I Carry Your Heart with Me

[I Carry Your Heart with Me (i carry it in]

by E. E. Cummings

 i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

Meanings of [i carry your heart with me(i carry it in] by E. E. Cummings

The poem “i carry heart with me (I carry it in)” by e. e. cummings shows the poet’s deepest love for his beloved, which he calls the fountainhead of everything beautiful that he sees, observes, or listens to. His love is everything, wherever he goes or comes, turns or returns, or whatever he does.

Meanings of Stanza -1

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear

The speaker of the poem uses an unusual style devoid of all writing conventions, including correct grammar and punctuation, e. e. cummings presents his all-powerful argument in the very first line that he is carrying the heart of his beloved with him and that it is in his own heart. He continues with this argument that wherever he goes, he always takes it with him, which means that his beloved also goes with him as “i go you go” shows it. He further adds that whatever achievement is accomplished by him is actually done by his beloved, adding that he does not fear anything, which he adds in the next stanza as fate. This stanza contributes to the main idea of the poem, which is that his beloved is the source of everything he achieves in his life and the motive for every accomplishment or task done by him.

Meanings of Stanza -2

no fate(for you are my fate, my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

Connecting this stanza with the previous one with an enjambment, e. e. cummings completes it, saying he does not fear fate as his beloved is his fate. He directly addresses her within parenthesis, which means he is giving her much significance with reference to his love. He again calls her his world, saying that he does not want any world as she is the whole world. Again he uses parenthesis to point to her importance. He even associates her with the heavenly bodies, the moon, as well as the sun, that whatever the moon means or whatever the sun sings, it is she who is the impetus behind them. By calling her his fate, his world, the meanings of the moon’s acts, and the song of the sun’s melody, he gives importance to his beloved. This stanza contributes to the meaning of the poem through the words of the poet that he is much obsessed with his beloved that he does not see anything without her and sees her in everything around him.

Meanings of Stanza -3

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

Calling his beloved everything for him, the poet, e. e. cummings finally states that it is “the deepest secret” of his heart that nobody knows. He states that his beloved is a tree that is called life. She is the root of its root and the bud of its bud. It grows higher than what the soul hopes and what the mind hides. It is above heart and soul. It is such a wonderful thing that it has kept the stars apart. He means that the love of his beloved excels in everything in his life, and it has changed the stars of his fate. By giving the metaphor of a tree within parenthesis, e. e. cummings supplements the main idea by saying that although his beloved is the fountainhead of everything, he calls her a tree that is life, and everything sprouts from this tree. It is such a tree that human imaginations fail to capture its true significance. That is why he calls it above fate which is obvious from the mention of “stars.” This stanza further contributes to the meaning of the poem by stating that the beloved of the speaker is life and his entire life depends on this life.

Meanings of Stanza – 4

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

This is the final verse of the poem has one line. Interestingly it occurs in the very first line as well. It is also the very title of the poem. Therefore, it is the main idea of the poem because, for the poet, his beloved is everything, and he always carries his love in his heart. It means he keeps his beloved in his mind wherever he goes and whatever he does. In fact, he means that they both are one and the same thing and his movements mean her movements. That is why this is the main idea of the poem.

Summary of I Carry Your Heart with Me

• Popularity: This is a famous love poem was written by E. E. Cumming, a renowned American poet known for his intentional misspellings and unconventional style. It was first published in 1953.  The poem illustrates love in its purest form. It also expresses the compassionate, profound, and warm feelings of the poet for his beloved. Since its publication, it has got immense popularity on account of its unique description of love.
• “I Carry Your Heart with Me” as a Representative of Love: As a love poem, it shows the true nature of love. The poet expresses his deepest and most intense emotions for his beloved. He says that wherever he goes, he is accompanied by his beloved, and nothing can separate them. For him, his beloved is his whole universe. He can never imagine his life without her. He adds that his significant other is his source of living which he is afraid of losing, and carries her heart with him all the time. The depth of love between two people will gain the readers’ attention.
• Major Themes of “I Carry Your Heart with Me”: The major theme of the poem is love and its eternity. The spiritual bond and perfect union of the poet’s love is exemplary. The whole text discusses that his love is not only the source of satisfaction for him but also gives him strength, solace, and He compares his love with a tree, which goes beyond hopes, implying his love is immeasurable. He further says that his love is a mystery, which no one can resolve. To him, this pure love is the source of eternal peace, and he can never imagine his life without it.

Analysis of Literary Devices used in “I Carry Your Heart with Me.”

literary devices are tools used to express their feelings, ideas, and emotions effectively and clearly. Their use makes the text captivating and allows multiple interpretations. Cummings has also used literary devices to express his ideas of pure love. The analysis of some of the literary devices used in this poem has been stated below.

• Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /n/ in “higher than soul can hope, or mind can hide” and /r/ sound in “i carry your heart with me (i carry it in).”
• Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in a verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it continues to the next line.

“i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)”

• Parallelism: Parallelism refers to using elements in sentences that are grammatically similar or identical in structure, sound, meanings, or meter. Cummings has used this device in lines eight and nine,

“and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you.”

• Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /ing/ “by only me is your doing, my darling”.
• Personification: Personification is to accord human attributes to non-human things. Cummings has used personification in the last line of the second stanza “and whatever a sun will always sing is you”, as if the sun is human and it can sing.
• Imagery: Imagery is used to make the readers perceive things with their five senses. Cummings has successfully used imagery to create a lifelike picture of true love, such as, “and whatever a sun will always sing is you”, “here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud” and “and the sky of the sky of a tree called life.”
• Hyperbole: Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which the writer purposely exaggerates things to an extreme. “I carry your heart” is an over-exaggeration because no one can carry the heart (organ) with them.
• Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /u/ in “no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)”.

Analysis of Poetic Devices in “I Carry Your Heart With Me”

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

• Sonnet: A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem with a single idea floating throughout the poem. But Cummings’s sonnet is a fifteen-line poem; he has not written on the lines of any set pattern.
• Rhyme Scheme: The poet has used free verse in this poem to make it lyrical without using any rhyming pattern and meter.
• Repetition: There is a repetition of the verse, “I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart)” which has created the musical quality in the poem.
• Refrain: The lines that are repeated at some distance in the poem are called refrains. The line, “I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart) is repeated with the same words in the opening and ending lines of the poem. Hence, it has become a refrain.

Quotes for Usage

These lines can be used when expressing deep feelings to a relation whom you care about and love.

“and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows”