E.E. Cummings 1894-1962 By: Ashley May

General bACKGROUND EDWARD ESTLIN BETTER KNOWN AS E.E. CUMMINGS WAS BORN IN CAMBRIDGE, MA 1894 HIS FATHER WAS A CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND A TEACHER AT HARVARD HIS FAMILY ADORED AND CHERISHED HIM HE BEGAN WRITING POEMS AS EARLY AT 1904 WHILE STUDYING LATIN AND GREEK AT THE CAMBRIDGE LATIN HIGH SCHOOL

EARLY CAREER CUMMINGS DECIDED TO BECOME A WRITER AT A VERY YOUNG AGE, WRITING POEMS EVERYDAY AND EXPLORING TRADITIONAL POETIC FORMS HE LATER ATTENDED HARVARD WHERE HE BEGAN TO WRITE IN A MODERN FORM HE WAS INFLUENCED BY AVANT-GARDE WRITERS SUCH AS GERTRUDE STEIN AND EZRA POUND, AND PABLO PICASSO CUMMINGS RECEIVED HIS BA IN 1915 AND MA IN 1916- BOTH FROM HARVARD UNIVERSITY AFTER GRADUATING HE WORKED FOR A MAIL ORDER BOOK DEALER BUT LATER LEFT THE JOB

WWI WAS IN THE MIDST WHICH LED TO CUMMINGS TO BECOME A VOLUNTEER FOR AN AMBULANCE SERVICE IN FRANCE HE WAS STATIONED ON THE FRENCH-GERMAN BORDER WHERE HE MET A FELLOW AMERICAN, WILLIAM SLATER BROWN. THE TWO BECAME GREAT FRIENDS BUT IN SEPTEMBER 1917 THEY WOULD BE IMPRISONED IN NORMANDY ON THE GROUNDS OF ESPIONAGE/TREASON THE TWO MEN WERE HOUSED IN A LARGE-ONE ROOM HOLDING AREA WITH OTHER FOREIGNERS CUMMINGS WOULD LATER BE RELEASED IN DECEMBER 1917 AFTER COUNTLESS PROTESTS FROM HIS FATHER. THE WAR BECOMING A VOLUNTEER FOR AN AMBULANCE SERVICE WAS COMMON FOR YOUNG MEN TO DO DURING WAR TIME CUMMINGS COMSIDERED HIMSELF A PACIIFIST. BROWN AND CUMMINGS WOULD WRITE LETTERS BACK HOME, BASICALLY TRYING TO OUTWIT AND BAFFLE THE FRENCH CENSORS WHO WOULD READ LETTERS BEING SENT OUT FROM SOLDIERS AND VOLUNTEERS. IT WAS A WAY TO MAKE SURE MILITARY INFORMATION WAS NOT BIENG GIVEN OUT. BECAUSE OF THEIR WRITINGS THIS LED TO THEIR ARREST. AFTER HIS RELEASE AND THE U.S JOINED THE WAR, CUMMINGS WAS DRAFTED INTO THE ARMY A LARGE ONE ROOM HOLDING AREA IS HIGHLIGHTED BECAUSE IN 1922 HE PUBLISHED HIS FIRST BOOK, THE ENORMOUS ROOM WHICH WAS A A FICTIONAL ACCOUNT OF HIS FRENCH CAPTIVITY.

PERSONAL LIFE AFTER THE WAR CUMMINGS WOULD HAVE AN AFFAIR WITH ELAINE THAYER, THE WIFE OF HIS FRIEND SCHOFIELD THAYER. IN 1919 ELAINE AND CUMMINGS WOULD GO ON TO HAVE A CHILD, NANCY IN WHICH SHE WAS GIVEN THE LAST NAME THAYER. THEY DID NOT LET THE CHILD KNOW THAT CUMMINGS WAS HER REAL FATHER UNTIL LATER IN 1948 AFTER ELAINE AND THAYER DIVORCED, CUMMINGS AND ELAINE WOULD MARRY(1924)-ONLY TO LAST ABOUT TWO MONTHS. HE WOULD LATER MARRY 2 MORE TIMES-ANNE BARTON(1929), MARION MOREHOUSE(1934) APPARENTLY MR. THAYER KNEW OF THE AFFAIR AND APROVED OF IT . ELAINE LEFT FOR EUROPE AND MET ANOTHER MAN.

HIS STYLE *CUMMINGS WAS KNOWN FOR WRITING ON THE EDGE OF UNCONVENTIONAL FORM, FREE EXPRESSION AND MASS MIND SUCH AS: PUNCTUATION SPELLING SYNTAX SIMPLISTIC LANGUAGE PLAYFUL MODE CAPITALIZATION OR LACK OF LINE BREAKS VERSE SHAPES USED FOR EXAMPLE “IF”, “AM”, AND “BECAUSE” BUT AS NOUNS AND CREATED HIS OWN MEANINGS BEHIND THEM EXAMPLE “THE SKY WAS” CUMMINGS RECEIVED A LOT A CRITICISM FOR HIS STLYE

HIS WORK AND HONORS CUMMINGS WROTE MANY POEMS, SOME OF THE MOST FAMOUS ONES INCLUDE: I CARRY YOUR HEART WITH ME(1952) ANYONE LIVED IN A PRETTY HOW TOWN(1940) HE ALSO WROTE 4 PLAYS, THE MOST KNOWN BEING : HIM A TRAVEL DIARY: EIMI HE ALSO COMPLETED SEVERAL ART PIECES, DRAWINGS AND QUOTES WAS AWARDED A SPECIAL CITATION BY THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD COMMITTEE IN 1955 AND A BOLLINGEN PRIZE IN 1957

A DEATH OF A GREAT POET E. E. CUMMINGS DIED OF A STROKE ON SEPTEMBER 3RD, 1962 HE WAS THE SECOND MOST WIDELY READ POET OF HIS TIME, SECOND TO ROBERT FROST HE IS BURIED IN FOREST HILLS CEMETARY IN BOSTON, MA

WORK CITED Baym, Nina, and Robert S. Levine. The Norton anthology of American literature. 8th ed. Vol. D. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2012. Print "E.E. Cummings." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2017 "E. E. Cummings." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2017 E. E. Cummings' Life." E. E. Cummings' Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2017 "E. E. Cummings." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Feb. 2017. Web. 15 Feb. 2017 Google search images of E.E. Cummings