e.e (Edward Estlin) Cummings - (1894-1962)
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Londonderry High School in Londonderry, New Hampshire
I. Biography
Edward Estlin Cummings (also known as e.e.cummings) was born on October 14, 1894 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. When Cummings was 17 years old, he entered Harvard and graduated magna cum laude with an M.A. in English and Classical Studies. At his graduation, he gave the commencement speech, entitled "The New Art".
After college, Cummings volunteered for WWI and drove ambulances for the American Red Cross. He was arrested and imprisoned by the French government on suspicion of disloyalty. Cummings was released in 1918 and was drafted into the United States Army until Armistice.
Cummings' daughter was born on December 20, 1919. Cummings was as interested in art as he was in writing and moved to Paris in 1921, returning two years later to reside in Greenwich Village. He and Elaine Orr (the mother of his daughter) were married March 19, 1924 and divorced nine months later.
In 1925, his father, Edward Cummings, died. Two years later, Cummings married Anne Barton. In 1931, he visited Russia and his paintings were shown at a New York City gallery.
In 1932, Cummings married Marion Morehouse; however, this marriage was not deemed legal as Cummings was still married to Anne Barton. His divorce to Barton was granted on August 31, 1934, after which the Morehouse-Cummings marriage was legalized.
In 1947, Cummings' mother Rebecca Haswell Clarke Cummings died.
In 1950, Cummings joined the Fellowship of American Academy of Poets. Two years later, he became a professor at Harvard. Cummings died of a brain hemorrhage September 3, 1962 in North Conway, New Hampshire where he and his wife lived.
II. Professional Biography
The first published works by E. E. Cummings were a selection of poems published in Harvard Monthly in 1912. He was published in Eight Harvard Poets 5 years later.
Cummings moved to Paris in 1921 to study art and published The Enormous Room (1922) while he was there. He returned to New York City and published Tulips and Chimneys in 1923.
In 1924, Cummings received the Dial Award and published XVI Poems. He worked as an essayist for Vanity Fair and other journals until 1927, the same year his play, Him, was published.
In 1930, No Title and Anthropos: The Future of Art were published. The next year, Cummings' paintings were shown at the Painters and Sculptors Gallery in New York City and he published ClOPW and ViVa.
Between 1933 and 1944, Cummings published Eimi, The Red Front, Tom, no thanks, Collected Poems, 50 Poems and 1 x 1.
In 1945, he wrote an introduction to a collection of Krazy Kat comic strips. The next year, he published Santa Claus (A Morality).
In 1954, Poems 1923-1954 was published. The National Book Awards gave Cummings a special citation for this publication in 1955.
In 1957, Cummings receives the Bollingen Prize in Poetry and Boston Arts Festival Award. The next year, 95 Poems and E. E. Cummings: A Miscellany were published.
After his death, Adventures in Value (written with Marion Morehouse), 73 Poems, Fairy Tales, Selected Letters of E. E. Cummings and Complete Poems: 1913-1962 were published.
III. Works by E. E. Cummings
The Enormous Room (1922)
Tulips and Chimneys (1923)
XLI Poems (1925)
Him (1927)
No Title (1930)
Anthropos: The Future of Art (1930)
ClOPW (1931)
VV (ViVa) (1931)
Eimi (1933)
The Red Front (1933)
Tom (1935)
no thanks (1935)
Collected Poems (1938)
50 Poems (1940)
1 x 1 (1944)
Santa Claus (A Morality) (1946)
Xaipe (1950)
i:six Nonlectures (1953)
Poems 1923-1954 (1954)
95 Poems (1958)
E. E. Cummings: A Miscellany (1958)
Adventures in Value (1962)
Published after his death:
73 Poems (1963)
Fairy Tales (1965)
Selected Letters of E. E. Cummings (1969)
Complete Poems: 1913-1962 (1972)
IV. Audio
Listen to:
why must itself up every of a parkV. Bibliography
"An Unofficial E. E. Cummings Starting Point". Doug's Web Window. 30 April 2000. Online. Internet.
"E. E. Cummings – The Academy of American Poets". The Academy of American Poets. 29 Nov. 2000. Online. Internet.
Liz Ledman. "American Literature Online: e. e. cummings". Michael O'Conner's Millikin Home Page – Millikin University. May 1999. Online. Internet.
This essay was submitted by a student of Elizabeth H. Juster, a teacher at Londonderry High School in Londonderry, New Hampshire.
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