Old Age Sticks Analysis In "Old Age Sticks" by E.E. Cummings, Cummings uses a change from normal formatting to an odd, separated format. This allows the reader to see the multiple meanings of each line. Line two says "Up keep". This is saying that the old take care of the youth. But lines 2-4 combined say "..Keep off signs". This shows how old people are forbidding youth. Line 5 says "youth yanks them". This is …showed first 75 words of 221 total…

…showed last 75 words of 221 total…old people scold and forbid youth's activities. Line 19 and 20 are broken up to say that youth are both growing old, and that youth at the same time are "owing old.". Overall, E.E. Cummings is a unique poet in respect to the content of his poems as well as the format he uses to write them. these separations in format are what makes these poems so complex and is what gives them so many meanings.