By Miranda Miller

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me,i and
my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

— e.e. cummings

When I first came across this poem I was drawn to the beautiful pictures that were being evoked in each stanza. The language surrounding this poem is done in such a concise way, I honestly felt like I was transported to the scene. The poem captures the beauty of falling in love. The speaker is falling so deeply in love with the person that the poem is about. Falling deeply in love is such a captivating feeling and you just are in awe of everything they do. I have been this person so deeply in love with someone that you see no flaws. But in reality not seeing their flaws can lead to various problems. The speaker should be wary of the lover in this case because it seems as though throughout the poem the lover has manipulative tendencies . The speaker is so in love with the lover that they really don’t see these problems.  

[somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond] is a poem by Edward Estlin Cummings. The speaker is in love with the person that they are depicting in this poem. The speaker discusses how “Somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond any experience, your eyes have their silence”–hence the title of the poem which fits so well. The lover has the speaker fascinated with every single thing that they do. In the poem the speaker says, “Your slightest look easily will unclose me”– the lover has this type of ‘trance’ over the speaker. The speaker feels as though the lover also has the power to shut them down when they feel like it. Which we see the speaker point to by saying “or if you wish to be close me.” The speaker feels like the lover has powers that aren’t even comparable to anything in the world. The speaker points to this by saying “nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals.” The speaker doesn’t understand what it is about the lover that captivates them in such a way. 

One of the themes explored in the poem is love. We see love depicted here in such a plentiful amount. The speaker is so captivated by everything that the lover does. The speaker is so in awe of the lover and feels like the lover has so much power over them. In a way that the speaker can’t even put words to. The speaker is truly obsessed with the lover. Another theme explored in this poem is blindness in love. The speaker lets the lover open them up in so many ways.  The way that it is described the speaker is blind to how extensive they are opening up to the lover.  We see this openness to love shown in the poem when it says “you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens.” It is wonderful when you are in love to feel like you can be opened to new possibilities.  This ability can be good in some situations but being in love with someone to an extreme can make a relationship unhealthy. This openness was healthy until in the poem the speaker says “nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals the power of your intense fragility.” This type of fantasization of the power that the lover has over the speaker sounds out of this world. Which could lead to illusions of the relationship rather than loving the real person. This is why you see such dramatic examples of this in movies and tv shows because the character creates this depiction of their lover. In reality no one is perfect and everyone has flaws in some shape or form. Choosing to ignore those flaws and love blindly can hurt your partner more than help them. 

The lover’s eyes in this poem truly hold the key to all of the power that the lover has over the speaker. The speaker is so in awe of the eyes of the lover and the mysterious nature behind them. The truth is that the eyes are so much more than just mysterious. In the statement “your eyes have their silence,” the speaker is not talking about how the eyes are open in nature and the windows to your soul. Instead, the speaker is utilizing a metaphor to describe the closed off nature of the lover. The eyes are not engaged and when you typically are in love with someone your eyes give off how you are feeling. In this poem that is not the case, though; the lover’s eyes are filled with a sense of distress and unwillingness to open up. The eyes go back to the idea that the lover is so intriguing and fascinating to the speaker. The mysterious nature that the lover has in the poem only invites the speaker to be hooked in further and further. 

The poem has very little rhyme in it. The poem is more focused on utilizing imagery and metaphors throughout. Rather than focusing on rhyming in every single stanza it creates an image that transports the reader into the poem. Different versions of the word “close” appear in the poem, with “enclose” and “unclose” being examples. This is because e.e. Cummings is trying to make the reader understand just how trapped the speaker is in this love. When you are closed in you feel like there is no way to escape. Which really gets to the heart of how the speaker is feeling in terms of the lovers power over them. The speaker truly doesn’t understand why the dynamic of the power the lover has even exists. The speaker points to this by saying “(i don’t know what it is about you that closes and opens; only something in me understands).” The speaker starts off by telling us how the lover’s eyes can open and close them. And then the speaker begins to describe how “you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens.” The speaker then describes how the lover opens them up to the world and its entirety with forever and death included. The speaker is so blindly in love with the lover. The speaker points to this by saying “the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses) / nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands.” There is nothing that the lover could do to not be fascinating to the speaker. The speaker thinks everything about the lover is absolutely perfect.  The speaker believes in everything the lover does. The speaker even feels that they can open their heart in every way to the lover.

We see real examples of loving blindly in lots of ways today in our society. Typically you see a woman who develops feelings for a man and ignores all of the flaws that they have. The man is so intriguing because of his mysterious closed-off nature that it becomes like a chase for the woman. This isn’t to say that having flaws can always be a bad thing and you can’t work things out. But when you fall too deeply and ignore flaws it allows for this mysterious nature to always be there.  This idea of being blindly in love is how the speaker feels about the lover in this poem. The speaker is so madly in love with the lover they ignore the attributes that might be something to watch out for in the lover. Love is confusing and a rollercoaster of emotions. It isn’t something that is straightforward and perfect for everyone. The love depicted in the poem is far from typical. You are taken through a series of obsessive feelings that the speaker has for the lover. The love is so blind that the speaker is far from reality. When I was in middle school I would have crushes on boys and I wouldn’t know anything about them. I would just create this fake reality that everything they would do is absolutely perfect. Without even realizing the flaws that they had and knowing they were just people too. Love can be so blind that you start to lose the real person that you even fell in love with. 

This poem is a perfect blend of confusing, exciting and life changing. I honestly have grown a soft spot for poetry after reading this. This poem makes you realize just how amazing falling in love can be. But just how dangerous it can get if you fall too deep. It made me realize how lucky I am to not be in a controlling relationship. The beauty of how in love the speaker is with the lover shows how powerful love can really be. Love can be blind so blind in fact you make a reality of your own. And every single thing about this person is absolutely perfect. That is the true beauty of falling there are endless possibilities and mysteries to figure out.