Buffalo Bill’s by Edward Estlin Cummings
The poem
goes on to tell us from the very beginning that Buffalo Bill (American hero
William Cody) is ‘defunct’. Cummings
decided not to use the word dead because maybe it would have changed his tone
at the beginning of the poem. He seems to just be having a simple conversation
with the reader, in opposition to the tone a person would have when telling
another a person that someone has died.
He then goes on to tell us that he rode a ‘watersmooth-silver stallion.’
When I picture that animal it is not your average horse. It’s a strong and
powerful animal that takes skill to control. Followed by ‘Jesus” in line 7 lets
me know that he is in awe – he is astonished by Buffalo Bill. Kind of like
saying “Wow” or “Amazing.” So it starts off positive. Then leading into that
Buffalo Bill was ‘handsome’ and ‘blueeyed’ reassures readers even more that yes
– everything you think of this man it true. He sounds loved – even after death
- even by this author that probably never met Buffalo Bill.
Cummings
ends with the simple question of “I want to know how do you like this man,
Mister Death?” It seems very sarcastic to me. Like it’s a question he doesn’t
want to know the answer to. Because who really cares what death thinks? Buffalo
Bill’s death happened but he will never be forgotten.
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ReplyDeletei think many of his poems he had a hint of sarcasm. in this one i found it funny the quiestion he asked to mr death like telling him you encountered a rough man good luck on handling him. But its nice the way he portrayed Buffalo Bill
ReplyDeleteThe poem I personally liked the most was the one of "the cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls". I believe that in many simpplistic words that do not really describe directly a persons attitude, he made us understand exactly the way of beeing of those ladyes. Specially in the comformed minds. I found also interesting the combination of words he choosed.
from various poems we have read he is one of the authors id liked the most.
With the use of defunct to describe Cody's present state, Cummings avoids granting the so called Mr. Death a victory over his hero. As Paulina said, he stresses this further when he sarcastically "asks" death how he likes his "blue-eyed boy". In uncontainable excitement he talks about Cody’s skill at riding horses, writing “break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat” in a way that naturally makes one read it at a breakneck speed. There seems to be a major change in tone when he exclaims “Jesus”, growing more serious and possibly even sad at the loss of what he considers a great American hero.
ReplyDeleteI don't really understand why Cummings wrote as if he could not accept that Buffalo Bill had not conquered death like he had conquered just about everything else in his life relating to what Cameron said. Cummings idolizes a man, a remarkable man, but no man can overcome death, it is something that is apart of everyones life and it seemed to me as though he expected him to continue living. I also thought his description was very eye catching, he used words that described Buffalo Bill as a champion, which showed how Cummings Idolizes him.
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