم تىێژینەوەیە تەنهاا لەساەر‬
‫الیەنی "الدان" لە بىاری شێىازگەری دەبێت‪.‬‬
‫داتای شیكردنەوەكە وەرگیراوە لە هۆنراوەیەكی بێناونیشان كە لە الیەن شاعیری ئەمەریكی ( ‪ )E. E.Cummings‬نىسراوە‪.‬‬
‫باسەكە چىار تەوەری سەرەكی لەخۆ دەگرێ ‪ :‬تەوەری یەكەم بریتیە لە پێشەكییەك كە باس لە یێبازی شاێىازگەری دەكاال لە باىاری شایكاری ئەدەبیادا‪،‬‬
‫و ئەو یۆڵە گرنگەی هەیەتی لە پرۆسەی شیكاریی كارە ئەدەبییەكاندا‪ .‬تەوەری دووەم‪ ،‬تیشك دەخااتە ساەر ئەو ئاساتە زمانەوانیاانە كە بەزۆری دەبینارێن لە‬
‫كارە ئەدەبیەكاندا و رۆڵی گرنگ دەبینن لە دەرخستنی شێىازی نىسینی هەر نىساەرێ كی ئەدەبای‪ .‬تەوەری ساێیەم‪ ،‬بەشای پراكتیكای باساەكە دەخااتەیىو كە‬
‫شیكردنەوەیەكی شێىازییە بۆ دەقی هۆنراوەی باسەكە‪ ،‬لەگەڵ ئاماژەكردن بەو لێڤاڵنەی كە كاریگەرییان هەیە لە سەسەر دەرخساتنی شاێىازی نىساین‪ .‬تەوەری‬
‫چىارەم و كۆتایی دابینكراوە بۆ خساتنەیىوی دەرئەناامەكاانی لێكاۆڵینەوەكە و گفتاۆكردن لە ساەریان‪ .‬تىێژیناىەكە كۆتاایی دێ بە لیساتیك بەو ساەرچاوانەی‬
‫بەكارهاتىون لە نىوسینی بابەتكە‪.‬‬

‫المستخلص‬
‫تنظس ىره الدزاسة الى النني اسسنبٌ ل لبليب نال اس نى نني سهظين ز نن ن ه يي ن ه جنل يلن ا اسػ ن ا اس نة‪ ً :‬ى ن لجيندا الؼ نال اس نلل ً‬
‫لاسسل ل عل ين ‪ .‬ينه الٌا نن اك ى نرا زاسنة تس صػبنى الليب نال البصنٌ لبنينٌم اس نة ينه الل ننب اسسنبٌ ل ص نة الٌرنٌا النى الل سالنر‬
‫ييد و الؼ ال اس ى ػبى الق زئ‪ .‬اك الليب ال اسسبٌ ل لالػ ا اس ة تلض ه ط ؼلين زاسنة ًتيب نال اسػ ن ا اس نة ينه ال نظنٌز اسسنبٌ ل‪ .‬ن‬
‫اك ىرا الل نب ي يلٌ جل تس ي ال ؼقد ػبى يل ست ػديدة ً يلنٌػة يقليس ىرا ال ين ػبنى ج نسة لاللينٌيسل جنل الل ننب اسسنبٌ ل‪ .‬يسنللب‬
‫ال ي ييلٌاه ال سللدم جل اللي ل ال ش ال زئ سل يه ن ا ل )قي دة( غ س يؼنٌك لبش ػس اسيسي ل ) ‪.(E. E. Commings‬‬
‫يلض ه ال ي از ؼة يي ًز زئ س ة ‪ :‬ال يٌز اسًا ىٌ يقدية ل ٌ ٌع ال ي ح يبقل الضنٌ ػبنى يٌ نٌع ال ين ينٌزة ػ ينة ً ن نرة‬
‫يلليسة حٌا الن اس ل ق د الدزاسة‪ .‬ال يٌز الث نل يدزض ً يٌزة ػ ية ال سلٌي ت البصٌية اللل ت شف ػه اسبٌب ال تب جنل الؼ نال اس نل‪.‬‬
‫ال يننٌز الث لن ي ثننال الل نننب الؼ بننل لبدزاسننة ح ن يننلدا تيب ننال الننن اس ننل ق نند الدزاسننة يننغ اسين زة الننى ال سننلٌي ت البصٌيننة ال ن زشة جننل الننن‬
‫ال دزًض ًذلك يدف اهظي ز ج سة ال تب جل ىرا الؼ ال اس نل‪ .‬ال يٌزالسا نغ ًاسخ نس يؼنسو ًينن قل النلن ئ اللنى ًرنال ال ين ال حن جنل ىنره‬
‫الدزاسة‪ .‬ينليل ال ي ق ئ ة ال ي زال سللدية‪.‬‬

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