Cummings mocks the idea of patriotism and America in “’next to of course god america i’ by suggesting that America is unsure of which subject is more important. He does this through a range of structural devices based around ‘god america i’. The order of this list shows us that God may be seen as the most important as he comes first. However the stressed structure of iambic pentameter shows us that God is unimportant as the word “god” is unstressed. It could be argued that “i” is the most important as it is the only stressed word. However it could also be argued that individuals, or even individuality, is unimportant as it is the last in the list, overshadowed by America and God. This use of punctuation also gives us an insight as none have capital letters so all could be seen as equal. Cummings uses this indecisive structure to mock America as it shows America is unaware of what is important.
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