E.E. Cummings is a strange yet famous author whose poetry has a lot of interconnectivity. Cummings was born on October 14th, 1894. He started writing poems at the young age of 10, in 1904. Ever since then Cummings has written a variety of poetry, the majority, if not all, of which breaks standard rules of conventions in English Literature. Much of the time Cummings uses poetic devices and structure that directly relate to the main idea of the poem. In fact, a lot about the poems or their main ideas can be understood better by taking a look of the physical layout of the poem. Examining punctuation, capitalization, and even the very shape of the stanzas can all lead to a better understanding of Cummings’ work. One fantastic example of one of …show more content…
Not only does the use of this poetic device occur frequently throughout his works, it also is used for great amounts of success. The constant hammering in of a single idea can both block out less important details while bringing out the ones that really matter. The use of repetition also very heavily emphasizes any main ideas there are to be had whilst simultaneously making the reader think deeper about these desired ideas. An example of this in the poem Humanity I Love You is the phrase itself, Humanity i love you, but with one added word that makes all the difference. Throughout the poem, not only is the phrase Humanity i love you repeated, but the phrase “Humanity i love you because.” This seemingly minute change brings all the difference in the world as the reader understands more deeply that there is more reason behind this sarcastic loathing than they may have originally imagined by skimming the poem. The use of repetition combined with “because” makes the reader consider more thoroughly WHY he speaks this way of humanity and WHY these major general complaints are so important. The fact the addition of this single word can make so much difference is indicative of E.E. Cummings’ style of writing and how the desired effects of his poems can be changed and interpreted many different ways based off of something as simple as a word to bridge the gap between ideas. On many occasions throughout Cummings’ …show more content…
Cummings has a unique style of poetry that focuses on the little details regardings structure and poetic devices to all come together and create main ideas that aren’t apparent or easy to grasp on the first read of his works. His use of capitalization and punctuation are small details that give way to big ideas, and his iconic poetic strategies like repetition and symbolism allow the readers to use both the poetic devices in conjunction with the structure to create the huge desired effect of reflective main ideas. The poem Humanity I Love You is a great example of a Cummings’ work because it combines all of the aforementioned details with social commentary and deep reflection that makes the reader really think about what Cummings’ means and the meaning of his works as a whole. Cummings’ works are important because he was a pioneer of unique and interesting poetic strategies. His complete disregard for English structural rules combined with his deep and passionate social commentary has been an inspiration for so many people, and a pathway for many newer and interesting modern poets. E.E. Cummings is a hallmark of unique and fascinating poets, and should be remembered as
To begin, E.E Cummings uses visual techniques to grab attention. In Doc A he uses spacing and also put letters one by one per line, but sometimes he puts two letters on a line. For an example “le” he used spacing, and put the letters two per line for the poem “ falling leaf”. In Doc B, he also uses spacing, and likes to scramble the words.For example “ rpophessagr” which the word is a grasshopper.
The way a story is formatted usually varies, but for the most part, all stories follow specific patterns. If one is recounting a story about a whimsical moment they experienced, they’ll commonly build up a background and leave the comedic part for the conclusion. If an author is writing a detective novel, they’ll usually add some traumatizing experience the detective suffered, then proceeded listing sketchy suspects, crime committed, etc. When one is writing poetry, however, they have vast majority of liberty. Their words can be abstract. Their descriptions could be dull as soil, or as vivid as a bloodbath. Their words might not be words at all, but rather combinations of phrases that have no meaning unless arranged. Cummings has developed his own writing style, much like the one listed. His wording is abstract,
Cummings not only uses his poetry to give the reader (or in this case, listener) an image in their mind- he also provides sound, and some of his poems hardly make sense until they are read aloud-much like the visual poems, that can’t be read but instead, seen. An example of this is his poem, “in Just-” he uses pauses to show that the voice could be fading, or that by “far and wee” the voice goes farther. As you continue to read further, he combines words to make it go faster, and he uses assonance to keep the rhythm. Some parts even have made up words, and unlike the leaf poem, paints an image with the words rather than the visual aid of the poem. One word that’s made up is “puddle wonderful” and paints a picture of a muddy, but fresh scenery. Besides words that paint an image, he also uses assonance to make it rhyme- along with other auditory techniques. Referring to his next poem, “O the sun comes up-up-up in the opening” he uses “ ree ray rye roh rowster shouts rawrOO”. This shows animals, instead of using the common sounds like “meow”. You can even try making these sounds (just not in front of normal, functioning people) and it could sound better aloud than in your head. The techniques he uses include onomatopoeia and alliteration, and just as the “in Just-” poem, uses these to create beats and rhythms. Although some of these may not sounds like real words, he still uses them to express and convey the emotions of those
e. e. cummings' poem, "next to of course god america i," is a wonderful example of stylistic variation in a text. Once again, we see his skill and mastery at manipulating the English language in order to foreground a thought and turn it into a commentary on society. As with all of cummings works, there is evidence of a multitude of variances and deviances at work, however, I shall concentrate on the area of language variance, more specifically, domain.
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by
Have you ever read one of E.E. Cummings’s poems, and could you figure out what is said? E.E. Cummings was born in Cambridge, Massecuites in 1894. He started writing poetry as a young boy, and he also painted. He was influenced by the major movements of his time, which were Cubism and Impressionism. E.E. Cummings graduated from Harvard in 1917 just as the United States was entering World War I. E.E. Cummings joined the ambulance corps after his graduation and traveled to Paris, France. While there he was exposed to the Paris arts scene, which helped develop his unique style. E.E. Cummings used unusual spelling, spacing, and punctuation to convey his unique visual and auditory techniques.
Edward Estlin Cummings, commonly referred to as E. E. Cummings, was born on October 14, 1894 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was a source of vast knowledge and was responsible for many creative works other than his poetry, such as novels, plays, and paintings. He published his first book of poetry Tulips and Chimneys in 1923. Many of his poems are known for the visual effects they create through his unusual placement of words on the page, as well as, his lack of punctuation and capitalization. The manner in which Cummings arranges the words of his poems creates an image in the reader's mind of the topic he is discussing, such as a season or climbing stairs. His visual style also
The poem “since feeling is first” is written by E.E Cummings in a stanza form with a total number of 16 lines. The sentences carry no more than nine words and no less than four words. It is about a man expressing his love to his beloved women. Cummings use of literary devices such as; metaphor, personification, imagery and denotation to express his feelings. “Since feeling is first” is a romantic poem that teaches a lesson about life. Its use of literary devices make the poem appealing to the readers.
Edward Estlin Cummings, better known as E.E. Cummings, was a 20th century modernist poet who experimented with form punctuation, spelling and syntax. He often wrote in sonnet and fee verse about nature, death, love and human experience. In his poems “anyone lived in a pretty how town” and “old age sticks” Cummings exemplifies imagery through unusual syntax and typography to convert the themes of his poems. The poem “anyone lived in a pretty how town” is a love story about two people who were very much different from the rest of the town.
E. E. Cummings, an author known for his various poems and other forms of artwork, wrote numerous works of poetry over a vast amount of subjects. While the subject matter of the poems differ, a few elements of Cummings' style stays the same in virtually all his poems, some of which is important and some of which is not. The fact that Cummings uses enjambment in his poetry is a stylistic trademark that however annoying its use may be is consistent. Other stylistic trademarks of Cummings' poetry are that Cummings has a control over the tone of each of his poems and that each of his poems has its theme located near the end of the poem. While these traits that may not be highlighted in most of the analysis of his poems, each does occur quite
Cummings” pg.13). Cummings continued to publish volumes of poetry at a rate of approximately one every four or five years (“E.E. Cummings pg.14). The last honor involved giving a series of public talks; published as i: six Nonlecture (1953), they provide a succinct and charming summation of his life and personal philosophy. Two years later he received a National Book Award citation for poems 1923-1954, and two years after that he won the prestigious bollingen prize in poetry from Yale University (“E.E. Cummings” pg.15). (In his poetry he often ignored the rules of capitalization and has sometimes been referred to as e.e. Cummings) expanded the boundaries of poetry through typographic and linguistic experimentation (Frazee, “E.E. Cummings). An avoidance of capital letters and creative placement of punctuation soon became his trademarks. His experimental poetry took many forms, some amusing, some satirical, some beautiful, some profound, and some which did not make much sense (Frazee “E.E. Cummings”). Typical stylistic devices in his work include: running words together; scattering punctuation symbols cross the page; subverting the conventions of the English sentence; intentional misspellings and phonetic spellings and the invention of compound words such as “puddle-wonderful” (“E.E. Cummings”). However, this obvious experimentation is often combined with strict formal structures and traditional
in the poems. Overall, E. E. Cummings is a great poem writer, but when you read his poems, you might have to look for his auditory and visual to better understand his weird, but interesting,
Cummings’ impressive education consists of a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from Harvard, in which he graduated near the top of his class. He submitted many of his poems to the newspaper at Harvard, which sparked his interest towards a career as a poet. When his first poem was published, the publisher left all the letters of E.E. Cummings’ name lowercase. Cummings soon adopted this as his own personal trademark. The style of Cummings’ writing was what made his poems so distinctive. No matter what the topic, he always incorporated a lyrical flow to the poem. Cummings “experimented with typography, slang, dialect, jazz rhymes, and jagged lines” (Anderson et al). By exploring the possibilities of poetry, Cummings was able to create poems that have a beat that corresponds with the tone, mood, and theme of the poem.
E.E. Cummings is known for his unique use of diction, using nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs as nouns. What examples can you find in this poem? In the poem, “[i carry you in my heart(i carry it in]” cummings followed a nontraditional form of writing when creating his own “grammar rules” with punctuation, capitalization, spacing and pacing. I think that the main purpose of this and his reasoning behind it to diversify the meaning and generality of his poem. I think he was trying to be unique, and different while applying his own individual creativity through writing. For example, he uses a unique form of diction in stanza one when he says, “and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling.” Normally, this would not be worded the way it is, the sentence structure would be stronger and would flow better, however cummings still was able to apply meaning to that line by saying that everything he is and everything he has is because of his love. He also uses nouns in a distinctive way. For instance, he says in stanza three, “which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide.” Soul in this cause would already be considered a noun, however, he is rather using it more of a possession of his own. Cummings has a weird way of placing things within this poem. In most poems, everything is aligned to the left and follows down to the next line but in this poem the start of the second stanza, “i fear” is aligned all the way to the right. I think the purpose of this is to emphasize the fear, he is describing how strong his love is for this person but with love comes fear. By using these different forms of language and his uniqueness of grammar he was able to be different and find a new way for the reader to understand the power within his
“The relationship between the energies of the inquiring mind that an intelligent reader brings to the poem and the poem’s refusal to yield a single comprehensive interpretation enacts vividly the everlasting intercourse between the human mind, with its instinct to organise and harmonise, and the baffling powers of the universe about it.”