'Edward Estlin Cummings Essay\r'

'E. E. cummings is a poet who is unquestionable odd and the majority of his kick the bucket highly stylized, modern, and controversial. The hoi polloi of his snip is usually recognized and noned for his ungainly function of earns, structure, and mislaid punctuation. duration e. e. cummings is nearly known for transition on form, his numbers has bully depth and meaning. cummings is the quintes displaceial 19th century poet who stated â€Å"The day of the spoken lyric is past,” and warns that â€Å"The song … it builds itself, three dimensionally, gradually, subtly, in the consciousness of the experiencer” (Kennedy).\r\nEmbodying transcendentalism completely, he understood that to give-up the ghost is to constantly be experiencing, changing, and growing. This field is revisited in his work again and again. Thitherfore, E. E. cummings is intimately strongly influenced, like so many another(prenominal) early(a) authors by, by events of his behav ior. Eve Triem, in American Writers, explains that cummings was born to Edward Estlin cummings to Edward and Rebbecca e. e. cummings in 1894, both(prenominal) of which were highly intelligent and respected in the community. His st fine art was a professor at Harvard University and his research bear on nearly studying plurality.\r\nHe had also been skilled as a minister and pr to each oneed at a local church. e. e. cummings suffer, Rebecca, came from a rattling reputable family and play a major role in all the social, political, and cultural ongoings in her community (Triem). cummings had the luxury of the perfect childhood. They spent their winters in capital of Massachusetts and summered in the beautiful farms of rural in the altogether England. Triem explains it was here that cummings, as a youngster, fell in come with disposition. These beautiful childhood images would become so implant in cummings memory that they were the central images in many of cummings’ most memorable poems.\r\nAs explained in present-day(a) literary reflection, e. e. cummings’ parents boost him to study and read as a great deal as possible and offered him their â€Å"full support”. Kennedy states that e. e. cummings, as a young adult. kept a â€Å"journal” of his upcountry most thoughts at his mother’s request. His mother believed, almost from birth, that cummings would become a capital author and take his place among the ranks of Longfellow. She ensured that his bed stories were from the superior compilers of the meter, Dickens and Stevenson. e. e. cummings was highly educated. His home life was foc apply on literature.\r\nCummings would memorize and declaim pieces of stories, and verse. In addition, he was also a very capable painter who enjoyed illustrating his own create verballys (â€Å"E. E. C ummings”). As an adolescence he became very involved in his high school newspaper and also the Cambridge suss out. à ¢â‚¬Å"While Cummings was in school he helped to tack together the Harvard Poetry Society. He and some(prenominal) of his friends in the companionship put together Eight Harvard Poets ( expeled in 1917)” (Triem). The Cambridge Review would be the very start place to exsert Cummings’ early writing. However, his verse line was hush up inactive and not entirely hygienic up received.\r\nThough this sign experience of actually being taken bad inspired Cummings to keep writing and to hale the limits of what was considered proper and acceptable. After graduating high school, Cummings followed in his father’s footsteps and entered Harvard. He received a traditional education and earned degrees in literature and the Classics. Cummings â€Å"was educated in public schools and at Harvard University where he received an A. B. , magna cum laude, and an M. A. for English and unmixed studies. ” (Triem). His analyzing his skills were unparalleled. Much of hi s interest during this meter centered around Shakespeare.\r\nHe would closely with literary historians who studied Shakespeare’s use of narration and literary devices. It was during this judgment of conviction that Cummings became to experiment with allegory in his poesy. Kennedy asserts that Cummings utilised his formal education and his father’s ghostly writings to author many essays, short stories, and poems. His work was regularly published in the Harvard Advocate and Harvard Monthly. However, Cummings questioned his skill and wondered if his position in life had complete how people viewed his poetry. In the early 1900s, Cummings was open to Cubism and Impressionism.\r\nBoth of which influence his writing style. He believed that his poetry had home in spite of appearance the modern art movement. â€Å" neertheless by 1918 Cummings had created his own poetic style. Because he was a painter as well as a poet, he had developed a extraordinary form of literary cubism: he broke up his material on the page to present it in a new, visually directed way” (Kennedy). It was during this time that he practiced and created his ever popular variation on poetic structure that he is famed for. He was inspired by the aggressively remarkable modern artists, specifically Czanne and Gaudier-Breska.\r\nSimilarly, he looked to modern poets and peculiarly related to the work of Sandburg and Whitman. Cummings loved melodic poetry and manipulated the standard structures †deliberately using speech communication, punctuation, and phrase structure in awkward ways. Cummings’ goal was for poetry not to just sound a fact way, but also have a unparalleled and meaningful visual style (Kennedy). His poetry became passing tight and well built. He carefully constructed each poem with specific word choice and scheme creating poetry which was both visually stimulating and meaningful. He visited Paris often and was constantly inspired by the E uropean art movements.\r\nKennedy explains that these â€Å"influences that appear in his change magnitude experiment with language and ventures into irrational modes of expression in his poem. ” Cummings apply repetition, extended songs, and words in written in lines to give the allusion of action. An example of his unique style is below: bootleg Over tOwns mOOn whisper less creature huge grO pingness (excerpt from Cummings poem No give thanks, as quested in Triem) Triem explains that Cummings uses this unique structure and style â€Å"to focus the proofreader’s attention a capital letter may be thrust into the middle of a word.\r\nIn the opening poem of No Thanks capitals are used to imitate the roundness of the lunar month and to imply the eternity of the circle. ” Though Cummings’ poetry was popular, he made his living in the issue field. After graduation he took a desk trade at a publishing company. This type of line of descent allowed Cummi ngs to focus almost completely on his poetry and prose. It was during his time here that he had the take a chance to review and be influenced by the world’s news events and read obscure history. Triem believes that this type of pic produced his famous poem, Buffalo Bill s defunct.\r\nHe was a prolific writer and continud to hone his skills as a painter. Contemporary Literary Criticism reports that as the depression great war approach, Cummings, with the urging of his family distinguishable to volunteer instead of being drafted. He served in a medical division in France. This especial(a) assignment worked well for Cummings because he did not agree with war. â€Å"Cummings was completely charmed by the bohemian atmosphere of Paris and its abundance of art and artists” (â€Å"E. E. Cummings). In addition, France was a place he had never been and full of new adventures and people.\r\nSimply by adventure his military paperwork was temporarily lost and he had some ext ra time to visits the streets of Paris. It was in Paris that Cummings, for the archetypal time was away from the oppressive and prudish nature of American federation (â€Å"E. E. Cummings”). Contemporary Literary Criticism reports that â€Å"during this period, Cummings eschewed upper-class Cambridge values and frequented circuses, bordellos, pubs, and music hall and burlesque shows” . Within the burlesque halls and streets lined with prostitutions, Cummings experience a sexual dissolvedom which is well documented in his most controversial poetry.\r\nHis time in the military was extremely tense. Cummings was intentionally obtuse and did not make an effort to fail in. Cummings was openly artistic and spoke openly slightly his political views. He often complained well-nigh the other men he worked with and was constantly writing to his family approximately his uncomfortable conditions (Triem). Cummings was so crude(a) that the French government actually read and censor his letters home to his family and friends. He became a get of the authorities who watched everything he did and wrote very carefully.\r\nThe authorities believed that Cummings might be some type of blot and he was placed in a French jail for a couple of months (Kennedy). Cummings assemble a common bond with the people he was imprisoned with this was the inspiration for his novel called The Enormous board (â€Å"E. E. Cummings”). With the help of his prestigious family he was released and sent home in 1918. The Enormous Room is â€Å"considered a classic of World War I literature, this work concerns the preservation of dignity in a corrupting and de mankindizing situation” (â€Å"E. E. Cummings”).\r\nContemporary Literary Criticism reports â€Å"it also examines themes that Cummings would pursue throughout his passageâ€the individual against society, government, and all forms of authority”. Cummings went to live in New York where he surrou nded himself with friends and peers within the arts (â€Å"E. E. Cummings”). Many of which supported and promote Cummings to keep writing and painting. Cummings’ multi-color his most well known piece called â€Å" merchandise”. He continue to write and his uniquely organise poetry was published in local paper and was often debated (Kennedy).\r\nCummings soon fell in love with Elaine Thayer. It was Elaine which is the basis for the majority of Cummings erotic and sensual poetry. His love and desire for her is undeniable. Elaine soon became pregnant, and was still married. The situation was extremely tense because Cummings could not openly father his baby daughter, Nancy. Years later, Elaine divorce and the couple was married in overseas (â€Å"E. E. Cummings”). Kennedy explains that their relationship lasted one year and then they divorced. Cummings separation from his daughter was related in frequently of his poetry and paintings.\r\nCummingsâ€℠¢ first novel, The Enormous Room, was about his experiences during the war. While the novel was not actually publish until 1922 and it received a great deal of official feedback from the literary world because Cummings presented such a horrific subject in an unique and first person perspective. During this time his poetry was also gaining popularity. Cummings’ poetry was being published in the Dial,Vanity attractive as well as other literary journals. It was not until later 1923 that Cummings published his first volume of poetry called Tulips and Chimneys (â€Å"E. E. Cummings”).\r\nIn the undermentioned dickens years he published two more volumes of poetry. With each volume of poetry he became more and more popular. The most intriguing office of Cummings’ works is that he is an author with many talents and tools. He had the ability not just to write poetry but also dramas, prose, satire, and journaling. He was a great painter and sketch artist. Cummings wa s witty and charming with a quick intellect which is evident in his poetry. Puns, satire, and slang are often seen in his poetry to create humor while incorporating his interpretations about political, social, and cultural issues (Kennedy).\r\nMany of the themes Cummings developed and the literary tools he used set him apart of his peers during his time and throughout literature as a whole. Cummings have the ability to confront many part of American life, especially Puritanism and Philistinism as well as a holistic approach to mankind. Contemporary Literary Criticism reports many of his poems preach independence and reliance which are the basis of transcendentalism. â€Å"Cummings personal effects a softer, more elegiac note, displaying his affinity with New England Transcendentalism and English Romanticism” (â€Å"E. E. Cummings”).\r\nCummings asserts that man must live alone to be free and when man lives among other men, he loses his mankind and soul. However, m any of his poems are just about the basics- nature, romance, and the seasons. Cummings is easily separated by his peers by his use of lower case letters. His name alone foreshadows that his poetry is something different. â€Å"Cummings made varied use of parentheses: for an interpolated comment or to split or combine words as a guide to his thought. Frequently they occur, in poem-parables, to clarify the relationship between two sentences that croak simultaneously through the poem” (Triem).\r\nAccording to Kennedy, Cummings often used alternative methods to express his what he was thinking and feeling. Cummings concentrated on pervert of syntax, often the verb and nouns are transposed. Kennedy continues to explains Cummings also used broken sentences combined with strong street idiom and popular sayings to create poetry most people had never seen before and his poetry as a whole was a â€Å"gathering of work in traditional verse forms as well as in his newest unconvention al forms of expressiveness”.\r\nHe even used traditional poem structure combined with free verse which has become associated with Cummings. â€Å"Cummings is remembered for his innovative, playful style, his jubilation of love and nature, his focus on the primacy of the individual and independence of expression, and his treatment of, in his own words, â€Å"ecstasy and anguish, being and becoming; the immortality of the creative imagination and the indomitability of the human spirit. (â€Å"E. E. Cummings”). It is the combination of the topics as well as his unique style that has created a reputation for Cummings as a modern poet. His poetry is often copied by young poets who are trying to make a style of their own. American lyric poet, a typographical innovator whose contempt for modern, collectivized society and love individuality is reflected in the novel musical arrangement and punctuation of his poems.\r\n'