Born on October 14, 1894 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, E.E. Cummings came into a very intellectual family. His father was a sociology professor at Harvard and a noted Unitarian clergyman, and his mother was the person responsible for introducing E.E. to poetry at a very young age. In high school, E.E. Cummings took a keen interest in art, especially in such modernist painting styles as cubism and futurism. Thi

In 1911, Cummings followed in his father’s footsteps and enrolled at Harvard University as an English major. There, he frequently wrote for the Harvard Monthly, criticizing paintings and creating poetry which already embodied the distinctive style he would use for the rest of his life. From the beginning of his professional writing career, Cummings has been misunderstood. In his first published poetry, E.E. Cummings used his signature lower-case pronoun “i” which symbolized the uniqueness and humbleness of the individual. The copy editor of this book, however, mistook Cummings’ intentions as typographical mistakes and made the “appropriate corrections.”

Edward Estlin Cummings was a poetic mastermind who focused on the individual and rejected what he perceived “the small mindedness of mostpeople.” If a reader can get past the typographic obstacles which dart at them while reading Cummings’ poetry and focus intently enough to see the true genius behind every strategically placed word, they will discover an uncharted sea of intelligence, insight, perspective, and fresh metaphor.

The Modernist movement took place between World War I and the end of World War II, and Cummings’ style fit nicely into the ideals of the period. “M

Some topics in this essay:
EE Cummings, Estlin Cummings, Randall Jarrell, Marion Morehouse, II Cummings’, Harvard Monthly, Mine” Sex, Cummings Society, Richard Aldington, E Cummings’, ee cummings, modernist movement, cummings’ poetry, cummings’ style, edward estlin, edward estlin cummings, estlin cummings, world war,