“Listen; there's a hell of a good
universe next door: lets go!”
–E.E. Cummings
Lindsey Curtin, Abby Hennely, Dominique Vandenbulcke
Background Information
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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 night
my father moved through depths of
height
this motionless forgetful where
turned at his glance to shining here;
that if(so timid air is firm)
under his eyes would stir and squirm
newly as from unburied which
floats the first who,his april touch
drove sleeping selves to swarm their
fates
woke dreamers to their ghostly roots
and should some why completely weep
my father's fingers brought her sleep:
vainly no smallest voice might cry
for he could feel the mountains grow.
Lifting the valleys of the sea
my father moved through griefs of joy;
praising a forehead he called the moon
singing desire into begin
joy was his song and joy so pure
a heart of star by him could steer
and pure so now and now so yes
the wrists of twilight would rejoice
keen as midsummer's keen beyond
conceiving mind of sun will stand,
so strictly(over utmost him
so 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 mile
uphill to only see him smile.
Scorning the pomp of must and shall
my father moved through dooms of feel;
his anger was as right as rain
his pity was as green as grain
septembering arms of year extend
less humbly wealth to foe and friend
than he to foolish and to wise
offered immeasurable is
proudly and(by octobering flame
beckoned)as earth will downward climb,
so naked for immortal work
his shoulders marched against the dark
his sorrow was as true as bread:
no liar looked him in the head;
if every friend became his foe
he'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 spring
danced 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 death
all we inherit,all bequeath
and nothing quite so least as truth
ói say though hate were why man breatheó
because my father lived his soul
love is the whole and more than all
In Justin Justspring when the world is mudluscious the little
lame balloon man
whistles far and wee
and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring
when the world is puddle-wonderful
the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing
from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
it's
spring
and
the
goat-footed
Balloon Man whistles
far
and
wee
Style Technique
Seasonal
Spring; brings positive tone to poems
Reminiscent (over pasts loves,
Influential people, memories)
-Feelings of deep romance, and love
for someone
-Filled with compliments, and positive
thoughts 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 in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and 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 bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which
grows
higher 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
-Desire
wishing (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 wind
said 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
We agree
“sentimental and politically naïve”
We agree that on some of the poetry, the emotion can turn
the poem too passionate, almost “sappy”.
We disagree
“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.
Positive Literary Criticism
We agree
“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.
We agree
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.
We agree
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.
• Academy of American
Poets Fellowship
• Two Guggenheim
Fellowships
• The Charles Eliot Norton
Professorship at Harvard
• The Bollingen Prize in
Poetry
• Ford Foundation grant
Works Cited
Poets.org." The Academy of American Poets . 22 Apr 2007 <
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/156>.
Eich, Marty. "e.e. cummings: The Life of America's Experimental Poet ." The American Poetry Web. 22
Apr 2007 <http://titan.iwu.edu/~wchapman/americanpoetryweb/eecbio.html>.
"ee cummings quotes." Brainy Quote. 22 Apr 2007
<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/e_e_cummings.html>.
Cummings, Edward Estlin. Collected Poems. Harcourt, Brace and company: 1938
Bengtsson, Gunnar. "Biography of ee cummings." AmericanPoems.com. 22 April 2007. 22 Apr 2007
<http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/eecummings>.
Burt Franklin& Co.. E.E. Cummings The Critical Reception. New York: Burt Franklin & Co., 1981.
Untermeyer, Louis. Modern American Poetry, Modern British Poetry: A Critical Anthology. Harcourt,
1942.
Perceptions,Inc.. 22 Apr 2007 <http://perceptions-inc.com/recognition.html>.
Hutchinson, Tom. "biographical timeline." ee cummings. 22 Apr 2007
<http://www.geocities.com/soho/8454/eec.htm>.
Hulali. "The Anatomy of ee cummings." Old Poetry . 19 August 2006. 22 Apr 2007
<http://oldpoetry.com/column/show/28>.
Caryn. "e.e. cummings." Literary Kicks. 21 February 2003. 22 Apr 2007
<http://www.litkicks.com/BeatPages/msg.jsp?what=EECummings>.
Benzel, Michael. "E.E. Cummings." Modern American Poetry. 22 Apr 2007
<http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cummings/cummings.htm>.
"Cummings, E. E.: Copyright Page." Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Janet
Witalec Project Editor. Vol. 137. Thomson Gale, 2003. eNotes.com. 2006. 22 Apr,
2007 <http://lit.enotes.com/twentieth-century-criticism/
cummings-e-e/copyright-page>
ABBY
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Hi abby. Its dominique and lindsey. Okay soo for the power point I just wrote down what you need
to do…
Literary criticism, positive and negative, decorate the powerpoint, do the right works citied format,
and add the books we used for the the literary criticism for. (we need at least 3 print resources.)
and make notecards for literary criticism and accomplishments for you to say. Save it on
wikispace, I’ll show you how to on Saturday night if you don’t know how. Feel free to add any
pictures to whatever.
Bye girlfriend! Have fun ;)