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e. e. cummings
October 14 1894 - September 3 1962
The Life of Edward Estlin Cummings Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts!
His family was Unitarian, which had a great influence on his
life and his writing. He used prayers for inspiration in his poetry
and artwork.
He was both an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright.
He wanted to become a poet from an early age; he wrote poems from
the age of eight.He went on to study at Harvard.
In 1917, during the First World War, he enlisted in the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps.
Due to his letters written home, he was sent to military detention camp in Normandy, staying there from September 1917 through
December 1917.
Later in 1918, he was drafted into the army, where he served until November, 1918.
He got married briefly twice, and only had one child, whose name was Nancy. He also had a relationship with Marion Morehouse, and stayed
with her until he died in 1962 due to a stroke.
His style.
Common themes:
love, nature, the relationship of the individual to the world, and satire.
Experiences that led to influence:
his time spent in military detention camp
his time in the city of Paris
his travel to the Soviet Union in 1931
his father’s death in a car crash in 1926
He began to focus more on important aspects of life. He also paid homage to his father’s memory in a poem.
He spent the last 10 years of his life traveling and spending time at his summer home in Joy Farm, found in New Hampshire.
O sweet spontaneousby e. e. cummings
O sweet spontaneousearth how often have
the
fingers ofprurient philosophies pinched
and
thee, has the naughty thumbof science prodded
thy
beauty ,howoften have religions taken
thee upon their scraggy knees squeezing and
buffeting thee that thou mightest conceive
gods
(but
true
to the incomparablecouch of death thyrhythmiclover
thou answerest
them only with
spring)
doting
poked
O sweet spontaneousby e. e. cummings
O sweet spontaneousearth how often have
the doting
fingers ofprurient philosophies pinchedand poked
theehas the naughty thumbof science prodded
thy
beauty howoften have religions takenthee upon their scraggy
knees squeezing and
buffeting thee that thou mightest conceive
godsbuttrue
to the incomparablecouch of death thyrhythmiclover
thou answerest
them only with
spring
prurient: having or encouraging an excessive interest in sexual matters
spontaneous: natural; involuntary
science are shown to have a somewhat rude behavior towards nature while trying to adequately describe its beauty and its origins.
Philosophy and
Attempting a sort of punishment.
They want the earth to give them a god, to support their own religion and beliefs.
Even if abused like this, the earth still gives us life.