Humanity i love you
   because you would rather black the boots of
   success than enquire whose soul dangles from his
   watch-chain which would be embarrassing for both
 
 
   parties and because you
   unflinchingly applaud all
   songs containing the words country home and
   mother when sung at the old howard
 
 
   Humanity i love you because
   when you're hard up you pawn your
   intelligence to buy a drink and when
   you're flush pride keeps
 
 
   you from the pawn shop and
   because you are continually committing
   nuisances but more
   especially in your own house
 
 
   Humanity i love you because you
   are perpetually putting the secret of
   life in your pants and forgetting
   it's there and sitting down
 
 
   on it
   and because you are
   forever making poems in the lap
   of death Humanity
 
 
   i hate you
 
                                by e. e. cummings

 

 

This poem  reflects Cummings's connection with the war.  It is quite cynical in nature, describing his disgust with classes in society and obviously, humanity in general.  "because you would rather black the boots of / success than enquire whose soul dangles from his watch-chain"   Cummings uses material metaphors to stress the selfishness of humanity.  The mental image from "whose soul dangles from his pocket watch-chain"  is quite literal at first.  The reader imagines an aristocrat with ten or twenty commoners hanging from his chain.  Cummings was referring to the thoughtlessness of the over-fortunate.  The last four lines of the poem are more directly what he was trying to say.  "Humanity / i hate you"

 

 

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