red-rag and pink-flag
blackshirt and brown
strut-mince and stink-brag
have all come to town

some like it shot
and some like it hung
and some like it in the twot
nine months young

Analysis, meaning and summary of e.e. cummings's poem red-rag and pink-flag… (11)


  1. kL says:

    I think, written in 1940 as it was, it’s a comment on people being on leave from the War, remembering the lewd behavior of those freed from battle for a weekend in Paris. It’s men and women and sexual release in finding each other, if only for a moment, before the seriousness of War reclaims them or the consequence of responsibility kicks it (hence the 9 months young after being in the twot).

  2. anthony says:

    What does this poem mean?

  3. Steven says:

    Nice try, Iba.
    But Facism in Europe and Italy occur during the second world war and cummings was in the first.

  4. Ibi says:

    …isn’t it an allusion to the rape, murder and torture of Fascism…rampant in Italy and Europe in the time of Cummings…

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