Who are the Cambridge Ladies today?
Have you noticed we haven’t talked about poetry yet? Let’s dive into it!
Last class, Annsley led our discussion on the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls by E.E. Cummings. We came to the conclusion that the speaker feels angry that affluence creates an artificial society among wealthy, sheltered women. Cummings wrote this after his service in World War I to challenge traditions and societal norms. We defined these women as heartless, eager to conform to their surroundings, and lack a connection to the people around them and themselves. But times have changed and classes aren’t defined as they used to be, so who are the Cambridge ladies today?
In the 100 years since the poem was written men and women have switched gender roIes as more ladies enter the workforce and more gentlemen stay at home. So we cannot limit our search to just ladies, but gentlemen as well. The expansion of social networking has eliminated of vital part of humanity: the human connection. Websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr make many relationships vague and ambiguous where the user can create their own world of “friends”. This meaninglessness in connections is creating distance between people and how we interact. Just like the Cambridge ladies, we are creating our own artificial societies based on meaningless connections.
We can see Cambridge ladies (and gentlemen) all around us. So I, the speaker, feel that men and women across the globe of all socioeconomic backgrounds are creating their own societies based in artificial connections that distance them from reality and everything outside of their furnished souls.
-Rachel F.
