John

M.

G•ll

A

STUDY

OF

TWO

POEMS

"since

feeling

is

first"

Including

its

provocative

metaphoric

infrastructure

("syntax,"

"paragraph,"

"parenthesis")•redolent

of

a

composition

class---"since

feeling

is

first"

(Complete

Poems,

Liveright,

1991,

291)

remains

a

quintessential

"heart"

poem

in

the

Cummingscanon.

The

theme

of

the

poem,

clearly

enunciated

in

the

first

line,

is

a

major-and

constant

electrifying

current

in

Cummings'

work.

He

insists

over

and

over,

"exists

no

!

miracle

mightier

than

this:to

feel"

.(762).

The

theme

in

"since

feeling

is

first"

is

constructed

on

the

sharp

antithesis

between

the"heart"

•ttitude

ofthe

lover"i"

and

the

head

notion

of

one

"who

pays

any

attention

/

to

the

syntax

of

things."

For

this

"head"

kind

of

person

too

often

"logic

thwarted

life"

(799).

Thus

kissing

"wholly"

is

feeling;

paying

"any

attention

/to

the

syntax

of

things"

is

thinking,

being

logical

and

pragmatic

and

cerebral,

and

not

being

committed

enough

to

feeling

to

be

a

complete

lover.

Is

Cummings

then

saying

"never

think,"

is

he

totally

rejecting

reason,

is

he

anti-intellectual

as

is

so

often

charged,

and

does

he

really

want

us

to

toss

away

our

books

(including

those

he

slaved

over

to

write)?

My

answer

is

no.

The

poem

says

"feeling

is

first."

It

does

not

say

feeling

is

everything:

there

is

nothing

else.

I

am

contending

that

there

can

be

no

first

without

a

second.

It

is

true

that

one

of

Cummings'

"five

simple

facts"

is

that

there

is

"the

holy

miraculous

difference

between

/

firstrate

&

second"

(803),

but

this

does

not

deny

the

total

existence

of

a

second.

And

so

with

feeling

first

and

thinking

even

a

distant

second,

Cummings

in

one

of

his

loveliest

sonnets

insists,

"only

love

/

immortally

occurs

beyond

the

mind"

(576).

I

stress

the

word

beyond.

It

occurs

a

number

of

times

in

Cummings'

poetry

in

this

same

relationship

"beyond

the

mind"

as

in

"beyond

logic"

(262),

"beyond

doomed

thought"

(138),

and

especially

in

the

lovely

"in

time

of

all

sweet

thingsbeyond

/

whatever

mind

may

comprehend"

(688).

Feeling

is

first,

then;

beyondmind,

beyond

that

mind,

that

deceiving

mi

.nd,

for

"life

is

more

true

than

reason

will

deceive"

(592).

And

so,

because

"feeling

is

first,"

Cummings

condemns

that

person

who

"does

not

have

to

feel

because

he

thinks"

(406).

And

in

another

context

the

poet

argues,

"love

is

a

deeper

season

/

than

.reason"

(578).

Tree:

but

even

reason

must

have

its

season.

Feeling

is

beyond,

farbeyond,

thinking,

but

it

does

not

obliterate

it.

A

whole

person

feels

but

also,

at

appropriate

times,

reasons.

October,

1996

Spring

,,

105