E Cummings 'Next To Of Course God America'

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“Next To Of Course God America”: Rushing into Despair E.E cummings “Next To of Course God America I” is a poem about patriotism and war like anthems which convey how excessive patriotism can be used to rally masses to a cause. The poem starts off as being patriotic and showing a bit of nationalism but later seems to become a bit sarcastic.The speaker loves america but does not like war. Patriotism can make one do things such as dying for their country. This stems into a sense of anger which sets the tone.
The speaker mentions “heroic happy dead” meaning young soldiers that fought and died for their country without really knowing why nor did they have any say in the matter but were swayed with patriotic words. This is evident through the line
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