Poet & Poetess BiographiesMaster Poets & Poetesses have bestowed upon us their poetic hues, graceful talents and prolific writings. You will find their biographies and sample writings here.
E. E. Cummings (Stylish American Poet 1894 - 1962)
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E. E. Cummings (Stylish American Poet 1894 - 1962)
E. E. Cummings (1894-1962)
Edward Estlin Cummings, popularly known as E. E. Cummings, was an American poet, painter, essayist, and playwright. His body of work encompasses more than 900 poems, several plays and essays, numerous drawings, sketches, and paintings, as well as two novels. He actually claimed to have composed a poem a day for fourteen years.
Cummings' publishers and others have sometimes echoed the unconventional orthography in his poetry by writing his name in lower case and without periods. Cummings himself used both the lowercase and capitalized versions, but according to his widow did not have his name legally changed to "e. e. cummings". One Cummings scholar believes that on the occasions Cummings signed his name in all-lowercase, intending it as a gesture of humility and not as an indication that it was the preferred orthography for others to use for his name.
Despite Cummings' consanguinity with avant-garde styles, much of his work is traditional. Many of his poems are sonnets, and he occasionally made use of the blues form and acrostics. Cummings' poetry often deals with themes of love and nature, as well as the relationship of the individual to the masses and to the world. His poems are also often rife with satire. In addition, a number of Cummings' poems feature, in part or in whole, intentional misspellings, and several incorporate phonetic spellings intended to represent particular dialects. Cummings also made use of inventive formations of compound words, as in "in Just-", which features words such as "mud-luscious", "puddle-wonderful", and "eddieandbill."
Cummings' talent extended to children's books, novels, and painting. Referring to his painting, he called himself “an author of pictures, a draughtsman of words.”
anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn’t he danced his did.
Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn’t they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain
children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more
tribute.
such stainless wordsmithing
one would think mary calculated,
springing forth messiah and did
rain down from up on her knees,
reaching for the poetic moon
while the sun shined up in her
womb. but no - simply cummings
going with dust tracks at his
newborned swept notebook. would
that we could sweep
such a trail of immaculate concepts.
I remember seeing his poems quoted in various articles and works and seeing his name in lower case. It's amazing to read he claimed to have written a poem a day. I'm lucky to write a poem or anything a month, lol.
Cummings' talent extended to children's books, novels, and painting. Referring to his painting, he called himself “an author of pictures, a draughtsman of words.”
I've often referred to writing as painting with words, so I can relate. Thanks for posting this Jacquii! I'm enjoying reading facts about these writers!
hugs,
Gail
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