[love is more thicker than forget]

While it may not be one of Cummings’ most popular poems, ‘[love is more thicker than forget]’ conveys the way that Cummings wanted to use language in his verse incredibly well. This is a complicated poem, but much of its complexity hinges on the subject matter that Cummings was attempting to depict. 

Love is not a simple emotion or experience, and in these four stanzas, Cummings uses what is, in truth, very simple language to define likely the most popular subject in poetic writing throughout history. 

Summary

‘[love is more thicker than forget]’ by E.E. Cummings is a beautiful expression of the power of love. Through simple language, Cummings conveys the idea that love is a force more powerful than forgetting. 

In the first two lines, Cummings talks about the strength of love: “love is more thicker than forget,” he writes. He defines the ever-changing and never-changing nature of love, its strength, its ability to defy bounds, its agelessness, and much more throughout the following stanzas. He uses numerous examples of figurative language to compare love to natural elements that make it at once harder and easier to understand.

Structure and Form 

‘[love is more thicker than forget]’ by E.E. Cummings is a four-stanza poem that is divided into quatrains or sets of four lines. It is also written in free verse. The poem does not use a specific rhyme scheme or metrical pattern. But, there is a great deal of repetition. This is primarily seen through the literary device anaphora. But, the fact that every line of the poem is about the same thing adds another degree of structure to the verse. 

Literary Devices 

Throughout this poem, the poet makes use of a few literary devices. These include but are not limited to: 

• Anaphora: the repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of multiple lines. For example, “more” starts three lines in stanza one. 
• Alliteration: the repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of multiple words. For example, “mad” and “moonly” in line one of stanza two. 
• Juxtaposition: can be seen when the poet intentionally contrasts one thing against another. In this case, the poet compares love to everything from “forget” to “forgive.” 

Detailed Analysis 

Stanza One 

love is more thicker than forget

more thinner than recall

more seldom than a wave is wet

more frequent than to fail

In the first few lines of this unique Cummings poem, the poet’s speaker begins by saying that “love is more thicker than forget.” He is describing the nature of love in a way that can, at times, be hard to understand. Cummings suggests that love is quarter,” or stronger than the ease with which one forgets everyday occurrences. 

He again speaks to love’s nature by saying that it is “more frequent than to fail.” Here, he is playing on the idea that failure comes very frequently in one’s life and that if one is looking for it, love is even more frequent. This is an optimistic message that is conveyed throughout the entirety of the four-stanza poem.

He also uses more conflicting and confusing descriptions of love in this stanza, saying that it is “more seldom than a wave is wet” and “more thinner than recall.” The former implies that love is “seldom” or less common than wet waves. The inference here is that waves are always wet, so love must be extraordinarily present in life. 

Stanza Two

it is most mad and moonly

(…)

is deeper than the sea

In the second stanza, Cummings hints at the emotional nature of love and how, at times, it can be tough to be in love or love someone who is struggling. Love is “most mad” and “moonly.” The latter is a coined word that Cummings’ used in this text likely to imply that its nature changes like the cycles of the moon. 

He adds in the next lines that love is deeper than the sea and always will be. It will never “unbe” what it is (which is no less than the sea), “which is only / deeper than the sea.” 

Stanza Three 

love is less always than to win

(…)

less littler than forgive

In the third stanza, the poet uses several examples of anaphora and alliteration. He repeats the “L” sound numerous times within the single stanza, including the first three words, “love is less.” It continues on, seemingly complicating while broadening the potential of love itself. The limitlessness of his language clearly alludes to the unbound nature of love and the waves it manifests in everyday life.

Love is alive, it’s dead, it’s everything, and it’s nothing, Cummings implies in these lines.

Stanza Four 

it is most sane and sunly

(…)

is higher than the sky

The final stanza of the poem says that love is “most sane and sunly.” Readers should immediately be reminded of Cummings’ other coins word in this poem, “moonly.” Here, he is juxtaposing the various elements of love and what it is capable of representing and being to different people around the world and throughout time. He ends the poem by saying that love is “more” because it cannot die, and it is as high, vast, and grand as the sky, which is “only… Higher than the sky.” 

Here, he suggests that if love is like the sky, and nothing is higher than the sky, then nothing is higher/grander than love. 

FAQs 

Similar Poetry 

Readers who enjoyed this poem should also consider reading some other E.E. Cummings poems. For example: 

• ‘[O sweet spontaneous]‘ – a poem about humanity’s search for knowledge throughout time. 
• ‘[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]’ – a stunning and groundbreaking poem that depicts a speaker telling his lover that wherever they go, he’ll go too. 
• ‘All in green went my love riding’ – one of Cummings’ better-known poems that uses a hunting metaphor to describe a dangerous relationship.