Buffalo Bill's
defunct
who used to
ride a watersmooth-silver
stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigeons justlikethat
Jesus
he was a handsome man
and what I want to know is
how do you like your blue-eyed boy
Mister Death
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Comments
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What do I think? I think Mr Death joined Bill's Wild West Show for a particular purpose - and won!
Von -
Deliberate Palpitating Fog
One of my personal favorites of Mr. Cummings. It has so much passion and vehemence. This work isn't about celebrities at all, well at least in my opinion. The juxtaposition of Jesus and Buffalo Bill creates a forum in which to discuss grotesque heroism (Buff. Bill) and subtle humility (Jesus). Moreover it's a discussion, or a contention rather on war and peace, war being the buf. bill and the source of hatred here. Of course the really great thing about e.e. is that his work is open to a multitude of interpretations. In any regard this piece carries heft and deserves a second, third, and fourth glance. I think the beauty of Cummings is that his ambiguity and clear images, while seemingly a contradiction of sorts, create a poetic paradox that makes his poems all the more powerful. You know subconsciously that a deluge of emotion is carried in this frank, somewhat sarcastic work. -
I think that this poem, while speaking of Buffalo Bill, is more of a commentary on classic celebrities. I think that this poem is saying that classic celebrities may be famous while they're alive, but then they die and you pretty much never hear of them again. It's not like modern movie stars where we can watch "The Sound of Music" fifty years from now and still say that Julie Andrews is a good actor (actor not actress, for "actor" is now consider a generic term). Buffalo Bill is dead, and with his physical death, there was in a sense a death of his fame. For now the only way we can remember him is in folk songs and legends. He isn't like The Beatles whos songs will be played for generations to come. The final question in the poem, I think, is asking the reader, "What do you think of this celebrity now that he's dead?"
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This particular poem by e.e. cummings has always fascinated me. As part of an assignment in a writing class, we had to decipher this poem and the comments people came up with were pretty interesting. I think the poem is associated with the legend of Buffalo Bill and his character association with power and a certain brutal strength during the old western days when honor was real and something that every man had to earn on his own merits. The ways of the world back then were rather hard and involved killing sprees and respect had such a close association with power. Which in my mind explains the ending of this poem with a rhetoric question... "how do you like your blue-eyed boy (Buffalo Bill) Mister Death" e.e. cummings was such a fascinating writer.
Edited on Nov 26, 1:56 p.m. because ''.
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