pity this busy monster, manunkind
By E. E. Cummings
pity this busy monster, manunkind,
not. Progress is a comfortable disease:
your victim (death and life safely beyond)plays with the bigness of his littleness
— electrons deify one razorblade
into a mountainrange; lenses extend
unwish through curving wherewhen till unwish
returns on its unself.
A world of made
is not a world of born — pity poor fleshand trees, poor stars and stones, but never this
fine specimen of hypermagicalultraomnipotence. We doctors know
a hopeless case if — listen: there’s a hell
of a good universe next door; let’s go
Summary of Pity this busy monster, manunkind
- Popularity of “Pity this busy monster, manunkind”: Written by the unconventional American poet, writer, and essayist, e e cummings, this short poem “pity this busy monster, manunkind” is a beautiful and yet inscrutable piece. It first appeared in 1944 when he published it in his poetry book 1 × 1. Similar to the book title, the poems have also bizarre titles but very meaningful and startling themes. The poem shows the destruction of industrialization that has made the entire mankind busy at work. The popularity of the poem lies in the use of unconventionality.
- “Pity this busy monster, manunkind” As a Representative of Routinization: The speaker of this poem full of unconventionality is the poet himself. He calls mankind a monster twisting the signifier of mankind, saying although it seems comfortable yet this progress is destruction, devastation, and ruination of mankind. It is because it has played bigness and littleness with sizes and atomic sizes to the point of making wishes true and vice versa. This is the world manufactured through machines, and it is not a natural action of creation. Therefore, he says, there is a hell of a difference between the heavenly bodies and natural objects on the one hand and specimens and hyper images on the other. Although physicians and doctors know the treatment for this disease, they do not want to treat it as they are themselves victims of it. Therefore, the speaker asks the readers to move ahead.
- Major Themes in “Pity this busy monster, manunkind”: Routinization, manufacturing, artificiality, and factiousness are major themes of this poem. The factiousness is apparent from the unconventionality of the poem as it shows that progress is actually a disease that has killed mankind through routinization in such a way that the poet has called manunkind. It is actually the world of manufacturing through factories that has destroyed nature through artificiality. Now we live in a world that has been made or manufactured. It is not a natural world and not a world of flesh and blood. Therefore this artificiality has marred the very sincerity of birth and death.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in Pity this busy monster, manunkind
- E. Cummings has used various literary devices to make this poem beautiful, enchanting and meaningful. Some of the major literary devices are as follows.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /i/ in “pity this busy monster, manunkind” and the sound of /o/ in “electrons deify one razorblade.”
- Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession, such as the sound of /p/ in “pity poor.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /s/ and /t/ in “and trees, poor stars and stones, but never this” and the sound of /f/ in “your victim (death and life safely beyond).”
- Enjambment: It is a device in which the meanings of verse roll over to the next without having any pause or punctuation mark. This poem shows the use of enjambment, such as;
ultraomnipotence. We doctors know
a hopeless case if — listen: there’s a hell
of a good universe next door; let’s go
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. E. Cummings used imagery in this poem such as “and trees, poor stars and stones, but never this”, “returns on its unself” and “of a good universe next door; let’s go.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects different in nature. The poet used different implicit metaphors, such as calling mankind as manunkind, a busy monster, or stating progress as a disease.
- Neologism: It means to create or invent new words through old ones. The poet used neologisms such as manunkind.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols, such as monster, progress, victim, death, and life, to show the artificiality and impact of routinization.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Pity this busy monster, manunkind
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction: It means the type of language. The poem shows good use of informal and poetic diction full of neologisms.
- Free Verse: It means to use the free verse that has no rhyme scheme, rhythm, or meter. This poem is a free verse poem.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. This poem has five stanzas with two one-liners.
- Tone: It means the voice of the text. The poem shows an absurd, sad and hopeless tone.
Quotes to be Used
The following lines are useful to quote when talking about the artificiality of the world.
A world of made
is not a world of born — pity poor fleshand trees, poor stars and stones, but never this
fine specimen of hypermagical
