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

Edward Estlin Cummings was primarily an experimenter and is renowned for his unconventional syntax. His unique style lends novelty to poems. The poems of Cummings are hazy like French paintings. He echoes the paintings in Modernism as characterized by disharmony and discontinuity. On the superficial level, the poem “Buffalo Bill” has the simplicity of a nursery rhyme. “Buffalo Bill’s” appears to be written in a flippant manner. The lines reveal his preoccupation with experimentation, and the lack of space demonstrates a run-on effect that echoes his thirst for freedom of expression. The poet utilizes free verse to mirror the vibrancy of the legend. The poem belongs to the group of poems that uphold individualism.

The title may stand for a contraction that symbolizes the life of Buffalo Bill in a nutshell. The title may also be in the possessive case indicating that the narrative belongs to Bill. The word ‘defunct’ comes across as a portmanteau word that is a cross between deflate and extinct.The closing lines bring out the somber aspect of the poem in the direct address to Death.The poem is more than a tribute to Cowboy Buffalo Bill who died in 1916 as a testament to folk legend.…