"a man who had fallen among thieves" by E.E. Cummings (poetry reading)

The poem refers to the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) This is the King James version:

And Jesus answering said, "a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee."

"Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?"

And he said, "He that shewed mercy on him."

Then said Jesus unto him, "Go, and do thou likewise."

The parable says the thieves took his clothes, presumably including his vest, hat and trousers, but there's always poetic licence.

'leal' means loyal. Most versions on the web have 'Meal' in place of 'leal'. How can that make sense? I've heard Cummings read the poem and he says 'leal'.

'newer pastures' refers to the last line of Milton's Lycidas "tomorrow to fresh woods and pastures new" (often misquoted as "fresh fields and pastures new")

If you think the poet's name should be written e e cummings all I can tell you is that he didn't write it that way. Editors and critics have written it in lower case - and so have I, thinking that I was reflecting Cummings' wishes. Before you weigh in with your opinion read this article:
http://www.gvsu.edu/english/cummings/caps.htm

"The Good Samaritan" was painted by Vincent Van Gogh in 1890

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[1rocknroy]

Well that just goes to show that if you deviate from the norm , people will wonder about you.

e. e. cummings was also an ambulance driver in WWI and I bet writing this poem drew on that. Thanks for posting the poem.

[dezonnestekt]

Thank you for the poems. I wish there was a channel like yours in Dutch.

I didn't know the painting by Van Gogh. It turns out to be a "copy" of a Delacroix painting, as Van Gogh describes it in a letter to his brother dated 3/05/1890.

[SuperBluehaze]

wonderful, thank you. I have not check yet ,but I would love to hear you reciting Caliban' s passages from "The Tempest". I will check now to see if you have already done this. Thank you, a poem needs to be recited excellently, as you have done,

with feeling. regards from Australia.