A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF DEVIATION AND PARALLELISM IN E.E. CUMMINGS’ TRADITIONAL AND KINETIC POETRY

Abstract

Creativity and innovation have increasingly shaped literary expression in the modern era, making unconventional thinking essential in a rapidly evolving world. This study examines the interplay between poetic structure and creative discourse through a stylistic lens, focusing on foregrounding features such as deviation and parallelism. Using Leech’s (1969) Advanced Stylistics framework, a comparative analysis is conducted on E.E. Cummings’ selected poems l(a (1958) and was (1954), representing traditional and kinetic poetry, respectively. The findings reveal that deviation and parallelism are strategically employed to foreground thematic elements, capturing the reader’s attention. While traditional poetry features occasional deviations, kinetic poetry consistently utilizes structural deviation to emphasize meaning, often with greater attention to visual representation. This study enriches the understanding of how stylistic devices shape interpretation and highlights thematic focus in Cummings’ poetry.