American poet E.E. Cummings (1894-1962) is remembered for his numerous unconventional poems, some 2900, many of which are marked by a complete, purposeful disregard for many written conventions, including capitalization and idiosyncratic syntax. Love is More Thicker Than ForgetOne of his more enduring works is “love is more thicker than forget,” which is generally of traditional arrangement, if otherwise devoid of capitalization.
“love is more thicker than forget/more thinner than recall/more seldom than a wave is wet/more frequent than to fail.” The first of the poem’s four stanzas is a quartet of rhyming couplets, a pattern repeated in the rest of the work. Cummings does employ various poetic devices throughout the work, including alliteration, imagery, metaphor, and oxymoron. In a short poem, there is great complexity.
Originally published in January 1939, love is more thicker than forget has been called one of the more noteworthy love poems of the 20th century, often appearing on greeting cards. “love is less always than to win/less never than alive/less bigger than the least begin/les littler than forgive.” Many interpretations of the poem see multiple, often confusing sentiments being expressed at the same time, often reflective of the all-encompassing range of human emotions that accompany the complexity of love. “it is most same and sunly/and more it cannot die/than all the sky which only/is higher than the sky.”