E. E. Cummings Life and Poetry Essay (Biography)

Introduction

Art is a not only a tool used to reflect the happenings in a society, but it also reflects the feelings of the artist towards the society and towards themselves. It is for this reason that art can be considered to be unlimited in terms of style because it reflects the feelings and perceptions of different people. Through the paintings of an artist one can discern the mood and the emotions of the artist. This assists an admirer of the painting to understand the painting and even discern and interpret some hidden meaning. Just like paintings poetry is also a form of art. However, poetry has the capacity to use words express emotions and feelings in much deeper and detailed manner. Through words, civilization has been spread through many parts of the world, ideas and philosophies have traversed oceans and people have learnt of cultures of different places without having to visit the places physically. Such is the strength of words. In poetry words are used artistically, sometimes even adopting unconventional styles, in an attempt to relay emotions, feelings and perceptions in the most unique ways. Poetry describes places, people and events in such a way that prose writing cannot. This is because even the basic arrangement of words has meaning in poetry. In poetry there are no mistakes. What might seem as grammatical error in poetry may have a hidden meaning that the poet wishes to express. E. E. Cummings is considered one of the greatest poets of his time due to his distinctive style of writing, the extent to which he boldly expressed emotions and his unique usage of lower case letters. Understanding Cumming’s poetry would require a combination of an analysis his poetry and his life in general.

Background

Most poets are always influenced in their writing by their surroundings. Cummings was no exception as a quick review of his background reveals. According to Famous Poets and Poems, Cummings whose full name was Edward Estlin Cummings was born in Massachusetts in the town of Cambridge in October 14^th 1984. Cummings’ father was an acknowledged sociologist and later a minister of a Unitarian Church. Cummings’ mother on the other hand is known to have been significant in introducing Cummings to poetry by reading him poetry when he was still a young boy. According to Famous Poets and Poems Cummings wrote his poem at a very young age and among his early poems is the poem “In Just” which was strongly influenced by the surroundings at Cambridge, a place that he had come to love so much. Later, Cummings had the privilege of studying at the prestigious Harvard where he studied English among other languages. During his years at Harvard Cummings was able to learn about the poetry and writing styles of other poets notably Ezra Pound. The other eventful period in Cummings life was when he was working as a volunteer at the Norton- Haries Ambulance. Due to his disagreements with the war and his apparent leniency towards the Germans, he found himself arrested by the French on suspicions that he was a spy. Cumming’s love life was also turbulent as he married the ex-wife of his friend and divorced her after living with her shortly. The tragic death of Cummings father was also a significant moment in Cummings’ life. This is because Cummings’ father died in road accident involving Cummings’ father and mother. He later wrote a poem describing the details of this accident perhaps to express how much it had affected him.

Poems

Just like most artists, Cummings’ poems had a distinct nature which was easy to discern. One notable feature I realized was his continual use of small letters when describing himself and his bold expression of emotions. The poem “I carry your heart with me” reveals the general style in most of Cummings’ poems. The poem is a deep description of emotions felt by the persona to a person who is dear to the persona. The persona’s reference of the person as darling reveals that their relationship is perhaps romantic. The romance is further revealed when the persona outlines that all his actions are influenced by this person and that their hearts are one. The persona says that he has no fear of fate for his darling is his fate. Cummings uses brackets to emphasize on the feelings of the persona towards his darling. Cummings even uses the sun and the moon to express the extent of the emotions felt by the persona towards his darling.

I realized that this poem demonstrates Cumming’s boldness in expressing feelings and emotions to the extent that they are naked to the reader. The use of the small letter ‘i’ reveals that the persona is Cummings. This is because he has no problem of making himself look smaller and rather give the reader a chance to concentrate on the emotions he feels. The object of his love and the emotions he feels are much more important to Cummings that he decides to belittle himself by using small letter ‘I’ in the poem. (Famous Poets and Poems).The same observations can be made in another of Cummings’ poem called ‘anyone lived in a pretty town.’ In the poem Cummings also uses small letter when referring to persons. Although this poem does not describe love for a person like ‘I carry your heart with me, it still describes a place with vividness and emotions. In this poem Cummings also uses brackets to emphasize on feelings and events. Perhaps the use of small letters is meant to show that human beings are much more than their physical nature and feelings constitute significantly on the nature of people the events they influence. The use of small letters diverts attention from people to the feelings they experience and the events they encounter. (Poetry Foundation).

Conclusion

As I outlined before in this paper, poets are influenced in terms of style and contents by their surroundings. The two poems analyzed reveal that Cummings developed an attachment to the places he lived in and visited, the events he encountered and the people that he lived around. They influenced the contents of his writing as most of his poems are about places and people. The uses of small letters depict an aspect of humility in Cummings. Cummings must have experienced or learnt of something greater about people and places apart from their physical nature. It is for this reason that Cummings diverts attention from people and places to the emotions, feelings and events. Cummings’ poems therefore reveal an important aspect that would have otherwise not been obvious just by looking at his biography. The poems reveal that Cummings saw life from a different perspective; a perspective that sought to define human beings and places with an aspect that surpassed their physical nature. Therefore according to me, Cummings’ poems substantiate the fact that artists use their works to express their innermost feelings.

Works Cited

1. Famous Poets and Poems. E. E. Cummings (1894-1962). Web.
2. Poetry Foundation. E. E. Cummings (1894-1962). Web.