A Study Of Ecological Awareness In Cummings' Poems

E.E.Cummings,born in 1894 and died in 1962,was an experimental poet of the twentieth century in America.In literary circles,his name as a poet was well known for his many modern poems of novel style and characteristic images.The experiment he made in linguistics broke the forms of the traditional creation in literature and art,which deeply influenced the reforms of modern and contemporary poetry in America.E.E.Cummings is a writer with ecological awareness.By absorbing other researchers' achievements,the purpose of this dissertation is to give an overall and generalized interpretation of Cummings' main works from the ecocritical perspective, then give an analysis of the ecological awareness in Cummings' works,and give readers an all-round and integral understanding to the postmodern significance of Cummings' works from a new view.This dissertation includes three chapters:chapter one Introduction,which shows the literature review about Cummings,the research results about him both abroad and at home,the research methods of the text and the aim of the dissertation;furthermore,the creative point and the significance of the dissertation are also mentioned.Chapter two Ecological Awareness in Cummings' Poetry.In this chapter the author gives expression to the criticism for modern civilization on the analysis about the social ecology of Cummings' works.When god decided to invent;pity this monster, manunkind;listen;America;man;and poetry,or beauty hurts Mr.Vinal,etc,are all the subjects which demonstrated Cummings' dislike of modern civilization.These subjects are often embodied with satirical means and symbolic skill.Then the author makes an analysis of the cultural ecology in Cummings' works,including ecological varieties, which as major objective criticizes the single ecology and the Western cultural hegemonism.Humanity 1 love you;next to of course god America i;he did not feel, because he thought;Buffalo Bill's;O sweet spontaneous;the world opens only one eve, etc,are all the works which embodied the above meanings.The author of the thesis also analyzes the natural ecology in Cummings' works,which involves Cummings' ecological ideals:singing the praises of harmony between human and nature.The works mentioned are as the following:in just;I somewhere/have never traveled,gladly beyond;all things are green;spring is like a perhaps hand;grasshoppers and All in green went my love riding.Chapter Three Through analyzing and interpreting the poems,the author of the thesis gives the reasons why Cummings has such an ecological awareness in his poetry. Firstly,Cummings' individuality and his experience is one of the reasons which showed the ecological awareness in his poems.Secondly,Cummings expresses his ecological awareness through these poems to express his criticism for the modern civilization combined the historical background.Thirdly,it is the influence of Romanticism on Cummings.Reacting against an increasingly technological Western society,marked by its organizational systems,social codes,and rhetoric of war-heroism,Cummings turned to nature as did the Romantics in the nineteenth century.Finally,Cummings' poems focus on the process involved in moving from the material to the transcendental.Chapter Four is the conclusion of the previous chapters.In this chapter,the author draws the conclusion naturally,that is to say,E.E Cummings' works show the ecological awareness:holding eco-centrism and fighting against anthropocentrism.It is of great significance to study Cummings' nature outlook.Besides,summing up the whole thesis, the author of the dissertation points out its limitations and proposes some questions to be further researched.Today,the development of society changes with each passing day.If the balance of ecology is taken into account,human must maintain ecological holism,insisting on views of scientific development and holding the way of sustainable development because only these are really raising the world in perfect harmony between human and nature.