Discuss the way that the ideals or viewpoints conveyed within a literary text drawn from a different time reflect social and/or cultural movements.
Through his poems “i sing of Olaf glad and big” and “next to of course god america i”, Cummings’ conveying of the ideals of a pacifist who is critical of American militarism works to represent the cultural movement of American jingoism throughout pre-world-war-one America, reflecting on how it sacrificed many lives in the pursuit of violence and meaningless causes.
→ g.a.i. critical of patriotism → olaf
→ pacifism treated poorly
→ army → conformity and sacrifice
Both poems establish the zealous patriotism of the American population at the time as excessive and deleterious to the individual. In “i sing of Olaf glad and big”, Cummings makes it clear, through the portrayal of Olaf as refusing the practices demanded of him to show loyalty to America, how American patriotism is extreme and dangerously removing people of their individuality. The reader is introduced to Olaf as telling his colonel that he “will not kiss your f*cking flag”, resulting in “all kinds of officers” to “kick and curse”. Cummings crafts a defiant and abrasive tone to Olaf’s voice as he refuses to engage in the innane act of kissing the American flag. Cummings draws connections between the intimacy of kissing and one’s love for their nation, and in doing so portays Amerian patriots as having an unsettling, intimate love for America. Furthermore, the construction of the visual imagery of Olaf being kicked and cursed at by the officers suggests to readers that American patriotism brings out primal and violent tendencies from patriots, which can be physically damaging to those with less love for America. Hence, Cummings uses “i sing of Olaf glad and big” to convey how American patriotism is over the top and dangerous as a social movement. Similarly, in “next to of course god america I”, Cummings satirises the way in which American patriots espouse their loyalty to America, mocking the incoherency of American patriotism’s values. Cummings describes America as speaking “every language, even deafanddumb”, and rhetorically asking “what could be more beautiful than those heroic happy dead”. Through the use of broken, inaccurate vernacular and rhetorical questions, Cummings is able to construct a satirical voice to the persona of his poem. Readers understand the persona as mocking American patriots, portraying them as unintelligent and insane in how they see the death of American heroes as beautiful. Hence, similarly to how American patriotism is portrayed as dangerous and unjustified in “next to of course god america i”, Cummings is able to mock the rhetoric of American patriots as foolish and illogical. Thus, both poems’ conveying of American patriotism as unfounded in its existence and dangerous to individuals less enthusiastic about America works to undermine its legacy as a past cultural movement, and critiques how it sees the loss of American lives as noble.
Cummings’ “i sing of Olaf glad and big” gives readers insight into the fictional fate of an American pacifist named Olaf. Cummings is able to establish how the ideals of pacifism are demonised by American patriotism, and thus he reflects on how the cultural movement of American patriotism mistreats those who refuse to die for their country. Readers are introduced to Olaf, “whose warmest heart recoiled at war” and is a “conscientious object-or”. Cumming’s use of idiosyncratic syntax establishes a dual meaning to the description of Olaf, as the phrase “object-or” can be read as either Olaf objecting to American jingoism, or Olaf being seen as an object, and thus is being dehumanised from the perspective of American patriots for his refuse to serve his country. As a result, Cummings is able to place emphasis on how pacifists were mistreated and disenfranchised by the rising cultural movement of American patriotism at the time. Cummings ends Olaf’s story by indicating how the American president “threw the yellowsonofabitch/into a dungeon,where he died”. By using visual imagery to present Olaf’s fate as dark and miserable, and through vitriolic terminology, Cummings presents Olaf as discriminated against for his pacifism by an army command structure driven by American patriotism. Cummings is able to portray American patriots as abusing and unjustly hurting those who believe in pacifism. Hence, “i sing of Olaf glad and big” is able to portray American patriots as illogically attacking pacifists for their refusal to serve in America’s wars. Cummings reflects on how American patriotism as a movement has risen at the cost of rational American pacifists’ livelihoods.
Structure: challenges sonnets but its still there sort of.
mockery of war sonnets (sonnets as romanticising war? Contextual understanding of sonnets as to express love, hence Cummings mocks how war is being portrayed as a concept to be loved)
“next to of course god america I
Incorrect syntax – God and America are decapitalised, mocking both
Next to – portraying America as second to God, mocking how Americans see America as a divine country
god america – American as a Christian nation
god america I – triplet, hierarchy of values at the time (God, then America, then oneself)
of course – colloquialism that creates nonchallant/passive tone. Ironic? In comparison to how carefully constructed national identity vs individual identity is established.
love you land of the pilgrims’ and so forth oh
land of the pilgrims’ – allusion to American pilgrims’
and so forth – dismissing others who claim America as well e.g. native Americans + coloquialism for nonchallant tone which dismisses other non-American ideals + stylistic choice that conveys how these phrases/buzzwords are empty in their patriotic rhetoric (like saying etc., don’t care about adding to the point)
love you land – alliteration, creates lyrical tone
oh – adding another rhetorical point they just came up with. Land of the pilgrims’ and so forth … oh(!) … say can you see, lack of care about the patriotic phrases
say can you see by the dawn’s early my
say can you see – allusion to American national anthem, adds a lyrical tone, symbol for the American nation
country ’tis of centuries come and go
‘tis of centuries – portraying America as an ancient nation
centuries come – alliteration, diction of noun, indicative of history and shared American identity
and are no more what of it we should worry
are no more what of it we should worry – directly telling people to forget about the past, not to worry/learn of the lessons from the past (war)
in every language even deafanddumb
mushing of words – emphasises how American common language is becoming dulled down, saying the same meaningless rhetoric.
deafanddumb – types of men to be constripted to war
removed spaces to speed up the pace, like the speaker is trying to gloss over it (the speaker’s true intentions)
thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry
by jingo by gee by gosh by gum
why talk of beauty what could be more beaut-
iful than these heroic happy dead
who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter
they did not stop to think they died instead
then shall the voice of liberty be mute?”
He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water
