Lindsey Curtin, Abby Hennelly, Dominique Vandenbulcke

“Listen; there's a hell of a good universe next door: lets go!” –E.E. Cummings

Background Information

• October 14, 1894 - September 3, 1962

• Ten years old • Harvard• Greek and other languages• Hardships• E.E. or e.e.?• Marion Morehouse

influences• La Ferte Mace Prison

during World War (The Enormous Room)

• Father and mother die • Love• Cambridge

Massachusetts• Edward Cummings, his

father "He was the

handsomest man I ever saw. Big was my father and strong with lightblue skies for eyes."

• Tragedies• Traveling• Pablo Picasso

my father moved through dooms of love my father moved through dooms of love

through sames of am through haves of give,singing each morning out of each nightmy father moved through depths of height

this motionless forgetful whereturned at his glance to shining here;that if(so timid air is firm)under his eyes would stir and squirm

newly as from unburied whichfloats the first who,his april touchdrove sleeping selves to swarm their fateswoke dreamers to their ghostly roots

and should some why completely weepmy father's fingers brought her sleep:vainly no smallest voice might cryfor he could feel the mountains grow.

Lifting the valleys of the seamy father moved through griefs of joy;praising a forehead he called the moonsinging desire into begin

joy was his song and joy so purea heart of star by him could steerand pure so now and now so yesthe wrists of twilight would rejoice

keen as midsummer's keen beyondconceiving mind of sun will stand,so strictly(over utmost himso hugely)stood my father's dream

his flesh was flesh his blood was blood:no hungry man but wished him food;no cripple wouldn't creep one mileuphill to only see him smile.

Scorning the pomp of must and shallmy father moved through dooms of feel;his anger was as right as rainhis pity was as green as grain

septembering arms of year extendless humbly wealth to foe and friendthan he to foolish and to wiseoffered immeasurable is

proudly and(by octobering flamebeckoned)as earth will downward climb,so naked for immortal workhis shoulders marched against the dark

his sorrow was as true as bread:no liar looked him in the head;if every friend became his foehe'd laugh and build a world with snow.

My father moved through theys of we,singing each new leaf out of each tree(and every child was sure that springdanced when she heard my father sing)

then let men kill which cannot share,let blood and flesh be mud and mire,scheming imagine,passion willed,freedom a drug that's bought and sold

giving to steal and cruel kind,a heart to fear,to doubt a mind,to differ a disease of same,conform the pinnacle of am

though dull were all we taste as bright,bitter all utterly things sweet,maggoty minus and dumb deathall we inherit,all bequeath

and nothing quite so least as truthói say though hate were why man breatheóbecause my father lived his soullove is the whole and more than all

In Just- in Just-spring when the world is mud-luscious the littlelame balloon manwhistles far and weeand eddieandbill comerunning from marbles andpiracies and it'sspringwhen the world is puddle-wonderfulthe queer

old balloonman whistlesfar and weeand bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope andit'sspringandthe

goat-footedBalloon Man whistles

farandwee

Style Technique

SeasonalSpring; brings positive tone to poems

Reminiscent (over pasts loves, Influential people, memories)-Feelings of deep romance, and lovefor someone-Filled with compliments, and positivethoughts about a specific person

Realistic-punctuation, spelling and syntax

“Life’s not a paragraph and death i think is no

parenthesis” ~E.E. Cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it inmy heart)i am never without it(anywherei go you go,my dear; and whatever is doneby only me is your doing,my darling)i fearno fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i wantno world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)and it's you are whatever a moon has always meantand whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows(here is the root of the root and the bud of the budand the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which growshigher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

-Love-Passionate feelings-Descriptive nature poems-War -Sex-Dreams-Past or Future (usually never present)

past loves grievances regrets

-Desirewishing (to be with someone)

-Loneliness

Literary Devices *Dialogue

"he said, the wind said, the rain answered“

*Questioning (unsureness)"May I feel, said he""Do you believe in always,the windsaid to the rain“

*Repitition"I carry your heart with me, I carry it in my heart.“

*Metaphor"You open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens."

Negative Literary Criticism

“sentimental and politically naïve”We agree that on some of the poetry, the emotion can turn the poem too passionate, almost “sappy”.

“Mr. Cummings has an eccentric system of typography which, in our opinion, has nothing to do with the poem, but intrudes itself irritatingly, like scratched or blurred spectacles, between it and the reader's mind”

We belive the “extra” punctuation is anything but “extra”, it adds emotion, and connection to the poem. We think the parenthesis for example, make you feel as if you are in Cummings’s mind.

We disagree

We agree

Positive Literary Criticism “The poetry of E.E. Cummings* is easily recognizable, even for the literary novice. While many immediately associate the work of Cummings with the liberal use of lowercase letters and acrobatic word arrangement, the depth of his writing goes beyond this, both in form and meaning.”We think the deeper meanings and emotions, make more of an impression on the reader, that the unusual punctuation.

Cummings's innovative and controversial verse places him among the most popular and widely anthologized poets of the twentieth century. Cummings's work celebrates the individual, as well as erotic and familial love. Conformity, mass psychology, and snobbery were frequent targets of his humorous and sometimes scathing satires After reading other poetry, we noticed his style is definitely recognizable, and all about love, some poems are funny or sarcastic.

He created provocative drawings and impressionistic paintings with vivid colors. This artistic style also molds his poetry into a visual art. He uses the white space on the page as much as he uses periods, commas, and colons to lead the eye on a journey down the page.

We agree that Cumming’s poetry is art. The imagery, paints a picture in your mind.

We agree

We agree

We agree

• Academy of American Poets Fellowship

• Two Guggenheim Fellowships

• The Charles Eliot Norton Professorship at Harvard

• The Bollingen Prize in Poetry

• Ford Foundation grant

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