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About

Genius Annotation

One of the greatest “dirty” poems in the English language, E. E. Cummings’s “the boys i mean are not refined” was originally published as a special insert in nine copies of his volume No Thanks. You still won’t find it in too many anthologies. On the poem’s unusual publication circumstances, Michael Webster has written:

It was published as a handwritten ‘holograph’ sheet, inserted into only nine copies of the original edition of 1000. Certainly, Cummings needed to ‘publish’ ‘the boys’ as a manuscript to avoid the censors, but why write it in his own hand? Though the handwritten, rare, and personal aspect may indicate the poet’s private endorsement of the poem’s contents, I think it points in a different direction. This ‘holograph’ manuscript edition is also a satiric comment on deluxe, rare, and expensive editions, which were often merely the rich man’s version of the pornography found in bathroom stalls. It could also be construed as a satire on the commodity fetishism of signed first editions, and it is certainly contrary to Cummings’ usual typewriter graphics. The poem achieved wide circulation only after Cummings’ death, when the Harcourt, Brace edition of the Complete Poems was published in 1972.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

  1. The boys i mean are not refined
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