Poem Analysis - When My Love Comes To See Me Its

A Symphony of Sensation

E.E. Cummings's "when my love comes to see me it's" is a vibrant and evocative exploration of the overwhelming sensory experience of love. The poem moves from a gentle, almost hesitant comparison of love to art, through a moment of ecstatic death, and culminates in a unified "I and She." The tone is initially delicate and exploratory, gradually intensifying into a passionate and consuming force, before resolving in a state of serene union. Cummings uses unconventional syntax and vivid imagery to convey the transformative power of love on the individual.

Love as an Artistic and Sensory Experience

The poem primarily explores the theme of love as a multi-sensory artistic experience. Cummings doesn't define love directly, but likens it to different art forms: "music," "curving colour(say orange) against silence,or darkness." This association establishes love not as a static entity, but as a dynamic and evolving creation. The synesthetic language – "a wonderful smell in my mind" – further emphasizes the way love transcends the individual senses, creating a holistic and imaginative experience within the speaker's consciousness. The speaker's mind becomes a canvas or a musical instrument, responding uniquely to the presence of his beloved.

The Sweetness of Death and Rebirth

A central theme in the poem is the idea of love as a form of death and rebirth. The line "how my least heart-beat becomes less" suggests a diminishing of the self in the face of love's power. This leads to a more dramatic image of "her beauty is a vise whose stilling lips murder suddenly me." Here, love is not merely pleasurable, but overwhelming, even destructive. However, this "death" is not final; instead, "her smile makes something suddenly luminous and precise." The destructive power of love gives way to creative potential. This symbolizes the transformative potential of love to refine and elevate the self, akin to an alchemical process where something new and precious is created from destruction.

The Union of Two Souls

The poem culminates in a theme of unity and dissolution of boundaries, illustrated by the line "—and then we are I and She…." This short and simple statement is profoundly significant. It suggests that love transcends individual identity, creating a shared experience where two separate entities merge into one. The use of "I and She" rather than "we" keeps the individuality of both partners as it shows their union. This is not simply a merging of two people, but rather the creation of something entirely new, a symbiotic relationship where individual identities are both preserved and transcended.

Decoding the Hurdy-Gurdy’s Tune

The final line, "what is that the hurdy-gurdy’s playing," is perhaps the most enigmatic and thought-provoking. The hurdy-gurdy, a somewhat whimsical and old-fashioned instrument, introduces an element of the commonplace into the otherwise intense emotional landscape of the poem. Its music could represent the constant, underlying reality of everyday life that continues even amidst the extraordinary experience of love. Alternatively, it might suggest the ephemeral and fleeting nature of such intense emotion. Is the hurdy-gurdy's tune a cynical reminder of the mundane, or is it a symbol of the simple joy that love can bring, grounding the ecstatic experience in reality? The poem invites the reader to consider how love exists within the broader context of life's ordinary moments.

Love's Luminous Precision

Ultimately, "when my love comes to see me it's" is a celebration of love's transformative power. Cummings uses vivid imagery and unconventional language to convey the overwhelming sensory and emotional experience of being in love. The poem explores themes of love as art, love as death and rebirth, and the ultimate union of two souls. The poem transcends the simple statement of feelings and becomes an artistic expression of how completely love transforms a person.