Friday, September 3, 2010

E E Cummings

Edward Estlin Cummings, Harvard educated poet, essayist, painter, dare one say bon vivant, if perchance one knew what that meant, was born October 14, 1894.

You may have been introduced to e.e. cummings in an American literature class during the period referred to as "War and the Wasteland." There is little doubt that Mr. Cummings was one of America's most influential poets of the twentieth century. His personal life was almost a stereotype of the professional poet. It ended on September 3, 1962.

Cummings is particularly noted for his syntactical oddities. It is certain that he broke new ground in the use of the English language. The ordering and juxtaposition of words is fascinating, and to anyone who enjoys language, his work is a worthwhile pursuit.
i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
A real character and a man of many parts.
Edward Estlin Cummings 1894 - 1962
It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. E. E. Cummings

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You forgot the "g". The man's name is E.E. Cummings...

vanilla said...

Grace-- Thanks. At least I was consistent; I did it every time. We Midwesterners are sort of careless about the final 'g' sometimes. No excuse for butchering a man's name, though.

Anonymous said...

vanilla: I noticed the consistency so my first reaction was that you were talking about someone other than the person I thought.

Sharkbytes said...

e e cummings is one of my ALL TIME favorite poets. I just read through his complete works last year, believe it or not. Huge book. Not sure what he really believed, but he seemed to wander through a belief in God sometimes. That's a great poem.

vanilla said...

Shark-- I enjoy this poet's works, but I have not read his entire body of work. Good for you.