Table of Contents
Introduction:
” i thank You God for most this amazing” is a spiritual sonnet by E.E. Cummings. The poem was published in a collection named “XAIPE: Seventy-One Poems”. It was published in 1950. The poem expresses the poet’s gratitude to God. The poet has captured the unlimited creation of God through this poem.
About the poet:
E.E. Cummings is an American poet, author, and playwright. Throughout his lifetime, the writer has produced enormous poems, plays, and books. Many of his poems are sonnets. But due to his unique approach to capitalization and punctuation, the readers find it difficult to recognise it as a sonnet. His poetry is categorised under the title “Modernist free verse poetry”. He is one of the most popular poets of the twentieth century for his unique writing style.
Form:
E.E. Cummings’ “i thank You God for most this amazing” is a spiritual sonnet. It is written in the form of a Shakespearean sonnet. It consists of three quatrains and a couplet. Each quatrain consists of four lines. Thus, it has 14 lines in total.
Metre:
E.E. Cummings has written this poem in iambic pentameter.
Voice:
The poem is written from the first person point of view. Yet, there are two voices in the poem. The first voice is physical voice of the speaker. Whereas, the second voice is the inner voice of the speaker. To differentiate this the poet has used brackets in the poem.
Title Significance:
In the title of the poem, the poet has capitalised the words like “God” and “You” to indicate the superior nature of God.
” i thank You God for most this amazing”
He has intentionally made this to show that he is inferior to God. Through this way he is showing his gratefulness towards God.
Summary:
The poet has personally written this poem to thank God for his boundless creations. In the first quatrain, he is thanking God for the creation of sunlight, trees, the sky, and all natural things, which has a positive impact on the poet. In the second quatrain, the inner voice of the poet declares that he is born again. He says it is the birthday of the sun, love, life, and all the happenings that take place on earth. The third quatrain speaks about the five senses. The poet admires God’s creation of human beings with five senses. In the final couplet, he declares that his eyes and ears are awakened to feel God’s presence.
Poem Analysis:
Lines 1-4:
i thank You God for most this amazing day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes
The poem begins with the speaker’s gratitude for God. He is looking at everything in a different way. The poet says that when the sunlight reaches the leaves of the tree, it starts to jump. The poet is thankful for the blue sky. God has created everything that is positive. So, the poet is grateful for all the creations of God.
Lines 5-8:
(i who have died am alive again today, and this is the sun’s birthday;this is the birth day of life and of love and wings:and of the gay great happening illimitably earth)
This quatrain talks about the poet’s inner voice. The poet declares that he has died, but today he has taken a new birth. It seems to him that the sun is born again. The poet’s inner voice says it is the birth day of life, love, wings, and all the happiness and happenings taking place on earth.
Lines 9-12
how should tasting touching hearing seeing breathing any—lifted from the no of all nothing—human merely being doubt unimaginable You?
In the third quatrain, the poet is in admiration for God’s power. The poet admires the creation of human beings. The poet says God has created human beings with five senses:
“how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing”.
The poet is spiritually awakened, so he is looking at everything in a new way. Though he knows the roles of the senses, Now he is able to understand the primary role of his senses. He is confused at the human beings who doubt the existence of God without realising the abilities of God.
Lines 13-14
(now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
The inner voice of the poet is assured about his spiritual awakening in this couplet. The voice says, Now his ears are awakened to hear the divine voice of God. In the same way, his eyes are ready to sense God’s presence.
