Roby Williamson TS English 2/12/13 Curtis Hisayasu

The Punctuation of Silence Denies Meaning E. E. Cummings style of poetry breaks many unspoken rules of writing, unsurprisingly locating him as one of the most well known revolutionists of Modernism. Perhaps one of Cummings better-known pieces, Silence employs unconventional poetic techniques such as a misuse of punctuation in order to call attention to the challenging idea of silence itself, presenting a visual representation of the pauses in which silence can be found through technical characters. Cummings also illustrates an entire scene of inquiry with snow, which in turn can complicate the relationship between meaning and silence through the interpretation of imagery. Cummings utilizes these characteristics of this poem to assert that silence begins where meaning. silence .is a looking bird:the turn ing;edge,of life (inquiry before snow The peculiar misuse of a variety of punctuation in this poemin between virtually every word in factcan give us an inclination into the intentionally distinctive format of the poem

itself. It seems relatively apparent, at least superficially, that the purpose of this poem is to describe and define silence. If generally pondered on, the idea of silence seems like a relatively simple concept; one of an absence of sound. The punctuation in this poem is clearly replacing spaces, and in effect replacing a usual indication of a pause or silence with something visible and tangible. This calls attention to the poem itself as illustrating the aspects of silence. The start of this poem seems to be finishing a sentence to which we know no beginning by simply leaving silence. as its own entity. Periods generally mark the end of a complete thought, but this definitive sentence provokes that idea and challenges a reconsideration of the true intention of an ending. This premature period turns silence itself into a sentence before the subsequent verb and description is given a chance to give explanation to an isolated sentence. What follows silence is outside the closure of the sentence, denying any form of meaning to be interpreted in the presence of silence. Here we begin to see how Cummings both visually and temporally withholds meaning and explanation to illustrate silence. The image of the looking bird for instance, also has no inherent significance or simple interpretation; while it is easy to create metaphorical symbolism and understanding of a flying bird, one that is looking and waiting for the unknown evades our efforts to designate meaning to it. Silence embodies the waiting before a moment when all is transformed into interpretable meaning. At the end of this poem our expectations of closure are once again broken by leaving a seemingly endless thought (inquiry before snow for us to puzzle over. The unfinished thought inquiry before snow raises several questions of its own, prompting us to wonder if inquiry is intended to question the meaning of silence and whether inquiry is in fact directed at snow snow is often equated silence, so it is possible that this thought proposes the idea that snow has something to say about silence and we are lead to an expectation of meaning to come. Again

we find that there is an aspect of waiting for an answer that is destined never to be satisfied. Due to the unfinished thought we are yet again denied the knowledge that the snow seems to possess about silence, and we can again see the suppression of meaning where silence is concerned. Through the way this poem deals with both silences lack of closure and its misplaced closure that complicates and even denies meaning, it becomes apparent that silence itself lies outside the boundaries of meaning. Just as silence is left out of meaning, meaning is also excluded from silence; meaning ends where silence begins. Punctuation plays a pivotal role in reaching this conclusion by complicating seemingly simple concepts of silence and meaning and denying our efforts to make the two coincide. This poem itself also attempts to share with us the problematic nature of silence through technical and visual facets of poetry. By doing so, E.E. Cummings somewhat paradoxically explains silence in the only way he can, without designating meaning to something which itself embodies that without meaning. Cummings uses punctuation and comparative imagery to visualize silence as the absence of meaning.