E.E. Cummings AKA e e cummings

E. E. Cummings AKA e e cummings

Background

E. E. Cummings was actually born Edward Estlin Cummings to Edward Cummings and Rebecca Clarke. Both of his parents and their Unitarian views shaped his early life, however it was his mother that had the most impact on young Edward. When he was a little child, Rebecca would read poems and literature to him, often reminding him that the most important part of reading was feeling an emotion from the story. After high school, he continued his love of reading and poetry by going to Harvard to study literature. After graduating from Harvard, he traveled to Europe to aid in the fight in WWI. However, he was notoriously anti-war, and repeatedly spoke out against the war efforts. These opinions would land him in trouble as he was sent to prison in France for espionage. While in prison for espionage, Cummings learned much about humanity. The ordeal influenced him so much that he would go on to write a book, The Enormous Room, about his experience. He then came back to the United States and started to create many of his poems. He also met his first wife and mother of his only child, Elaine Orr. However, they divorced only 9 months after their marriage. After going through that process again, Cummings finally found Marion Morehouse, and although they were never officially married, she lived with Cummings for 30 years until his death.

Influences

Cummings' first job was as an apprentice to a book seller. At that job he got to experience all of the different variations on the English language. It was at this job that he was first exposed to the foregoing of the traditional syntax of English. This idea of foregoing the syntax is something that we see in all of Cummings' writings. His next major influence occurred when he was captured as a POW in France. He later writes his most popular book, The Enormous Room, based around the time in the POW camp. Another influence on his life and in turn his poems was his trip to the Soviet Union. Cummings entered the Union without any real government opinions, and left shifted to the right. For the rest of his life, he was a Republican, and this support shows in his writings. Finally, the last major influence on his writings is the car accident that killed his father and left his mother in critical condition. After the accident, Cummings began to write more about what he believed were the key ideas of living. This style of writing pervaded his poems until he passed away.

Notable Works/Writing Style

Some of E. E. Cummings' most famous works are not even poems at all. He was a talented playwright as well as a painter. He painted many portraits, still lifes, and abstracts, some of which are professionally acclaimed. His plays include Santa Claus: A Morality, which is now his most successful play. However, it is true that his most famous works are his writings. He wrote over 2,900 poems in his life, and because of that staggering volume, he has multiple anthologies. He writes with blatent disregard for syntax and grammar, often choosing instead to order his words to form a shape or pattern. Just because he ignored syntax for his poems does not mean that he did not have a mastery over it, however. In his autobiography about his life and the war, The Enormous Room, he clearly displays that he knows the syntax. Perhaps this makes his writing style even more unique and creative, because he had to knowingly create a new vernacular.

 

What Cummings Left Behind

E. E. Cummings left the world as a hero to the counterculture followers. He was a rebel both ideologically and as a writer. He was one of the first antiwar supporters as well as a writer who used a lack of syntax to aid in the displaying of whatever message he was trying to convey. His emotions showed through his work, and that made his work even more powerful for those reading it. He inspired writers and poets in not only the 20th century, but even in modern times. It is in the legacy of giving inspiration to authors for generations to come that E. E. Cummings has become truly immortal.

Love is more thicker than forget

Love is more thicker than forget 
more thinner than recall 
more seldom than a wave is wet 
more frequent than to fail 

It's most mad and moonly 
and less it shall unbe 
than all the sea which only 
is deeper than the sea 

Love is more always than to win
less never than alive 
less bigger than the least begin 
less litter than forgive 

It's most sane and sunly 
and more it cannot die 
than all the sky which only 
is higher than the sky

Audio of poem can be found at:

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/audioitem/2248

Works Cited

"E.E. Cummings." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
Cummings, Edward.
'Edward Estlin Cummings - Edward Estlin Cummings Biography - Poem Hunter'. Poemhunter.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Terblanche, Etienne (July 25, 2012). "E. E. Cummings: Poet And Painter". New York: Rodopi. pp. 141–186. ISBN 9042035412.
Poetryfoundation.org,. '[Love Is More Thicker Than Forget] / Poem Of The Day : The Poetry Foundation'. N.p., 2015. Web. 2 Apr. 2015.
Harvardmagazine.com,. 'The Rebellion Of E.E. Cummings | Harvard Magazine Mar-Apr 2005'. N.p., 2015. Web. 2 Apr. 2015.