Edward Estlin Cumming's Poem 'If'

From the title we can infer that the poet is imagining something "If" it were changed to be a certain way. In each stanza of the poem, he compares the positive in life to the negative to come to the conclusion that if it were not for the negative, the point of life would be empty and everything would be ordinary. In Edward Estlin Cumming's poem, "If", he uses diction, shifts, and anaphora to create a peaceful tone. I chose this poem because I strongly agree with Cummings belief that without the bad and the differences in the world, no one would be their true self, only what society wished them to be.
E. E. Cummings uses diction in his poem to reveal the literal meaning of the poem. In the first line, "If freckles were lovely..." (1), he chose to use "freckles" to give a better understanding to the reader. Freckles are rare, and for some freckles are not a sign of beauty, so he states "If freckles were lovely" to show that in a perfect world freckles would be beautiful. In this last stanza, he uses an unfamiliar word to catch the readers attention. "If fear was plucky..." (line 13). "Plucky", sounds like a humorous word, but it …show more content…
Cummings starts the first two sentences of each stanza using "If" and "And". In the first stanza, he states, "If freckles were lovely, and day was night, And measles were nice and a lie warnt a lie". (1-2) Starting the second stanza, he says "If earth was heaven and now was hence, And past was present, and false was true." (7-8) Here, he uses antonyms to show the difference in life if things were opposite of what they are now. In the final stanza of the poem, he continues to use anaphora by saying, "If fear was plucky, and globes were square, And dirt was cleanly and tears were glee." (13-14) He uses anaphora in the poem such as, "If" to make assumptions of negative things in the world and these negative things becoming positive