E.E. Cummings - Research

E.E. Cummings  - Research

·        Born 14 October 1894 - Died 3 September 1962

·        American poet, author, painter and playwright

·        His father was professor at Harvard University and minister of Old South Church.

·        Cummings was arrested on suspicion of espionage during the First World War and was imprisoned for 3 months in 1917.

·        His daughter married the grandson of Theodore Roosevelt.

·        Cummings believed in romantic transcendentalism which stressed the individual human being and his or her emotional experiences, the worship of nature, and the "spiritual"—or nonmaterial—basis of reality. Because these views were unpopular he struggled to get his work published at first. His first book was titled 'Tulips and Chimneys' and was published in 1923.

·        After being enlisted in the ambulance corps in France during the first world war, Cummings discovered Cubism and Futurism from the likes of artists such as Picasso and Cezanne. This pushed him towards new progressions in literary expression. His handling of spacing, typography and punctuation provide visual guidance in a lot of his poems.