February 25, 2010
For Valentine’s Day, I rented Annie Hall (see entry VD) and it reignited the desire to see Woody Allen films. On recommendation, I rented Hannah and Her Sisters, which turned out to have amazingly rich and complicated characters and wonderful plot. The storyline that I was most fascinated with was that of Eliot, Hannah’s husband, and Lee, her sister. Eliot had become enamoured with Lee and decided that he wanted to have an affair with her - to find out what happens I suggest that you go out and rent it. There is a fabulous scene in the film, where Eliot is first trying to get Lee to notice his affections, which takes place in a bookstore. Eliot tells Lee that he read a poem that reminds him of her and he wanted to buy her an anthology book that contained the poem. The featured line from the poem is “nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands”, which I immediately recognized as e. e. cummings, noting that it is also used as the epigraph from Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie. Today’s question is: what is the name of that e. e. cummings poem?
A: The book that Eliot gives Lee in the bookstore is the Complete Poems 1913 – 1962 by e. e. cummings. Eliot tells her that the poem he wants her to read is on page 112 of the book, yet in actuality the poem entitled “somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond” is on page 366.
somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
e. e. cummings
somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose
or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands
Sources:
Academy of American Poets
Internet Movie Database: Hannah and Her Sisters