Amuricah!

"thy sons acclaim your gorious name by gorry 

by jingo by gee by gosh by gum..."

("next to of course god america i" - e.e. cummings)

Well, I have to say I did not understand the majority of this poem.  From what I can tell, the speaker is either totally uneducated or just totally wasted.  I'm not sure which is correct, however, nothing he says grammatically makes sense.  I love how at the beginning Cummings mixes two of the most patriotic songs of America with the lines "oh say can you see by the dawn's early" and "my country 'tis of."  The speaker never actually finished either song, but instead, uses the words to create his own thought (about what, I am not sure).  I think the speaker is saying that as America ages, more and more people migrate to this country seeking dreams and happiness.  America is personified as a god in the poem because so many people see the United States as the "promise land."  Cummings satirically states that young men sacrifice themselves to America in order to make the country more "beautiful."  He says that nothing could be more beautiful then "these heroic happy dead."  This is ironic because dead people can not physically be happy; however, many people in America assume that those who are killed in the name of this fine country die happily.  I am not 100% sure, but I believe that this poem is criticizing the American people.  Many people today are ignorant of the horrible things that occur in the world.  Also, citizens only want to believe the happy and dream-like view of America.