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Edward Estlin Cummings
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Edward Estlin Cummings, popularly known as E. E. Cummings, with the abbreviated form of his name often written by others in all lowercase letters as e. e. cummings, was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright. His body of work encompasses approximately 2,900 poems, an autobiographical novel, four plays and several essays, as well as numerous drawings and paintings. He is remembered as a preeminent voice of 20th century poetry, as well as one of the most popular.
Birth and early years
Cummings was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 14, 1894 to Edward and Rebecca Haswell Clarke Cummings. He was named after his father but his family called him... more »
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'' as freedom is a breakfastfood
or truth can live with right and wrong
or molehills are from mountains made
—long enough and just so long
will being pay the rent of seem
and genius please the talentgang
and water most encourage flame ''
fell in love with his poems and writing style during my high school years - especially his grammer usage a panther is like a leopard - except he hasn't been peppered........if ever you are called by an panther - don't anther.
cummings is among my favorites. at his best he is wonderfully and warmly (and sometimes slyly) human. my favorite poem by him is a sonnet that begins, i thank you, God, for most this amazing day... this poem, it seems to me, came from an experience of inspired clarity. this sonnet, along with hopkins' that begins, the world is charged with the grandeur of God, stand out as affirmations that the Creator is imaged in the creation- as God is in humankind. -glen kappy
Here's another of my favorite poets (one of my very favorites among the Modernists) , for whom I have not as yet listed a favorite poem - because of copyright restrictions and because some of his best are not included in the PH list; e.g., 'pity this busy monster, manunkind, ' 'i thank You God for most this amazing, ' 'maggie and milly and molly and mae, ' 'in Just..., ' 'Buffalo Bill's, ' 'next to of course god america i, ' 'anyone lived in a pretty how town, ' and many, many others - even the perfectly obscene and perfectly amusing 'the way to hump a cow is not.' Or if you want a bit of political activism with your dingy(if not dirty) humor, you might try 'F is for foetus(a, ' For example, '(and the wholly babble open at / blessed are the peacemakers'; or '.......it's / freedom from freedom / the common man wants.' This may not be my favorite cummings poem, but those are some of my favorite cummings lines.