E. E. Cummings (1894–1962) was among the most influential, widely read, and revered modernist poets. He was also a playwright, a painter, and a writer of prose. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he studied at Harvard University and, during World War I, served with an ambulance corps in France. He spent three months in a French detention camp and subsequently wrote The Enormous Room, a highly acclaimed criticism of World War I. After the war, Cummings returned to the States and published his first collection of poetry, Tulips & Chimneys, which was characterized by his innovative style: pushing the boundaries of language and form while discussing love, nature, and war with sensuousness and glee. He spent the rest of his life painting, writing poetry, and enjoying widespread popularity and success. George J. Firmage edited many works by Cummings, including Erotic Poems; Complete Poems, 1904– 1962; and Fairy Tales.
"Cummings was one of the most spirited and original American
writers of the 20th century."
*The Wall Street Journal*
"Mr. Cummings is not merely the perfect acrobat or the genius
carefully, yet easily and very skillfully inhabiting everything
which we really are and everything which we never quite live. His
intention is not to be serious, but to be very serious and get away
with it."
*Louis Zukofsky - Exile*
"In prose as much as in poetry, Cummings’s lines are a vehicle for
typographical leaps of daring, experiments with and distortions of
syntax. Even at its most controlled, it is distinctively a poet’s
prose, looking to forge a new sound from language."
*The San Franciso Chronicle*
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