tHe pOeM cALLeD 1(a).....by ee cummings

l(a

le

af

fa

ll

s)

one

l

iness

by: ee cummings

The poem written above was a poem written by the famous playwright E.E. Cummings. His full name is Edward Estlin Cummings and he was known to be a n American poet, painter, essayist and playwright. He has already written a lot of poems most of sonnets with 14 lines. He uses a different style of writing his own poems and he also has a different style in poetry.

It is really undeniable that he is a really prolific poet and writer. But what does this poem entitled 1(a) all about? Is it really just about loneliness or it has something more beyond that? Is it just about a leaf? Or is it merely a symbolism to symbolize something else?

I know that many people really have different interpretations in a poem. And I myself have different interpretations on this poem too. So, I would like to enumerate some of my insights about this unusual poem by ee cummings.

Personally, I really think that the poem itself already talks about loneliness. In my own interpretation, the poem is about a leaf. The leaf at the start of te poem is still connected to the tree. At that time, the leaf was still one with the tree and they still exist as one(meaning they are still together; not separated). But then as the months or days have passed by, that leaf already started to die and wither which made it fall slowly to the ground. The word "one" in the poem may also symbolize the loneliness of the leaf as it falls in the air effortlessly. And then, as that leaf falls to the ground, it becomes one to the other things being brought by gravity to the ground. I do not mean to put emphasis on the subject physics here by mentioning the word gravity. But precisely we know that everything falls to the ground. Even humans, I mean when we jump we don't continue to rise in air. We go back to the ground and that is because of the thing called gravity. But let's not talk more about that because I myself get bored discussing about these "alien' things. (hehehe...)

So, now we go to my second interpretation in this poem by ee cummings. The leaf may also symbolize death. The word loneliness symbolize life in other ways. We all know that people have different types of personalities. There are people who are sad, happy or even lonely which in this case is applicable to the poem. The person in this poem lived a lonely life. And as he was dying or in the poem falling, he still died with loneliness that he has been keeping in his heart through all his existence in the world.

I have also searched about meanings of this poem by EE Cummings because honestly, I really had a hard time looking for the real definition of this poem because it is really unusual and basically difficult to understand and comprehend. According to an internet website http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/eecummings/241/comments

it also said that the meaning of the poem simply meant a leaf falling in loneliness. This interpretation is simple but it may also mean a lot, right?

But you know, whatever the real interpretation of this poem really means, I think it is still good that at least we have come up an interpretation of our own. We may not be the EE Cummings who wrote the real poem entitled 1(a) but at least we have also become EE Cummings of our own.