Cycles in Poetry and Art. Cyclic Patterns of Change Cycles may occur naturally or be imposed by human behavior or understanding. Cycles can be constructive,

Cycles in Poetry and Art

Edward Estlin Cummings (1894-1962)

all ignorance toboggans into know

by E. E. Cummings

all ignorance toboggans into knowand trudges up to ignorance again:but winter’s not forever,even snowmelts;and if spring should spoil the game,what then?

all history’s a winter sport or three:but were it five,i’d still insist that allhistory is too small for even me;for me and you,exceedingly too small.

Swoop(shrill collective myth)into thy gravemerely to toil the scale to shrillernessper every madge and mabel dick and dave--tomorrow is our permanent address

and there they’ll scarcely find us(if they do,we’ll move away still further:into now

Metaphor Chart

TOPIC of the comparison

VEHICLE (what the topic is compared to)

GROUND (important characteristics that they share

Metaphor Chart

TOPIC of the comparison

VEHICLE (what the topic is compared to)

GROUND (important characteristics that they share

learning

Metaphor Chart

TOPIC of the comparison

VEHICLE (what the topic is compared to)

GROUND (important characteristics that they share

learning tobogganing

Metaphor Chart

TOPIC of the comparison

VEHICLE (what the topic is compared to)

GROUND (important characteristics that they share

learning tobogganing -exciting

Metaphor Chart

TOPIC of the comparison

VEHICLE (what the topic is compared to)

GROUND (important characteristics that they share

learning tobogganing -exciting -can be scary

Metaphor Chart

TOPIC of the comparison

VEHICLE (what the topic is compared to)

GROUND (important characteristics that they share

learning tobogganing -exciting -can be scary-happens more than once (slide down and climb back up)