The poem “I Carry Your Heart With Me” by EE Cummings has been a favorite love poem and favorite selection at weddings for many years. The poem has gained renewed interest since she appeared in the movie “In Her Shoes.” It is used to devastating effect in the film’s climactic wedding scene and again to close the film. Countless fans have been inspired to revisit the poignant words of “I carry your heart with me.”

The poet

EE Cummings was born Edward Estlin Cummings in 1894 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He died in North Conway, NH, in 1962. Cummings earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard in 1915 and delivered the commencement address that year, titled “The New Art.” A year later he earned a master’s degree in English and classical studies, also from Harvard.

Cummings joined an American Red Cross ambulance corps in France during World War I. The French jailed him on suspicion of disloyalty, a false charge that landed Cummings in prison for three months. He wrote the novel the huge room, about your experience. Many of Cummings’ writings have an anti-war message.

Cummings was a great artist, playwright, and novelist. He studied art in Paris after World War I and adopted a cubist style in his work. He considered himself both a painter and a poet, spending much of the day painting and much of the night writing. Cummings particularly admired the artwork of Pablo Picasso. Cummings’ understanding of presentation can be seen in his use of typography to “paint a picture” with words in some of his poems.

During his lifetime, Cummings wrote more than 900 poems, two novels, four plays, and had at least half a dozen exhibitions of his artwork.

Contrary to popular opinion, Cummings never legalized his name as “ee cummings”. Your name must be correctly capitalized.

The poem

EE Cummings’ style of poetry is unique and highly visual. Her typographical independence was an experiment in punctuation, spelling, and rule-breaking. Her style imposes a certain rhythm on the poem when it is read aloud. Her language is simple and her poems become fun and playful.

Cummings’ poem, “I Carry Your Heart With Me,” is about deep love, the kind that can keep the stars apart and that can transcend soul or mind. The poem is easy to read, speak and easily understand by people of all ages.
The poem could almost be called a sonnet. It has just about the right number of lines in just about the right combination. But, typical of a Cummings poem, it goes in its own direction, and does so to great effect.

The poem makes an excellent love song when set to music. Noted guitarist Michael Hedges has set “i carry your heart” to music on his “Taproot” album. Hedges himself sings lead vocals, but backing vocals are sung by David Crosby and Graham Nash.

More than 168 of Cummings’ original poems have been set to music.

Enjoy the words and sentiments of this famous poem.

I carry your heart with me

I carry your heart with me (I carry it in

my heart) I’m never without it (anywhere

I go, you go, my dear; and whatever is done

only for me is your work, my love)

I fear

without destiny (because you are my destiny, my sweet) I want

there is no world (how beautiful you are my world, my truth)

and it’s you whatever a moon has always meant

and what a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret that no one knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; that grows

higher than the soul can hope or the mind can hide)

And this is the wonder that keeps the stars apart

I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)