E. E. Cummings (1894–1962)
old age sticks
up Keep
Off
signs)&
youth yanks them
down(old
age
cries No
Tres)&(pas)
youth laughs
(sing
old age
scolds Forbid
den Stop
Must
n’t Don’t
&)youth goes
right on
gr
owing old
Considerations for Critical Thinking and Writing
- FIRST RESPONSE. What distinctions does the speaker make between age and youth?
- Paraphrase each stanza. What gets lost in the process if you write out these lines as you would write an ordinary prose sentence?
- How does the final stanza complicate the poem’s central idea?