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E.E. Cummings’ Since Feeling is First told about the manifestation of feeling which was symbolized as “syntax of things” “life’s not a paragraph”and “death is no paranthesis”. E.E. Cummings’ explain feeling as something free from “syntax of things” (line 3). Syntax in linguistic is certain rules in conducting a good paragraph. By referring to syntax, the poet said that feeling has no rule. Then, it was supported by the next clause which he said that “life’s not a paragraph” (line 15). Through this clause, the poet said that life is different from a paragraph in which he means that the referrence of syntax in the previous line stand for the freedom of life or feeling from strict rules like syntax or the rules of paragraph. Furthermore, Cummings wrote that the freeedom of feeling followed by a tendency of someone to “wholly to be fool” which means feeling does not need the logic. In the end, Cummings supports all the infinite bound of the feeling by states that “death is no paranthesis” which means that the infinite bound of feeling is so broad that even death can not be the boundary.

At some point, I agree with the speaker’s attitude concerning the role of emotion, that a feeling is something to do by putting aside all the rules and boundaries, that a feeling has nothing to do with brain and do not bounded by death, and that a feeling can not be expressed merely by words. Feeling or emotion is something natural and uncontrollable. As it was written in Merriam-Webster Dictionary, feeling is “often unreasoned opinion or belief”.The depiction of feeling in the words “unreasoned” strongly indicated that feeling contradicts the logic.Through the absent of reason in the development of a feeling, it also means that feelings must be something really natural. We can not make it appears only by our own will. Eventhough some people can do that, the feeling may not be so natural. One of the example is the feeling or emotion delivered from an actor in a play. It is somehow looks really articifial or forced. Even the most successful play like “The Phantom of the Opera” which is succeed in delivering the feeling to the audience still could not beat the naturalness of the real emotion flow.

Image Source: The Phantom of the Opera UK Official Website

However, the phrase that the speaker use, “wholly to be fool”(line 5), while explaining about the emotion that he absorbed is a bit unacceptable for me. It is true that feeling is something free and has nothing to do with brain. Yet, in my opinion, the “free” in feeling does not mean that it is “absolutely free”. In absorbing or expressing a feeling or emotion, we can not wholly putting aside our brain. It is still needed in order to keep the balance between logic and the feeling, because in some cases, when a person deeply drowned in an emotion or feeling, he could be uncontrollable whether in action or saying. The result can be something bad and even break the feeling itself.




For example, in 2014, a terrible fate experienced by Miss Honduras, Maria Jose, who was killed by her sister’s bofriend. According to the killer, the boyfried, he killed his girlfriend due to the jealosy as Maria Jose’s sister danced with another men, and Maria Jose was killed to prevent her to run away. In this case, it can be seen how a feeling can lead to a disaster if it does not controlled by the logic or brain. The killer is a lover at the beginning just as how Cumming’s depicted in his poem, but “since feeling is first”,his love, his feelings for the girlfriend blocked him to use his logic. Specificly, the explosion of the feeling when he saw his girlfriend danced with another men enabled his brain to think that killing her was nothing but only a fatal mistake which in the end will dirtied his love toward the girlfriend. This is one real case which can be the concrete example that the manifestation of feeling should not be absolutely free, rather it still need the participation of the logic as the controller.