E. E. Cummings

Hist Whist

Hist Whist - meaning Summary

Playful Menace in Miniature

Cummings' short poem stages a playful, childlike scene of tiny supernatural creatures—ghosts, witches, goblins, mousies—skittering and hiding. The language mimics movement with clipped exclamations and repeated fragments, building momentum until a warning about an old woman with a wart culminates in the startling image of a "green dancing devil." The poem balances whimsy and menace, ending in an exuberant, unsettling cry.

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hist      whist little ghostthings tip—toe twinkle—toe little twitchy witches and tingling goblins hob—a—nob     hob—a—nob little hoppy happy toad in tweeds tweeds little itchy mousies with scuttling eyes    rustle and run     and hidehidehide whisk whisk     look out for the old woman with the wart on her nose what she’ll do to yer nobody knows for she knows the devil     ooch the devil     ouch the devil ach     the great green dancing devil devil devil devil wheeEEE

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