E. e. cummings October 14 1894 - September 3 1962.

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.