''Puella Mea'' is a poem by

E. E. Cummings Edward Estlin Cummings, who was also known as E. E. Cummings, e. e. cummings and e e cummings (October 14, 1894 - September 3, 1962), was an American poet, painter, essayist, author and playwright. He wrote approximately 2,900 poems, two autobi ...

. It is notable as his longest poem, at 290 lines. The title is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and translates as "My Girl", referring to Elaine Orr Thayer, his first wife, and the mother of his only child, Nancy Thayer Andrews. Von Abele considers the poem to be a departure point for the poet from the "witty

romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

" of his early works. ''Puella Mea'', a very early Cummings poem, was first published in the January 1921 issue of ''

The Dial ''The Dial'' was an American magazine published intermittently from 1840 to 1929. In its first form, from 1840 to 1844, it served as the chief publication of the Transcendentalists. From the 1880s to 1919 it was revived as a political review and ...

'', and then in '' Tulips and Chimneys'', Cummings' first collection of poetry. In 1949 it was published as a separate book by Golden Eagle Press. The book featured illustrations by Cummings,

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented ...

, Amedeo Modigliani,

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

, and Kurt Roesch.

Title and content

The title refers to

Catullus 3 Catullus 3 is a poem by Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus (''c''. 84 – ''c''. 54 BCE) that laments the death of a pet sparrow (''passer'') for which an unnamed girl (''puella''), possibly Catullus' lover Lesbia, had an affection. Written in ...

that reiterates the words in a less conventional order (''meae puellae''). The change of word order possibly signifies a distant recollection or is simply an attempt to make the title "more Latin", adding "a certain air of elegance" that is missing in the more boring "My Girl". The poem does not sound at all like

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His ...

; Baker characterizes it as a blend of

Romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

and the Song of Solomon, pointing, however, to the line "Eater of all things lovely – Time!" that mimics line 14 of ''Catullus 3'' while substituting Time for Catullus' "Shades of

Orcus Orcus ( la, Orcus) was a god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths in Etruscan and Roman mythology. As with Hades, the name of the god was also used for the underworld itself. In the later tradition, he was conflated with Dis Pater. A ...

." The poem highlights the contrast between the living beauty of Cummings' lady and the now-dead female ideals of the writers of the times past. First four lines sum up the remaining text:

Harun Omar and Master Hafiz keep your dead beautiful ladies. Mine is a little lovelier than any of your ladies were

Criticism

Breen suggests that, excluding the overabundance of "concrete sensuousness of physical detail", there is little to note in this "juvenile in theme" poem. Von Abele, on the contrary, describes the poem as "a delightful piece" where historical allusions to Salome, Tristram, Bagdad,

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

and

Semiramis ''Samīrāmīs'', hy, Շամիրամ ''Šamiram'') was the semi-legendary Lydian- Babylonian wife of Onnes and Ninus, who succeeded the latter to the throne of Assyria, according to Movses Khorenatsi. Legends narrated by Diodorus Siculus, who dr ...

maintain the distance between the physical body of the girl being praised and the reader, with the latter prevented from visualizing the core of the presentation,

... her large and shapely thighs in whose dome the trembling bliss of a kingdom wholly is ...

through the use of "playful

euphuism Euphuism is a peculiar mannered style of English prose. It takes its name from a prose romance by John Lyly. It consists of a preciously ornate and sophisticated style, employing a deliberate excess of literary devices such as antitheses, allitera ...

", commonly found in the English love poetry.

References

External links

A Disappearing Poet of Always
Oxford Dictionaries article discussing this poem

(

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital libr ...

)

Sources

* * * * * * * American poems 1921 poems Poetry by E. E. Cummings Works originally published in The Dial Modernist poems {{1920s-poem-stub