Social Politics in the Selected Poems of E. E. Cummings and Ray Young Bear

This paper explores the symbols and images of using lowercase in the selected poems: Cummings’ “who are you little i?” and Ray Young Bear’s “Grandmother.” These poets violate common orthographic rules by using only lowercase letters in these poems; however, they pursue symbolic meanings in doing so. Cummings' poems, which are presented in lowercase, signify a particular idiosyncrasy of orthography. This structural novelty [or innovation] makes a long-lasting impression on Cummings’ readers and contributes to the enduring impact of his poetry. For Bear, this is symbolic in that the lowercase means Native Americans, the Mesquaki tribe, in North America construed in social politics. The Mesquaki and other Native American tribes faced discrimination and domination from Euro-American settlers and colonialists, as well as their descendants, for several generations. The purpose of this paper is to enhance the indirect meanings of images and influence of Native Americans, such as the Mesquaki people, who have been fighting for their identities in America for a long time. The related purpose is to enable readers to understand the experimental poetic tropes of Cummings and Bear, and “inform readers through experimental tropes” literally indicates that the author of this paper will use experimental tropes to inform the readers. This is qualitative research. The study focuses on: Why do the poets use lowercase in their poems? Why are poetic languages more complex than general languages? This study adopts symbol theory methods for discussion, and the research methodology of the poem is based on textual analysis.