e.e. cummings

(1894-1962)

BIO

• ee = Edward Estlin

• Cambridge, Mass.

• writing @ 8 yrs. old

• studied Latin & Greek

• BA & MA from Harvard U.

  • -->

  • introduced him to avant garde writers

  • Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound

• 1917: 1st published

• WWI:

  • volunteered

  • ambulance driver

  • BUT

  • his outspoken anti-war beliefs

  • landed him in a French internment camp (thought he was a spy)

• good friends with Pablo Picasso

  • (theories/practice of art---

  • non-conformist, unique)

BIO

• STYLE:

  • highly unique

  • experimental

    • grammar

    • punctuation

    • form

    • spelling

    • capitalization

    • syntax

  • abandoned traditional techniques, structures

  • idiosyncratic

  • though simplicity to his language

  • playful, yet serious

  • subjects =

    • politics, sex, war

• quite popular

  • esp. w/younger readers

  • b/c of

    • his style

    • his experimentation

    • his break w/tradition

    • his subjects