O sweet spontaneous -- e e cummings

(Poem #945) O sweet spontaneous O sweet spontaneous earth how often have the doting fingers of purient philosophers pinched and poked thee ,has the naughty thumb of science prodded thy beauty .how oftn have religions taken thee upon their scraggy knees squeezing and buffeting thee that thou mightest conceive gods (but true to the incomparable couch of death thy rhythmic lover thou answerest them only with spring) -- e e cummings

While the main theme of today's poem is one that never fails to faintly
disappoint me, I must admit that it has produced some beautiful poems. The
disappointment is, of course, due to the persistent failure of a certain
class of poems to understand the sheer beauty of science, and the fact that
the scientist's appreciation of nature is undiminished by the desire for
understanding. "O sweet spontaneous" goes much further than "pity this busy
monster, manunkind" - Cummings makes almost literal the (common) metaphor of
the scientist raping the defenceless earth.

The sexual imagery is underscored by the fact that Cummings changed
'philosophies' to 'philosophers'[1][2] - he sets not just Science, but Man up
in direct opposition to the 'sweet, spontaneous earth' (bleh!).

Annoyance aside, though, this is a wonderful poem. I may not agree with
Cummings' sentiments, but he makes them beautifully, with a vivid sequence of
images culminating in the exquisite

           ... the incomparable
           couch of death thy
           rhythmic
           lover

In one short phrase, the scope of the poem is expanded dizzyingly - indeed,
the 'pace' and density of the poem increase sharply towards the end, until it
levels off gently, almost quietly in the last 'verse'. The almost concrete
nature of the layout helps here, with the multiple blank lines being used to
very good effect.

[1] see the first link
[2] maybe the new US version should read 'sorcerers' <g>

Links:

  http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/poems/eec2.html has a bit of the
  poem's revision history in the notes

  Biography of Cummings: See Poem #57

  Some other poems on Science:

    Poem #54, Walt Whitman, "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer"
    Poem #57, E. E. Cummings, "pity this busy monster manunkind"
    Poem #795, Harold P. Furth, "The Perils of Modern Living"
    Poem #797, Lewis F. Richardson, "Big Whorls Have Little Whorls"
    Poem #798, John Updike, "V.B. Nimble, V.B. Quick"
    Poem #800, Miroslav Holub, "In the Microscope"
    Poem #801, D. D. Perrin, "A mosquito was heard to complain"
    Poem #803, Catherine Faber, "The Word of God"

-martin