next to of course god america i
by E.E. Cummings
POEM SUMMARY
In “next to of course god america i,” E.E. Cummings offers a biting satire of patriotic rhetoric. The poem mimics a speech—possibly by a politician, soldier, or demagogue—filled with clichés, fragments of nationalistic songs, and platitudes about war, liberty, and sacrifice. The speaker appears to praise America’s greatness, but the tone is erratic, exaggerated, and jarring.
After the bombastic monologue, the poem ends abruptly with a stage direction: “He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water.” This final line pulls the reader out of the speech and reveals the speaker as a performer—someone exhausted or insincere— highlighting the artificiality and emptiness of the speech.
Though the poem borrows language from patriotic tradition, it critiques the blind glorification of war, thoughtless nationalism, and the hollow repetition of inherited rhetoric.
ANALYSIS
Form and Structure
• 14 lines / Sonnet-like Form: The poem loosely resembles a Shakespearean sonnet, but it subverts traditional expectations. The rhyme scheme is uneven, the meter irregular, and the content deeply ironic.
• Lack of punctuation / capitalization: Cummings’s hallmark typographic play emphasizes chaos and breathlessness, mimicking the speaker’s incoherence or fervor. The jumble of patriotic phrases appears cluttered and unexamined.
• Enjambment and abrupt line breaks: Disjointed syntax disrupts meaning, forcing the reader to actively reconstruct the sentences—and question their sincerity.
Themes
• Nationalism and Propaganda: The poem critiques the empty slogans and recycled patriotic phrases used to promote nationalism. Cummings suggests that such language fails to convey real meaning, especially when used to justify war.
• War and Blind Sacrifice: Lines like “they did not stop to think they died instead” point to the unthinking valorization of soldiers’ deaths.
Cummings questions whether these deaths are noble—or manipulated by those in power.
• Language and Performance: The final line—“He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water.”—breaks the illusion of a real speech and exposes the performative, rehearsed nature of such rhetoric.
• Satire and Irony: Though the words appear patriotic on the surface, the poem’s tone and form undercut their sincerity. The exaggerated enthusiasm and jumbled diction create a parody of political speech.
Tone and Voice
• Mock-serious / Satirical: The speaker’s tone may initially seem earnest, but Cummings’s stylized syntax and diction reveal a deeper irony. The speaker parodies the kind of overblown rhetoric used to stir emotion without substance.
• Detached Ending: The shift from intense speech to the mundane act of drinking water strips the oration of its grandeur, revealing the disconnect between language and action.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
1. How does Cummings use form and punctuation to re-
flect (or undermine) the poem’s content?
2. In what ways does the speaker parody traditional patriotic speech?
3. What is the effect of including recognizable phrases from national songs and slogans?
4. How does the final line shift your understanding of the poem’s tone?
5. Can this poem be read as unpatriotic, or is it a critique in service of deeper patriotism?
FINAL THOUGHTS
Cummings’s “next to of course god america i” is a powerful example of Modernist resistance to conventional form and ideology. Through irony, fragmentation, and parody, the poem invites readers to interrogate the ways language can be used to manipulate emotion, especially in political or militaristic contexts. In doing so, it remains fiercely relevant in any era of performative patriotism.