Movement in Relation to Diction and Imagery in E. E. Cummings' Elegy "My Father Moved Through Dooms of Love"
Graduation Date
Summer 1969
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Degree Granting Institution
Catholic University of America
Program Name
Humanities
Abstract
E. E. Cummings' elegy "my father moved through dooms of love" has been singled out by Theodore Spencer as "one of the finest lyrics America has produced. Several other critics have cited this poem as an example of Cummings' syntactical experimentation and his penchant for endowing commonplace words with fresh meaning by forcing one part of speech to function as another; some have focused on the poem's presentation of an explicit world of moral judgment which apotheosizes Cummings' transcendent idealism and underscores his basic belief in the dignity and significance of the individual; often it is simply mentioned as a magnificent eulogy of his father. Yet, although much has been written about Cummings' work, critical discussion of the poem has been minimal.