How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #4
only the snow can begin to explain (22)
Cummings writes as though nature is the only thing that actually understands the cycle of life and death. Poets might like to think that they have a handle on it all, but in the end nature has the final say.
Quote #5
one day anyone died i guess (25)
We've become invested in the life of anyone, but now the narrator tells us that anyone died. The casualness of "i guess" reminds us that death is not something special in Cummings' world. It's a natural part of things, and to say that someone has died is the same thing as saying it's raining out.
Quote #6
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was (27-28)
The people of anyone's town are busy, so they don't have time to mourn his death very much. They want to get back to their lives. Meanwhile, anyone retreats into the past a little bit at a time. He's dead now and he'll only get deader as more time goes by.