1. Buffalo Bill’s defunct

2. William F. Cody – aka Buffalo Bill
Larger than life symbol of rugged America
Cowboy
Indian fighter
Buffalo hunter
Founder-The Wild West Show
The most famous man in the world

3. Buffalo Bill’s defunct
A poem by
e e cummings

4. Buffalo Bill's
defunct
who used to
ride a watersmooth-silver
stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat
Jesus
he was a handsome man
and what I want to know is
how do you like your blueeyed boy
Mister Death

5. Common theme- death claims all
Bill in action- breaking pigeonsjustlikethat
Vitality and speed- watersmooth-silver
“Handsome”- whole figure in action

6. The Poem Itself Self-portrait of an admiring but disdainful speaker
Admires Bill’s skill and good looks
Humorous indifference to Bill’s death using the world “defunct”

7. Bill the Destroyer Dreams of youth and innocence
Hatred towards a culture that invites children to create unworthy heroes
Bill - hero and charlatan
Heroic deeds reduced to circus stunts

8. Bill the Destroyer Childhood- innocent faith and wonder
Expectations of childhood and of America

9. Irreverence towards death
“Mister Death”
Is Death a spectator at a performance?
Does it now become a character
Question asked of Death
“How do you like your blueeyed boy
Does Death stand as a fatherly figure for the blueeyed boy (Bill)

10. Bill as the destroyer- an agent of Death
Destroyed- the poet’s childhood
Innocent faith and wonder
Disappointing both his expectations of childhood and of America