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Arda Sahiner
Mr. Dickel
AP English Literature 12, pd. 7
October 20, 2014
Conventional Cambridge
Though it is impossible to feel strongly about everything, a persons humanity is
strengthened by his or her passions. In E. E. Cummings poem The Cambridge Ladies Who
Live in Furnished Souls, the speaker describes the conventionalism of Cambridge ladies,
who live in a shallow comfort wherein they live without passion or curiosity. In describing the
Cambridge ladies, the speaker initially expresses a combination of disapproval and mild
amusement towards their rigidity and hypocrisy, yet becomes increasingly frustrated at their
superficial understanding of the world around them.
The speakers initial attitude towards the ladies rigidity is characterized by disapproval
in tandem with mild amusement. He begins the poem by asserting that the Cambridge ladies
live in furnished souls in order to express the womens excessively orderly spiritual state,
comparing it to that of a decorative room. Moreover, the juxtaposition of the lowercase
beginning of the poem with the uppercase Cambridge imitates the pretentious air of the
women, who hold an inordinate level of pride for their highly regarded city, thereby conveying a
sense of mocking disdain. The speaker further describes that the ladies permanent faces coyly
bandy/scandal. Here, he juxtaposes permanence associated with inflexibility and gossip
associated with silliness and immaturity in order to expose the humorous aspect of being so
serious. The speakers disapproval yet amusement towards rigidity also derives from the rhyme
scheme of his poem, which shifts after the eighth line much like that of a Petrarchan sonnet but
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does not follow the rhyme scheme of a Petrarchan sonnet. The speaker thus exposes the trite
stiffness of sonnets, simultaneously following and disregarding their rhyme conventions, which
ultimately reflects his joking criticism of rigidity and further denounces the specific inflexibility
of the ladies.
The speaker also feels this combination of disapproval and amusement towards the
hypocrisy of the Cambridge ladies. He initially focuses upon the daughters of the women, who
are gifted the churchs protestant blessings. Due to the speakers decision to make protestant
lowercase, the word is given two meanings, describing the religious affiliation of the ladies but
also implying reluctance on the part of the church to bless their daughters. Ultimately, this lack
of capitalization suggests that while the ladies appear to be Christian, their belief is in name only.
This sentiment of disapproval towards the inconsistency between the ladies stated beliefs and
their true feelings is echoed by the description of the daughters as unscented shapeless spirited.
By juxtaposing bland words with one indicating religious zeal, the speaker associates their
religious beliefs with indifference and thereby suggests that the daughters are not passionate in
their faith. Moreover, the ladies believe in Christ and Longfellow, both dead, indicating that
the women put as much value in their religion as a superficial New England poet. Moreover, the
speaker intentionally obfuscates what dead describes; it is ambiguous whether those in whom
they believe have died or whether their beliefs themselves are dead. This vagueness suggests that
both are true and thus expresses disapproval of the ladies dull beliefs. Indicating their apathetic
view towards generosity, the ladies knit for the is it Poles?/perhaps. The use of a question mark
reflects the inflection often associated with indifference, implying that the ladies possess an
attitude of apathy towards the recipients of their charity. This unconcern contrasts with their
Christian beliefs which advocate generosity towards others and exposes a disparity between
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the ladies beliefs and attitudes. The speakers mockery of the Cambridge ladies thus
demonstrates his disapproval yet joking attitude towards their hypocrisy.
As the poem progresses, however, the speaker becomes more and more irritated at the
ladies close-minded attitude. He begins the tenth line with . to indicate a shift in attitude.
This shift does not parallel the shift in rhyme scheme, which occurs in the eighth line, amplifying
the speakers dissatisfaction with conventions beyond simply mild disapproval. Further, the
punctuation includes one period more than the conventional three of an ellipsis, indicating a
burgeoning frustration, since his break transcends a traditional pause in poetry. Next, the speaker
explains that the Cambridge ladies do not care that moon resides in its box of/sky lavender
and cornerless, and thereby creates a paradoxical image of the sky. This contradictory
description signifies the speakers frustration that the Cambridge ladies are content to confine the
outside world to a box, unappreciative of its true, uncontained beauty. The speaker ends the
poem by implying that there is much more to the world than just Cambridge through his
description of the moon, which rattles like a fragment of angry candy in an attempt to escape
the limited worldview of the ladies. His frustration is amplified by the assonance of harsh a
sounds, which create cacophony, and a lack of punctuation to end the poem, which creates
unresolved tension. In this fashion, the speaker indicates an intensification of his frustration
towards the Cambridge ladies narrow perspectives.
The speakers attitude of mild disapproval and amusement towards the Cambridge ladies
rigidity and hypocrisy intensifies to become a simmering frustration at their narrow perception of
the world. His iconoclastic use of structure, aside from symbolically protesting against the
ladies way of life, encrypts the poems meaning beyond the point of grammatical sense.
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However, by capturing emotion in its essence, Cummings demonstrates that words are not nearly
as important as the feelings they are meant to describe, and thus crafts an expert lyrical poem.