E. E. Cummings

Also known as Edward Estlin Cummings, E. Estlin Cummings, e e cummings, EE cummings, Edward Eatlin Cummings

American author (1894–1962)

AI overview

E. E. Cummings was an American writer and poet (1894–1962) known for his innovative and experimental approach to language and form. His work is significant for pushing the boundaries of how poetry could be written, making him an important figure in twentieth-century literature.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born: 1894
Died: 1962
Works: 178

Top works

And
Chanson innocent
[Collection of books from the library of E.E. Cummings]
Kyodai na heya
Is 5

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Person
Gender: Male
Country: United States
Active from: 1894
Active to: 1962

Discography

E. E. Cummings Reads His Poetry1953

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners: 543
Total plays: 2,293

Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA: A Brief Screening Tool For Mild Cognitive Impairment
· 2005 · cited 21,347x
Design and validation of a histological scoring system for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease†
· 2005 · cited 9,346x
Analysis of protein-coding genetic variation in 60,706 humans
· 2016 · cited 8,987x
The mutational constraint spectrum quantified from variation in 141,456 humans
· 2020 · cited 8,884x
Genome-wide association study of 14,000 cases of seven common diseases and 3,000 shared controls
· 2007 · cited 7,908x

via Crossref · CC0

Quotes

“My theory of technique, if I have one, is very far from original; nor is it complicated. I can express it in fifteen words, by quoting The Eternal Question And Immortal Answer of burlesk, viz. "Would you hit a woman with a child?— No, I'd hit her with a brick." Like the burlesk comedian, I am abnormally fond of that precision which creates movement.”
“open your thighs to fate and(if you canwithholding nothing)World, conceive a man”
“Simple people, people who don't exist, prefer things which don't exist,simple things. "Good" and "bad" are simple things. You bomb me = "bad." I bomb you = "good." Simple people(who,incidentally,run this socalled world)know this(they know everything)whereas complex people—people who feel something—are very,very ignorant and really don't know anything.”
“Very luckily for you and me,the uncivilized sun mysteriously shines on "good" and "bad" alike. He is an artist.”
“Art is a mystery. A mystery is something immeasurable.In so far as every child and woman and man may be immeasurable, art is the mystery of every man and woman and child. In so far as a human being is an artist, skies and mountains and oceans and thunderbolts and butterflies are immeasurable; and art is every mystery of nature. Nothing measurable can be alive; nothing which is not alive can be art; nothing which cannot be art is true: and everything untrue doesn't matter a very good God damn...”
“Why do you paint? For exactly the same reason I breathe. That's not an answer. There isn't any answer. How long hasn't there been any answer? As long as I can remember. And how long have you written? As long as I can remember. I mean poetry. So do I.”

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Wikidata facts

Image: E. E. Cummings NYWTS.jpg

Show 7 more facts

Commons category: E. E. Cummings
date of birth: 1894-10-14
date of death: 1962-09-03
Commons Creator page: E. E. Cummings
Commons gallery: E. E. Cummings
birth name: Edward Estlin Cummings
start of work period: 1922-00-00

Sources (10)

via Wikidata · CC0

~32 min read

Article

Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962), commonly known as e e cummings or E. E. Cummings, was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright. During World War I, he worked as an ambulance driver and was imprisoned in an internment camp, which provided the basis for his novel The Enormous Room (1922). The following year he published his first collection of poetry, Tulips and Chimneys, which showed his early experiments with grammar and typography. He wrote four plays, the most successful of which were HIM (1927) and Santa Claus: A Morality (1946). He wrote EIMI (1933), a travelog of the Soviet Union, and delivered the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures in poetry, published as i—six nonlectures (1953). Fairy Tales (1965), a collection of short stories, was published posthumously.

Cummings wrote approximately 2,900 poems. He is often regarded as one of the most important American poets of the 20th century. He is associated with modernist free-form poetry, and much of his work uses idiosyncratic syntax and lower-case spellings for poetic expression. M. L. Rosenthal wrote: