Lecture 3: Money Talks

Babbitt and e.e. cummings

English 104ASpring 2012

9 April 2012

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” – that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

—John Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” lines 49-50

Amy Lowell (1874-1925)

● Member of the prominent Lowell family

● Socialite, poet.● A talented poet in her

own right.● Played an essential

role in bringing imagism to the attention of a wider public.

Edward Estlin Cummings (1894-1962)

● Often written “e.e. cummings”● There is no definitive

evidence that cummings himself preferred this orthography

● Essayist, novelist, painter, playwright, and poet

● Probably best known for his formal poetic experimentation

● Rarely titled his poems.self-portrait, approx. 1920

e.e. cummings

● Despite the heaviness of today’s selections, cummings is best known for his early, Romantic-influenced work, which is much lighter.

● Key terms (for our purposes):● Syntactic/typographic

experimentation● Modernism● The avant-garde cummings, 1953

Experiments within formal strictures

● Cummings’s work often stretches the limits of traditional poetic form without abandoning it completely.

● Notice the regular metrical rhythm of “i sing of Olaf glad and big”:

i sing of Olaf glad and bigwhose warmest heart recoiled at wara conscientious object-or (lines 1-3)

● This poem is in iambic tetrameter throughout most of its length, with occasional variations.

● Much of “Olaf” depends for its effect on the tension between the grammatical (syntactic) structures and the line breaks:

but---though an host of overjoyed

noncoms(first knocking on the head

him)do through icy waters roll

that helplessness which others stroke

with brushes recently employed

anent this muddy toiletbowl,

while kindred intellects evoke

allegiance per blunt instruments--- (lines 7-14)

● Here, cummings constructs a series of linked dependent clauses to propel the reader, headlong, through Olaf’s experience.

“next to of course god america i” (1923)

1 "next to of course god america i2 love you land of the pilgrims' and so forth oh3 say can you see by the dawn's early my4 country 'tis of centuries come and go5 and are no more what of it we should worry6 in every language even deafanddumb7 thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry8 by jingo by gee by gosh by gum9 why talk of beauty what could be more beaut-10 iful than these heroic happy dead11 who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter12 they did not stop to think they died instead13 then shall the voice of liberty be mute?"

14 He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water

“next to of course god america i” (1923)

a "next to of course god america ib love you land of the pilgrims' and so forth oha say can you see by the dawn's early myb country 'tis of centuries come and goc and are no more what of it we should worryd in every language even deafanddumbc thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorryd by jingo by gee by gosh by gume why talk of beauty what could be more beaut-f iful than these heroic happy deadg who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughterf they did not stop to think they died insteade then shall the voice of liberty be mute?"

g He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water

“next to of course god america i” (1923)

● This poem is, of course, a sonnet.● In fact, it is a Petrarchan, or

Italian, sonnet.

● There are many ways to discover what form a poem has. One of the easiest: Google the rhyme scheme.

● Make sure to actually read the results. Note that, in this example, Google is suggesting incorrect answers.

● We will have more to say about this sonnet later in the afternoon.

Babbitt’s language

Especially at the beginning of the novel, Babbitt’s language is absorbed in chunks from the linguistic field all around him:

“It was not only, as the placard on the counter observed, ‘a dandy little refinement, lending the last touch of class to a gentleman’s auto,’ but a priceless time-saver.”

Babbitt’s interior monologue:

“And― Certainly looks nice there. Certainly is a might clever little jigger. Gives the last touch of refinement and class.” (p. 45; ch. 5, sec. 2)

Many of Babbitt’s phrases are appropriated and passed along as whole blocks of ideas that serve as essentially meaningless tokens:

“The men leaned back on their heels, put their hands in the trousers-pockets, and proclaimed their view with the booming profundity of a prosperous male repeating a thoroughly hackneyed statement about a matter of which he knows nothing whatever.” (p. 94; ch. 8, sec. 2)

“Which of them said which has never been determined, and does not matter, since they all had the same ideas and expressed them always with the same ponderous and brassy assurance. If it was not Babbitt who was delivering any given verdict, at least he was beaming on the chancellor who did deliver it.” (p. 116; ch. 10, sec. 3)

Babbitt’s rise in social position is based on his ability to put these phrases together in an engaging manner:

Babbitt, to Paul: “And remember how I wanted to be a lawyer and go into politics? I still think I might have made a go of it. I’ve kind of got the gift of the gab—anyway, I can think on my feet, and make some kind of a spiel on most anything, and of course that’s the thing you need in politics.” (p. 126; ch. 11, sec. 4)

P.J. Maxwell (Paul’s lawyer): “The trouble with you, Babbitt, is that you’re one of those fellows who talk too readily. You like to hear your own voice. If there were anything for which I could put you in the witness-box, you’d get going and give the whole show away.” (p. 223; ch. 22, sec. 1)

“next to of course god america i” (1923)

1 "next to of course god america i2 love you land of the pilgrims' and so forth oh3 say can you see by the dawn's early my4 country 'tis of centuries come and go5 and are no more what of it we should worry6 in every language even deafanddumb7 thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry8 by jingo by gee by gosh by gum9 why talk of beauty what could be more beaut-10 iful than these heroic happy dead11 who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter12 they did not stop to think they died instead13 then shall the voice of liberty be mute?"

14 He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water

“He had enormous and poetic admiration, though very little understanding, of all mechanical devices. They were his symbols of truth and beauty. Regarding each new intricate mechanism—metal lathe, two-jet carburetor, machine gun, oxyacetylene welder—he learned one good realistic-sounding phrase, and used it over and over, with a delightful feeling of being technical and initiated.” (Babbitt 57; ch. 6, sec. 1)

Babbitt’s language and ideas are diffuse

(p. 133; ch. 13, sec. 2)

NEWT action

Babbitt’s language is in flux

This is because Babbitt himself is constantly changing:

“But dearie, I thought you always said these so-called ‘liberal’ people were the worst of—“

“Rats! Woman never can understand the different definitions of a word. Depends on how you mean it.”

(p. 263, ch. 26, sec. 5)

Note that Babbitt here tries to portray himself as having a stable identity, despite the changes in his character throughout the novel.

The label “socialist”

● Not always a description of a political position.● Sometimes, a way of labeling someone in such a

way as to place them beyond the pale of those who engage in “reasonable” political discussion:● Babbitt: “to be an out-and-out spiritualist would be

almost like being a socialist !” (p. 106; ch. 9, sec. 1)● Babbitt’s address to the Zenith Real Estate Board:

“The worst menace to sound government is not the avowed socialists but a lot of cowards who work under cover—the long-haired gentry who call themselves ‘liberals’ and ‘radicals’ and ‘non-partisan’ and ‘intelligentsia’ and God only know how many other trick names!” (p. 157; ch. 14, sec. 3)

“Now, these strikers: Honest, they’re not such bad people. Just foolish. They don’t understand the complications of merchandizing and profit, the way we business men do, but sometimes I think they’re about like the rest of us, and no more hogs for wages than we are for profits.”

“George! If people were to hear you talk like that—of course I know you; I remember what a wild crazy boy you were; I know you don’t mean a word you say—but if people that didn’t understand you were to hear you talking, they’d think you were a regular socialist!” (p. 263; ch. 26, sec. 5)

Difference and Exclusion

Democrat/Republican

Man

White

Virility

Business

Wife

Socialist

Woman

Black, “Dagoes and Hunkies” (121; ch 10),

Jewish, etc.

Failure

Labor

“A Woman” (283; 315)

Money and Wealth

Colonel Snow: “Well, you can’t expect the decent citizens to go on aiding you if you intend to side with precisely the people who are trying to undermine us.” (307; ch. 32, sec. 3)

“[...] so did the large national advertisers fix the surface of his life, fix what he believed to be his individuality. These advertised wares—toothpastes, socks, tires, cameras, instantaneous hot-water heaters—were his symbols and proofs of excellence; at first the signs, then the substitutes, for joy and passion and wisdom.” (79; ch. 7, sec. 3)

“Advertising in its entirety constitutes a useless and unnecessary universe. It is pure connotation. It contributes nothing to production or to the direct practical application of things, yet it plays an integral part in the system of objects, not merely because it relates to consumption but also because it itself becomes an object to be consumed. A clear distinction must be drawn in connection with advertising’s dual status as a discourse on the object and an object in its own right. It is as a useless, unnecessary discourse that it comes to be consumable as a cultural object.”

―Jean Baudrillard, The System of Objects (1968)

Media Credits

The photo of Amy Lowell (slide 2) taken from the front of Time magazine is in the public domain. Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Amy_Lowell_Time_magazine_cover_1925.jpg

Cummings's self-portrait (slide 3) is in the public domain. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EECummings_pd4.jpg

The photo of e.e. cummings (slide 4) is in the public domain. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:E._E._Cummings_NYWTS.jpg

George Babbitt's sketch (slide 15) is in the public domain because it is excerpted from a work whose copyright has expired.

I believe Newt Gingrich's sketch (slide 16) to be in the public domain because it was produced by an employee of the United States Federal Government during the performance of his duty.