The Name
E.E. Cummings' publishers and others have sometimes echoed the unconventional capitalization in his poetry by writing his name in lower case and without periods. Cummings himself did not approve of this rendering.
Education
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. While at Harvard, he befriended John Dos Passos, and roomed in the freshman dormitory Thayer (room 306), that was named after the family of one of his Harvard acquaintances, Scofield Thayer.[2] Several of Cummings' poems were published, beginning in 1912, in the Harvard Monthly, a school newspaper on which Cummings worked with fellow Harvard Aesthetes Dos Passos and S. Foster Damon, and in 1915 in the Harvard Advocate.
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 his final year at Harvard, he came under the influence of the works of avant garde writers, such as Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound. Cummings graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1916, and delivered a controversial commencement address, entitled "The New Art". This speech gave him his first taste of notoriety as he managed to give the impression that he thought the well-liked imagist poet, Amy Lowell was "abnormal," when his intention was to praise her. Cummings was chastised in the newspapers. In 1920, Cummings' first published poems appeared in a collection of poetry entitled Eight Harvard Poets.
Life
In 1917, Cummings enlisted in the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corp, along with his college friend John Dos Passos. The novelty of automotives, and thus ambulances, made driving acceptable to young, well educated men in the US. (World War I saw more well-known writers in medical service than any other war in history because of this. At least 23, including Hemingway, were enlisted in ambulance corps, an interesting and unusual percentage). Due to an administrative mix-up, Cummings was not assigned to an ambulance unit for five weeks, during which time he stayed in Paris. He became enamored with the city, to which he would return throughout his life.
On September 21, 1917, just five months after his belated assignment, he and a friend, William Slater Brown, were arrested on suspicion of espionage (the two openly expressed pacifist views on the war). They were sent to a concentration camp, the Dépôt de Triage, in La Ferté-Macé, Orne, Normandy, where they languished for 3½ months. Cummings' experiences in the camp were later related in his novel The Enormous Room about which F. Scott Fitzgerald opined, "Of all the work by young men who have sprung up since 1920 one book survives- 'The Enormous Room' by e e cummings....Those few who cause books to live have not been able to endure the thought of its mortality."[citation needed]
He was released from the detention camp on December 19, 1917, after much intervention from his politically connected 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.
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 recounted his experiences in Eimi, published two years later. During these years Cummings also traveled to Northern Africa and Mexico and worked as an essayist and portrait artist for Vanity Fair magazine (1924 to 1927).
E.E. Cummings' publishers and others have sometimes echoed the unconventional capitalization in his poetry by writing his name in lower case and without periods. Cummings himself did not approve of this rendering.
Education
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. While at Harvard, he befriended John Dos Passos, and roomed in the freshman dormitory Thayer (room 306), that was named after the family of one of his Harvard acquaintances, Scofield Thayer.[2] Several of Cummings' poems were published, beginning in 1912, in the Harvard Monthly, a school newspaper on which Cummings worked with fellow Harvard Aesthetes Dos Passos and S. Foster Damon, and in 1915 in the Harvard Advocate.
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 his final year at Harvard, he came under the influence of the works of avant garde writers, such as Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound. Cummings graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1916, and delivered a controversial commencement address, entitled "The New Art". This speech gave him his first taste of notoriety as he managed to give the impression that he thought the well-liked imagist poet, Amy Lowell was "abnormal," when his intention was to praise her. Cummings was chastised in the newspapers. In 1920, Cummings' first published poems appeared in a collection of poetry entitled Eight Harvard Poets.
Life
In 1917, Cummings enlisted in the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corp, along with his college friend John Dos Passos. The novelty of automotives, and thus ambulances, made driving acceptable to young, well educated men in the US. (World War I saw more well-known writers in medical service than any other war in history because of this. At least 23, including Hemingway, were enlisted in ambulance corps, an interesting and unusual percentage). Due to an administrative mix-up, Cummings was not assigned to an ambulance unit for five weeks, during which time he stayed in Paris. He became enamored with the city, to which he would return throughout his life.
On September 21, 1917, just five months after his belated assignment, he and a friend, William Slater Brown, were arrested on suspicion of espionage (the two openly expressed pacifist views on the war). They were sent to a concentration camp, the Dépôt de Triage, in La Ferté-Macé, Orne, Normandy, where they languished for 3½ months. Cummings' experiences in the camp were later related in his novel The Enormous Room about which F. Scott Fitzgerald opined, "Of all the work by young men who have sprung up since 1920 one book survives- 'The Enormous Room' by e e cummings....Those few who cause books to live have not been able to endure the thought of its mortality."[citation needed]
He was released from the detention camp on December 19, 1917, after much intervention from his politically connected 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.
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 recounted his experiences in Eimi, published two years later. During these years Cummings also traveled to Northern Africa and Mexico and worked as an essayist and portrait artist for Vanity Fair magazine (1924 to 1927).
I carry your heart with me
I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart)
I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart)
I am never without it (anywhere I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)
I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) I want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true) and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)
ee cummings
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