E. E. Cummings

Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962), typically abbreviated E. E. Cummings, was an American poet, painter, essayist, and playwright. Though a representation not endorsed by him, his publishers often mirrored his atypical syntax by writing his name in lower case, e. e. cummings.

Life

E. E. Cummings was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Edward and Rebecca Haswell Clarke Cummings. Cummings' father was a professor of sociology and political science at Harvard University and later a Unitarian minister. Raised in a liberal family, Cummings was writing poetry as early as 1904 (age 10). His only sibling, a sister, Elizabeth, was born six years after he was.

Related Topics:
Cambridge, Massachusetts - Sociology - Political science - Harvard University - Unitarian - 1904

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In his youth Cummings attended the Cambridge Latin High School. Many of his early stories and poems were published in the Cambridge Review, the school newspaper.

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From 1911 to 1916 Cummings attended Harvard, from which he received a B.A. degree in 1915 and a Master's degree for English and Classical Studies in 1916. Also while at Harvard, he met and befriended John Dos Passos. Several of Cummings' poems were published, beginning in 1912, in the Harvard Monthly, a school newspaper on which Cummings worked with his friends Dos Passos and S. Foster Damon.

Related Topics:
1911 - 1916 - B.A. - 1915 - Master's degree - John Dos Passos - 1912 - S. Foster Damon

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From an early age, Cummings studied the classical languages of Greek and Latin. His affinity for both can be seen in his later works, such as XAIPE (the title of one of his collections and "Rejoice!" in Greek), Anthropos (the title of one of his plays and "mankind" in Greek), and "Puella Mea" (the title of his longest poem, and "My Girl" in Latin).

Related Topics:
Greek - Latin

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Cummings graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1915, and delivered the commencement address, entitled "The New Art". In his final year at Harvard, he came under the influence of the works of avant garde writers, such as Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound. His first published poems appeared in a collection of poetry entitled Eight Harvard Poets in 1917.

Related Topics:
Magna cum laude - Avant garde - Gertrude Stein - Ezra Pound - 1917

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Cummings went to France in 1917 as a volunteer for the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps in the First World War. However, due to an organizational mix-up, Cummings was not assigned to his unit for five weeks, during which time he stayed in Paris. Cummings became enamored with the city, which he would return to throughout his life. Cummings was eventually assigned to an ambulance unit though, after five months, he and a friend, William Slater Brown, were arrested on September 21 1917 on suspicion of espionage (the two openly expressed pacifist views on the war). They were sent to a detention camp, the Dépôt de Triage, in La Ferté-Macé, Orne, Normandy for 3½ months. Cummings' experiences in the camp were later related in his novel The Enormous Room.

Related Topics:
France - First World War - Paris - William Slater Brown - September 21 - 1917 - Espionage - Pacifist - Orne - Normandy - The Enormous Room

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He was released from the camp on December 19 1917, after much intervention from his father. Cummings returned to the United States on New Year's Day 1918. Later in 1918, he was drafted into the army. He served in the 73rd Infantry Division at Camp Devens, Massachusetts, until November 1918.

Related Topics:
December 19 - 1917 - 1918 - Army - Camp Devens, Massachusetts - November

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Cummings returned to Paris in 1921 and remained there for two years before returning to New York. During the rest of the 1920s and 1930s he returned to Paris a number of times, and traveled throughout Europe, meeting, among others, Pablo Picasso. In 1931 Cummings traveled to the Soviet Union and recorded his experiences in Eimi, published two years later. During these years Cummings also traveled to Northern Africa and Mexico. Also, from 1924 to 1927, he worked as an essayist and portrait artist for Vanity Fair magazine.

Related Topics:
1921 - New York - 1920s - 1930s - Europe - Pablo Picasso - 1931 - Soviet Union - Northern Africa - Mexico - 1924 - 1927 - Vanity Fair

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In 1926, Cummings' father, whom he was close to, and who was one of Cummings' most ardent supporters, was killed suddenly and tragically in a car accident. Though severely injured, Cummings' mother survived, and lived for more than twenty years until her death in 1947. Cummings detailed the accident in the following quote, from Richard S. Kennedy's biography of Cummings, Dreams in the Mirror {{ref|Kennedy}}:

Related Topics:
1926 - 1947

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:"... a locomotive cut the car in half, killing my father instantly. When two brakemen jumped from the halted train, they saw a woman standing- dazed but erect- beside a mangled machine; with blood spouting (as the older said to me) out of her head. One of her hands (the younger added) kept feeling her dress, as if trying to discover why it was wet. These men took my sixty-six year old mother by the arms and tried to lead her toward a nearby farmhouse; but she threw them off, strode straight to my father's body, and directed a group of scared spectators to cover him. When this had been done (and only then) she let them lead her away."

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His father's death had a profound impact on Cummings, who entered a new period in his artistic life. Cummings began to focus on more important aspects of life in his poetry. He began this new period by paying homage to his father's memory in the poem "my father moved through dooms of love" {{ref|Lane}}.

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Cummings was married three times. His first marriage, to Elaine Orr, began as a love affair in 1919 while she was married to Scofield Thayer, one of Cummings' friends from Harvard. The affair produced a daughter, Nancy, who was born on December 20 1919. Nancy was Cummings' only child. After obtaining a divorce from Thayer, Elaine and Cummings married on March 19 1924. However, the marriage ended in divorce less than nine months later, when Elaine left Cummings for a wealthy Irish banker, moving to Ireland and taking Nancy with her. Although under the terms of the divorce Cummings was granted custody of Nancy for three months each year, Elaine refused to abide by the agreement. Cummings did not see his daughter again until 1946.

Related Topics:
1919 - Scofield Thayer - December 20 - March 19 - 1924 - Ireland - 1946

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Cummings married his second wife, Anne Minnerly Barton, on May 1 1929. The two separated three years later in 1932. That same year, Anne obtained a divorce in Mexico, although it was not officially recognized in the United States until August 1934.

Related Topics:
May 1 - 1929 - 1932 - August - 1934

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In 1932, the same year he and his second wife separated, Cummings met Marion Morehouse, a fashion model and photographer. Although it is not clear if the two were ever officially married, Morehouse would live with Cummings for the remainder of his life, and is considered to have been at the least his common-law wife.

Related Topics:
1932 - Common-law wife

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In 1952, his alma mater, Harvard University, awarded Cummings the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship, an honorary seat as a guest professor. The lectures he gave in 1952 and 1953 were later collected as i:six nonlectures. Cummings spent the last decade of his life largely traveling, fulfilling speaking engagements, and spending time at his summer home, Joy Farm, in New Hampshire.

Related Topics:
1952 - Alma mater

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Cummings died in 1962 in North Conway, New Hampshire, after having a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 67. He is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts.

Related Topics:
1962 - North Conway, New Hampshire - Cerebral hemorrhage - Forest Hills Cemetery - Boston, Massachusetts

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