Edward Cummings was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1894. His father was a professor at Harvard, leading Cummings to attend Harvard from 1911-1915 (Poetry for Students vol.3). At a young age Cummings showed a strong interest in poetry and art. His first published poems appeared in the anthology “Eight Harvard poets” in 1917. During WW1 Cummings volunteered for the French-based ambulance service and he spent four years in an internment camp in Normandy on suspicion of treason (Poetry for Students vol.3). When Cummings returned to New York, he pursued painting but was drafted in 1918. During the 1920's and the 1930's Cummings traveled throughout Europe, developing careers in painting and poetry. He published his first poetry collection, “Tulips and Chimneys”, in 1923(Poetry for Students vol.3). He continued to write steadily throughout the 1940's and 1950's, receiving many awards, and he continued to write poetry till his death. Cummings exemplified many unique styles in his poems, including the poems “Old Age Sticks”, “l(a”, and “Maggie and Milly and Molly and May”, and how each poem impacted the art of literature.
Time stands still and there is no way to rewind, “Old Age Sticks” is a poem that was published in a time of significant political, social, and cultural change (Poetry for Students vol.3). In the common view of the 1950's, the period is characterized by the tension and suspicion of the cold war. The misreading of his poetry would hint at a disdain for old age. The broken lines leave the reader wondering what "old age" sticks with, whom, or what? The individual words/letters give the reader a chance to make assumptions. The reader learns that "old age sticks up 'keep off' signs"(Poetry for Students vol.3). He capitali...
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...This poem represents one of e.e Cummings experiments with rhymed couplets. The names Maggie, Milly, Molly, and May could very well be representing four girls. Also, Cummings work has always encountered divergent criticisms.
"Old Age Sticks." Poetry for Students. Ed. Marie R. Napierkowski and Mary Ruby. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. 245-59. Print.
This source is reliable because it provides all the information needed to write a biography on E.E. Cummings. It has an author’s biography, poem text, poem summary, themes, style, historical content, and a critical overview. It gives a brief summary of each line of the poem, so I have a clear understanding of what the poem means. This poem displays Edwards’s poetic innovations that distinguish his verses. Two of Cummings most significant contributions to modern poetry were word play and unusual spatial arrangement.
Throughout history there have been many poets and some have succeeded while others didn’t have the same luck. But in history e.e. Cummings has stunned people with his creativity and exposure to the real world and not living in the fantasy people imagine they live in. Cummings was a great poet, and was able to make his own way of writing while he was also involved greatly in the modernist movement. But he demonstrates all his uniqueness in all and every poem, delivering people with knowledge and making them see the world with different eyes as in the poem “Since feeling is first”. Biography Born on October 14, 1894, E. E. Cummings an American poet was born at home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Edward Estlin Cummings was born October 14, 1894 in the town of Cambridge Massachusetts. His father, and most constant source of awe, Edward Cummings, was a professor of Sociology and Political Science at Harvard University. In 1900, Edward left Harvard to become the ordained minister of the South Congregational Church, in Boston. As a child, E.E. attended Cambridge public schools and lived during the summer with his family in their summer home in Silver Lake, New Hampshire. (Kennedy 8-9) E.E. loved his childhood in Cambridge so much that he was inspired to write disputably his most famous poem, "In Just-" (Lane pp. 26-27)
...and traveling filled life. He visited the soviet union in 1931 to view their system of art and was dissapointed with the minimal amount of artistic freedom allowed. Cummings went on to develop various forms of literature throughout the rest of his life and eventually recieved numerous awards such as the Shelley memorial award for poetry and the Bollingen prize for poetry and continued to give speeches and poetry readings across the country until his death (Blank). Cummings is a great example of a person who does not let anything deter him from his goals. Even though Cummings had a traumatizing experience during WWI, Cummings did not let that shake him from his ultimate goal which was to excel at becoming a poet. Cummings was a very important man in the world of literature and he proved it by his constant poetry readings and lectures given across the united states.
The first poetic device the speaker uses to convey his or her meaning in this poem is the unorthodox grammar and sentence structure. The poem starts with the lines “anyone lived in a pretty how town / (with up so floating many bells down)” (1 – 2). In this case, this improper grammar reinforces the point that is the story of “anyone” (1). As such, the “how town” (1) represents the fact that the name of the town does not need to be specified, as this happens to everyone in every town. The speaker therefore alludes that the events of this poem are natural and they happen to anyone anywhere. E.E. Cummings deliberately uses “anyone” (1) and “no one” (12) as pronouns with ambiguous antecedents to generalize the poem’s meaning to society and all people in it. In this way, the speaker uses these thoughts as social commentary.
Poems, Poets, Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology. 3rd ed. Ed. Helen Vendler. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s,
Cummings' peculiar method of using syntax to convey hidden meaning is extremely effective. The reader does not simply read and forget Cummings' ideas; instead, he must figure out the hidden meaning himself. In doing this, he feels contentment, and thus retains the poem's idea for a more extended period of time. Cummings' ideogram poems are puzzles waiting to be solved.
The entire collection of Cummings work includes a huge number of approximately 2900 poems, as well as several novels, and countless diary entries of eloquence and skill from even the earliest years of his childhood. E. E. Cummings was, in truth, a genius, for he spent his time inventing new ways of arranging poetry in certain line types, intercepting ideas with parentheses and writing backwards and in spiraling loops to emphasize his intricately concealed main points. In his time, this was extremely uncouth and unheard of, and as he steadily grew to become a famous name worldwide, more wanted to read his works. The underlying meanings in his poems were so obscure, it was hard to see past them the very first time one laid eyes on them, as it was to see past the psychical barriers E. E. Cummings hid behind when in public, and sometimes even with those he truly cared about. This secluded way of life is what gradually helped him on his way to thinking uniquely and outside of the normal boundaries of other great writers in the 20th century.... ...
“When You Are Old” is about Maud Gonne, an Irish nationalist who William Butler Yeats was infatuated with and his unrequited love for her. In the poem, Maud Gonne is reflecting on past loves and relationships. She realizes that Yeats was her only companion who loved her unconditionally. Many loved her, or said they did, but not in every respect like Yeats. Perhaps if her realization were sooner, Yeats would have married her.
...number of visual effects in his poetry. He combined the lack of punctuation, capitalization, and creative spacing with his topics, such as the seasons, to convey his messages. Some readers find the visual effects in his poems disconcerting and feel that they are meaningless because of it. However, others find his visual effects helpful in gaining a deeper understanding of his poems and the messages he was trying to convey. Cummings' poems were definitely meant to be viewed rather than simply listened to so that the reader can benefit from the full effect of them. His poetry does not follow traditional rules and is very unpredictable. As a result, they leave more room for your imagination to soar.
Edward Estlin Cummings was born on October 14, 1884 in Cambridge Massachusetts. He spent his early years in Cambridge until he began to attend Harvard University in 1912. E.E. Cummings graduated in 1916 with an M.A. and a B.A. in English and classic literature. After graduating from Harvard, Cummings joined the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps, in France. He was an ambulance driver during World War I until he wrote letters back home criticizing the conduct of the war, and the nervous French censors had him arrested and sent him to a detention center, where he remained for three months before being released. While in the French prison Cummings wrote the basis of his first published book The Enormous Room. This book was considered one of the greatest literary works to come out of World War I. This book was written as a journal of Cummings prison stay. It is said to be heightened by an experimental prose style and a hatred of a bureaucracy that could treat helpless and innocent civilians so cruelly. Cummings was drafted into the U.S. Army in shortly after the 1918 Armistice. He depicts military life satirically in such poems as, “i sing of Olaf glad and big.” After the war, Cummings devoted himself entirely to his writing and painting, publishing 11 books of poems. He also published a second antibureaucracy journal entitled Eimi (Greek for "I Am"), in 1933. Besides being a poet, Cummings was a playwright, prose writer, and painter. Most of the time, however, he was a poet. Cummings received the Bollingen Prize for poetry in 1957. He also received the Shelley Memorial Award for poetry in 1944, along with being awarded the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship at Harvard for the academic year 1952-1953. Cummings life ended on September 3, 1962 at the age of 80.
When writing poetry, there are many descriptive methods an author may employ to communicate an idea or concept to their audience. One of the more effective methods that authors often use is linking devices, such as metaphors and similes. Throughout “The Elder Sister,” Olds uses linking devices effectively in many ways. An effective image Olds uses is that of “the pressure of Mother’s muscles on her brain,” (5) providing a link to the mother’s expectations for her children. She also uses images of water and fluidity to demonstrate the natural progression of a child into womanhood. Another image is that of the speaker’s elder sister as a metaphorical shield, the one who protected her from the mental strain inflicted by their mother.
I cannot feel myself gradually aging as the speaker when he states that, “In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire / That ashes of his youth doth lie.” However, I see the lines of age begin to define themselves through those around me. Whether it be physical lines imprinted as maps of knowledge across the kind faces of my grandparents, or perhaps more mental lines as my friends begin to find courage and self-assurance within
Gran, as I frequently called her, stood at five feet seven inches tall. She was an elderly woman in her mid-50s that enjoyed living life and helping others in any way possible, whether it is at the market selling produce, donating to a charity for the less fortunate, or participating in walk-a-thons. On the verge of going into her sixties, her behavior protruded was one of a woman in her early thirties. Dressed in a tight, knee-high khaki pants, a black V-cut top, and a black sandals, with her hand held on her hip saying, “I might be old in age, but I am young and strong at heart darling” as she responded to my comment, in my dialect, “Yuh feel you too young.” This brought much humor to the room. The joyou...
Edgar Allan Poe was a literary genius of his time. His works may seem eccentric but beneath the words and stories lies a solemn, alone boy whose only way of comfort and relief was through his pen. Of the critical reviews I have studied pertaining to Poe, never has such a varied difference of opinions been presented or suggested towards a writer. It is thought that his life had a major influence on his writing and by reading many of his pieces I agree with that statement.
Dylan Thomas was born in 1914 of intellectual parents both being literature professors. Long before he could read, his father would recite poetry from classic authors. Many of his poems can be traced to the illustrated style of D.H Lawrence. The imagery he provides of disparity and death in many of his poems. In the span of Dylan’s life, he witnessed both Great Wars. The first war may have been the main topic of discussion by his parents at childhood. And later at service in the air defense over London. Because of his determined health Thomas was not able to enroll in an active combat role during World War II. Thomas life’s experiences played a major role in influencing his writing...