Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2017

The Importance of Being Young at Heart

The importance of being young at heart is a recurring idea in many of e.e. cummings’ works.

It comes as a solution to the paradox of life and irony of youth. Cumming’ personal approach

to this paradox is brought to life in poems such as You shall above all things 3 , dive for dreams 4

and I will wade out 5 . Shrouded in his signature insightful obscurity, cummings urges readers

to hold on to the eternal optimism and appreciation for the world so unique to youth.

In one of cummings’ seminal works, you shall above all things 3 , he nominate being “glad and

young” as essentials one should strive for. The poem is styled as a string of advice to the reader,

delivered in second person. Cummings elucidates the importance of being young at heart by

stating that “if you’re young; whatever life you wear/ it will become you”. For those who are

young, every path is open; opportunity is boundless. Utilising antimetabole, cummings

reverses the phrase to become “if you are glad/ whatever’s living will yourself become,”

suggesting that happiness awakens you to the beauty of the surrounding world and the power

of influence. Perhaps one of cummings’ most memorable lines is delivered at the close of the

poem, where the narration undergoes a sudden change from second to first person. This final

line, “I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing/ than teach ten thousand stars how not to

dance” is an analogical delivery of cummings’ personal understanding of how one should live.

This outlook embodies a youthful spirit, suggesting that one should be accepting and ready to

learn about the surrounding world instead of rebelling against its beauty. It also infers an

affirming and positive outlook rather than a pessimistic, negating attitude. This outlook

embodies the youthful spirit and the ability to see beauty and wonder in the world, just as it is.

Similarly, e.e. cummings’ aptly titled poem dive for dreams 4 urges readers to cling to the

youthful fire and passion that drives the young. dive for dreams 4 is a prime example of the

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