Ee cummings "dominic has a doll..." help?

Question

i need to write an enthymeme over ee cummings poem "dominic has a doll" but i need the figurative meaning more than anything. here's the poem:

"dominic has

a doll wired
to the radiator of his
ZOOM DOOM

icecoalwood truck a

wistful little
clown
whom somebody buried

upsidedown in an ashbarrel so

of course dominic
took him
home

& mrs dominic washed his sweet

dirty
face & mended
his bright toen trousers (quite

as if he were really her &

she
but)&so
that

's how dominic has a doll

& every now and then my
wonderful
friend dominie depaola

gives me a most tremendous hug

knowing
i feel
that

we & worlds

are
less alive
than dolls &

dream."


I know the literal meaning of the poem: the doll is the speaker, dominic brings him home... i think the meaning has something to do with the last stanzas that we are less alive than dolls/dreams but i can't figure it out! please help!

Answer 1

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my personal interpretation of those last stanzas that trouble you is this:

he says "i feel that we and worlds are less alive than dolls and dream." and what i take from this is that we as people tend to dream big, and have these amazing imaginations as children, but as we grow older we discover more and more how rooted we are to this world and this reality that was so flexible when we were young. I think he's yearning for that childhood dreaminess and wistfulness where our dolls were alive and we believed in magic and that all our dreams would someday come true.