E.E. Cummings and the Way He Changed Poetry

E.E Cummings and the Way He Changed Poetry

Edward Estlin Cummings was a witty man that used his knowledge of literature to change the way we read and write poetry forever. E.E. Cummings grew up in an vivacious and busy home and when he started writing poetry at eight years old, he received the utmost encouragement from his mother and father. While studying at Harvard University, he developed an interest in modern poetry which aimed for a more dynamic use of language and ignored conventional grammar and syntax. In 1917, during the first World War, Cummings enlisted in the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps; but five months later, on September 21, 1917 he was arrested by the French military on suspicion of espionage and undesirable acts. Upon his release from Dépôt de Triage, Cummings wrote his first book, The Enormous Room, using his experience for the basis of the novel. In 1926, His father and mother were in car accident involving a locomotive, but sadly only his mother survived. The death of his father had an immense effect on the way his artistic style developed. He wrote about the more important aspects in life and did this by paying homage to his father (E.E Cummings). Cummings love and religious poems represent some of his greatest achievements. E.E. Cummings was a profound author who revolutionized poetry and used his unique personal grammar, rebellious form and the breaking up and putting back together of words in different forms to do so.

While at Harvard, Cummings followed the same principles of imagism used by Ezra Pound. According to Harvard Magazine, he wasn’t the first poet to use a typewriter, but he used it as an advantage to manipulate the spacing of words and to get the exact same shape and spacing for every line. This type of form made the poem’s visual appearance just as important as its rhythm. Cummings didn’t observe the traditional rules and regulations of writing and typically had no regard for capital letters. The disregard for proper punctuation, grammar, and capitalization was most likely used for a structural metaphor of his beliefs about individuality. Adam Kasich said in his article,”Cummings,” playful tinkering with language is the most obvious and appealing sign of Cummings's originality; as he once wrote, it is “such minutiae as commas and small i's,in which...my Firstness thrives” ( Kasich).

Along with his “Firstness”, Cummings included moral principles that were there to influence you to be “original, independent, and self-reliant” (Kasich). As above, Cummings did use the improper forms visually, but he also indirectly influenced the way that people interpreted his poetry by leaving it open for interpretation. By using his ideals and moral views, especially his rejection of sexual puritanism and his insistence on freedom to think for one’s self, he helped influence a new era of literature.

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