Edgar Estlin Cummings
The life of Edgar Estlin Cummings starts on October 14, 1894 with his birth to Edward and Rebecca Haswell Clarke Cummings. At the age of sixteen he enters Harvard College, and begins to write poetry for Harvard Monthly. After Harvard, he joins Ambulance Corps, and sails to France to participate in World War I. Soon after his arrival he gets arrested and imprisoned for three months in a French detention camp on suspicion of disloyalty1. On New Years Day he is released, and soon after that he returns to New York and meets Elaine Orr, whom he marries later. Despite a birth of a daughter, Nancy, the marriage ends in divorce. During the Twenties, Cummings becomes more interested in art, and travels few times to Europe to study art. In 1927 he marries again, however that marriage also fails. In 1931 Cummings uses a rare opportunity to travel to Soviet Union, and upon his return he marries Marion Morehouse. He publishes two collections of poems in the early Thirties, and soon becomes the second most read poet in America. Cummings creates and publishes various collections of poems almost every year until his death in 1962.
During his life, Cummings exposes himself to various different experiences. Those experiences influence his poetry, and tilt it toward the individualism. He was imprisoned for his anti-war views and ideas. This imprisonment influences Cummings to protest against the ideas of sameness and equality2. After the war ended, Cummings writes an autobiography, and concentrates on poetry. Before the Great Depression he publishes several anthologies of his works. During the Depression, Cummings has a chance to visit the Soviet Union and to observe its rapid industrial buildup3. On the other ...
... middle of paper ...
..., protesting against the well-established social view on literature and poetry11. His writings are inspired with individualism, which is being promoted through the use of the most outstanding poetic techniques in twentieth century.
Bibliography:
Gilmore, Eric. E.E. Cummings: Noncriticism. April 2001.
Available online at
Graves, Robert. An Anthology of Verse.
Toronto: The Buycint Press, 1964
Magill, Frank. Magill’s Survey of American Literature.
New York: MC Corporation, 1991.
Perry, Jon. Style and Flare: A look at Cummings’ Style. March 2001.
Available online at
Spring, The Journal of E.E. Cummings Society. March 8 2002.
Available online at
Weidenfield, Grove. 100 Selected Poems by E. E. Cummings.
New York: Grove Press Inc.1959.
Wipf, Douglas. E. E. Cummings – Biography and Poems. November 17 1997.
Available online at
common theme to his writing is that he want to have a self-reliance of own to the people
Whittaker Chambers was originally born with the name Jay Vivian Chambers on April 1, 1901 (Whittaker, 2004). After Chambers graduated high school he left his home in Long Island and worked as a construction worker replacing railroad tracks (Boston, 2011). After working on the railroads Chambers decided to attend college. He attended Columbia University in New York between the years of 1920 and 1924 (Boston, 2011). During his time at Columbia, Chambers became a very gifted writer. While attending Columbia, Chambers decided he wanted to try and become a poet; however, he understood that he could “never write poetry good enough to be worth writing” (Boston, 2011). Realizing this Chambers decided to focus his writing skills on more traditional methods. Unlike poetry, Chambers was very gifted at this type of writing. In 1924, Chambers started to read much of Vladimir Lenin’s work (Chambers, 2013). The work of Lenin was an inspiration to Chambers and he quickly began to agree with the views and ideologies of Lenin. Because of this, in 1925 he decided to join the Communist Party (Boston, 2011).
Attending Harvard, Cummings studied Greek and other languages (p. 62). In college, Cummings was introduced to the writing and artistry of Ezra Pound, who was a large influence on E.E. and many other artists in his time (pp. 105-107). After graduation, Cummings volunteered for the Norton-Haries Ambulance Corps. En-route to France, Cummings met another recruit, William Slater Brown. The two became close friends, and as Brown was arrested for writing incriminating letters home, Cummings refused to separate from his friend and the two were sent to the La Ferte Mace concentration camp. The two friends were finally freed, only due to the persuasion of Cummings' father.
Walt Whitman’s hard childhood influenced his work greatly, he was an uneducated man but he managed to become one of the most known poets. Whitman changed poetry through his work and is now often called the father of free verse. Especially through Leaves of Grass he expressed his feelings and sexuality to world and was proud of it. He had a different view at life, his hard childhood, and his sexuality that almost no one understood made him introduce a new universal theme to the world. Almost all critics agree that Walt Whitman was one of the most influential and innovative poet. Karl Shapiro says it best, “The movement of his verses is the sweeping movement of great currents of living people with general government and state”.
Poetry’s role is evaluated according to what extent it mirrors, shapes and is reshaped by historical events. In the mid-19th century, some critics viewed poetry as “an expression of the poet’s personality, a manifestation of the poet’s intuition and of the social and historical context which shaped him” ( Preminger, Warnke, Hardison 511). Analysis of the historical, social, political and cultural events at a certain time helps the reader fully grasp a given work. The historical approach is necessary in order for given allusions to be situated in their social, political and cultural background. In order to escape intentional fallacy, a poet should relate his work to universal
Many people think that reading more can help them to think and develop before writing something. Others might think that they don’t need to read and or write that it can really help them to brainstorm things a lot quicker and to develop their own ideas immediately (right away). The author’s purpose of Stephen King’s essay, Reading to Write, is to understand the concepts, strategies and understandings of how to always read first and then start something. The importance of this essay is to understand and comprehend our reading and writing skills by brainstorming our ideas and thoughts a lot quicker. In other words, we must always try to read first before we can brainstorm some ideas and to think before we write something. There are many reasons why I chose Stephen King’s essay, Reading to Write, by many ways that reading can help you to comprehend, writing, can help you to evaluate and summarize things after reading a passage, if you read, it can help you to write things better and as you read, it can help you to think and evaluate of what to write about.
He thinks that a man should learn to express himself. Being yourself will help you solve the problems of your life. We need to trust ourselves in order to improve our lives, like all great men have done. Self-reliance stems from deep within our soul, which is the pillar of our personal power and self-respect. This source of all greatness, sets us free from the ego and helps us to transcend through the ideals of love, truth and justice; some people call this “the moral sense”.
Growing up in working class family, my mom worked all the time for the living of a big family with five kids, and my dad was in re-education camp because of his association with U.S. government before 1975. My grandma was my primary guardian. “Go to study, go to read your books, read anything you like to read if you want to have a better life,” my grandma kept bouncing that phrase in my childhood. It becomes the sole rule for me to have better future. I become curious and wonder what the inside of reading and write can make my life difference. In my old days, there was no computer, no laptop, no phone…etc, to play or to spend time with, other than books. I had no other choice than read, and read and tended to dig deep in science books, math books, and chemistry books. I tended to interest in how the problem was solved. I even used my saving money to buy my own math books to read more problems and how to solve the problem. I remembered that I ended up reading the same math book as my seventh grade teacher. She used to throw the challenge questions on every quiz to pick out the brighter student. There was few students know how to solve those challenge questions. I was the one who fortunately nailed it every single time. My passion and my logic for reading and writing came to me through that experience, and also through my grandma and my mom who plant the seed in me, who want their kids to have happy and better life than they were. In my own dictionary, literacy is not just the ability to read and write, it is a strong foundation to build up the knowledge to have better life, to become who I am today.
By not partaking in social customs or following cultural norms, he expresses revolt.... ... middle of paper ... ... And if we could exemplify the absurd characteristics: revolt, freedom, and pleasure in our lives, we could live life more fully: By revolting against tomorrow, we can come to terms with the present moment.
One must examine the work as a reactionary piece to the issues of the time period it was written in, while insuring that it carries along the ideals it intends to redefine, without question. Works Cited Ramazani, Jahan. Richard Ellmann, Robert O’Clair, ed. The Norton Anthology of Modern And Contemporary Poetry. Vol.
In contrast to Ginzburg’s hellish experiences, Joseph Brodsky sought preservation of the mind, pursuing preservation of both his artistic identity and freedom. Brodsky was born and raised among the gray lifeless streets of Leningrad in the Soviet Union. Confronted by a stifling aura all his life, Brodsky searched for deeper meaning and individuality. By utilizing his talents of perception as a child, coupled with his impeccable style as a poet, he could bring vibrancy to his experiences. Thus, the question arises, by combining his gift of perception and sharp poetic style, Brodsky used his writings to preserve his sense of artistic freedom and identity.
In Chapter 8, Taylor defines and outlines the change from pre-modern to modern societies. Previously, our world was ordered independently of us. Individuals looked for their identities by means of their social standing or religion. However, “modern freedom and autonomy center us on ourselves, and the ideal of authenticity requires that we discover and articulate our own identity” (Taylor 81). This change goes back to the end of the 18th century and is evident in art and poetry. In modern society, our feelings are coming from within. Our human feelings are our nature, which is deeply personal. Yet, Taylor reminds his readers that in modern poetry there is an
Dylan Thomas was born in 1914 of intellectual parents both being literature professors. Long before he could read, his father would recite poetry from classic authors. Many of his poems can be traced to the illustrated style of D.H Lawrence. The imagery he provides of disparity and death in many of his poems. In the span of Dylan’s life, he witnessed both Great Wars. The first war may have been the main topic of discussion by his parents at childhood. And later at service in the air defense over London. Because of his determined health Thomas was not able to enroll in an active combat role during World War II. Thomas life’s experiences played a major role in influencing his writing...
Charles Baudelaire was a French poet during the 19th century. He was not only very successful as a poet, but also as a translator, essayist and critic (“Charles Baudelaire – Biography”). Baudelaire is most famous for his poetry and is regarded as one of the greatest French poets of all time. His work was some of the best of the 19th century, influencing the next generation of poets and those to come. He had a great impact on various literary movements such as Romanticism, Modernism, and Symbolism. Not only was he able to revolutionize French poetry, but he was able to revolutionize poetry throughout the world.
...y discardable, but has an advantage of changing font size and page brightness. With this exception, print books are going to survive. To quote British actor and writer Stephen Fry, "Kindles are no more likely to replace books than escalators are going to replace stairs“ (9). Works cited: Fry, Stephen. The Fry Chronicles: An Autobiography. New York: Overlook Press, 2012. Print. Polanka, Sue, ed. No Shelf Required 2: Use and Management of Electronic Books. Chicago: American Library Association, 2012 Pratchett, Terry and Stephen Baxter. The Long War. London: Haper Voyager, 2013. Print.