E. Cummings '' The Enormous Room'
Envision Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1894: a boy is born that began writing poems when he was only ten years old. This boy was Edward Estlin Cummings. He earned two different degree levels from Harvard University just one year apart: a Bachelor’s of Art degree and a Master’s of Art degree (“E. E. Cummings”). Shortly after E. E. Cummings obtained his Master’s degree, he published some “poems in the anthology Eight Harvard Poets.” At this point in time, Cummings also became a volunteer ambulance driver for the United States in World War I. This became a pivotal time in Cummings’ life because he later was imprisoned by the French because they suspected that Cummings was committing espionage. Cummings later wrote a novel, The Enormous Room, about
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his time in the French prison camp (“E. E. Cummings”). After Cummings was done serving in World War I, he traveled from place to place, meeting artists and other poets whom Cummings admired.
Cummings had some poems published in The Dial; these poems were tests that would preview Cummings writing strategy in the future. Cummings received numerous honors and awards in his lifetime. Among these honors and awards were “an Academy of American Poets Fellowship, two Guggenheim Fellowships, the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship at Harvard, the Bollingen Prize in Poetry, and a Ford Foundation grant.” Edward Estlin Cummings died in 1962 and was, when he died, “the second most widely read poet in the United States after Robert Frost” (“E. E. Cummings”). E. E. Cummings has a unique writing style. He typically tested out new styles of “form, punctuation, spelling, and syntax.” Cummings rarely stuck to traditional techniques and structures and much rather preferred to make new “means of poetic expression.” Although his signature style was not normal, setting him up for criticism, Cummings was able to gain popularity from his young readers. Those who enjoyed his poetry typically enjoyed his poetry because of “the simplicity of his language, his playful mode, and his attention to war and sex” (“E. E.
Cummings”).
his time in the French prison camp (“E. E. Cummings”). After Cummings was done serving in World War I, he traveled from place to place, meeting artists and other poets whom Cummings admired.
Cummings had some poems published in The Dial; these poems were tests that would preview Cummings writing strategy in the future. Cummings received numerous honors and awards in his lifetime. Among these honors and awards were “an Academy of American Poets Fellowship, two Guggenheim Fellowships, the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship at Harvard, the Bollingen Prize in Poetry, and a Ford Foundation grant.” Edward Estlin Cummings died in 1962 and was, when he died, “the second most widely read poet in the United States after Robert Frost” (“E. E. Cummings”). E. E. Cummings has a unique writing style. He typically tested out new styles of “form, punctuation, spelling, and syntax.” Cummings rarely stuck to traditional techniques and structures and much rather preferred to make new “means of poetic expression.” Although his signature style was not normal, setting him up for criticism, Cummings was able to gain popularity from his young readers. Those who enjoyed his poetry typically enjoyed his poetry because of “the simplicity of his language, his playful mode, and his attention to war and sex” (“E. E.
Cummings”).