Visual Effects Created By E.E. Cummings In His Poetry
Edward Estlin Cummings, commonly referred to as E. E. Cummings, was born on October 14, 1894 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was a source of vast knowledge and was responsible for many creative works other than his poetry, such as novels, plays, and paintings. He published his first book of poetry Tulips and Chimneys in 1923. Many of his poems are known for the visual effects they create through his unusual placement of words on the page, as well as, his lack of punctuation and capitalization. The manner in which Cummings arranges the words of his poems creates an image in the reader's mind of the topic he is discussing, such as a season or climbing stairs. His visual style also brings emotions, such as loneliness or cheerfulness, to the reader's mind. Due to this creativity, Cummings won many awards, such as the National Book Award and the Bollingen Prize in poetry (Marks 17).
In his poem "l(a", the words are arranged in such a way that they are falling down the page. He only puts several letters of each word on a line and then continues to spell the word down the page. The main focus of the poem is about loneliness and the words almost appear to be "lonely." He uses parentheses around the phrase "a leaf falls," which appears in the middle of the poem. The remaining letters in the poem spell "loneliness." When these are placed together in the same poem, it creates an effect that there is a leaf falling from a tree to the ground where it will be lonely because it will be separated from the tree. Cummings emphasizes the image of being alone or aloof by using two versions of the word one. On the first line, he uses the letter "l," which also looks like the number "1." On ...
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...number of visual effects in his poetry. He combined the lack of punctuation, capitalization, and creative spacing with his topics, such as the seasons, to convey his messages. Some readers find the visual effects in his poems disconcerting and feel that they are meaningless because of it. However, others find his visual effects helpful in gaining a deeper understanding of his poems and the messages he was trying to convey. Cummings' poems were definitely meant to be viewed rather than simply listened to so that the reader can benefit from the full effect of them. His poetry does not follow traditional rules and is very unpredictable. As a result, they leave more room for your imagination to soar.
Works Cited:
Cummings, E. E. Poems 1923 ‚ 1954. New York : Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1926.
Marks, Barry A. E. E. Cummings. New York : Twayne Publishers, Inc, 1964.
Throughout history there have been many poets and some have succeeded while others didn’t have the same luck. But in history e.e. Cummings has stunned people with his creativity and exposure to the real world and not living in the fantasy people imagine they live in. Cummings was a great poet, and was able to make his own way of writing while he was also involved greatly in the modernist movement. But he demonstrates all his uniqueness in all and every poem, delivering people with knowledge and making them see the world with different eyes as in the poem “Since feeling is first”. Biography Born on October 14, 1894, E. E. Cummings an American poet was born at home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
...and traveling filled life. He visited the soviet union in 1931 to view their system of art and was dissapointed with the minimal amount of artistic freedom allowed. Cummings went on to develop various forms of literature throughout the rest of his life and eventually recieved numerous awards such as the Shelley memorial award for poetry and the Bollingen prize for poetry and continued to give speeches and poetry readings across the country until his death (Blank). Cummings is a great example of a person who does not let anything deter him from his goals. Even though Cummings had a traumatizing experience during WWI, Cummings did not let that shake him from his ultimate goal which was to excel at becoming a poet. Cummings was a very important man in the world of literature and he proved it by his constant poetry readings and lectures given across the united states.
The poem seems to be about an old couple;which live a simple unassuming life.They spend their dinners eating beans and reminiscing of their past memories.
Swift, Jonathan. “A Modest Proposal.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Gen. ed. Stephen Greenblatt. 9th ed. Vol. C. New York: Norton, 2012. 2633-39. Print.
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer who is best known for his short stories that were mostly mysterious and odd. He was born in Boston on January 19, 1809 and everything was history after that. His tales have been in print since the start of 1827 and are still popular to this day. After enlisting to the United States Army at the age of eighteen, a couple years later he learned that his precious mother was dying the terrible disease known as tuberculosis and wanted to see him one last time before she passed. Unfortunately, she had already been buried by the time he got to her. Edgar Allan Poe used the influences of the major people in his life to shape most of his dark and mysterious work that he published.
Edgar Allan Poe once said, “I would define, in brief, the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of Beauty”("BrainyQuote"). Poe has been known for his fantastic and eerie short stories, but he also wrote poetry. In fact, it was poetry that started his career. Throughout Poe’s life, poetry was a big part of him, and with his passion he created great works like “The Raven”. With Poe’s life story, poetic vision, and great poems, he has changed the literary world forever.
Poems, Poets, Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology. 3rd ed. Ed. Helen Vendler. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s,
He uses powerful imagery and onomatopoeia to achieve the desired effects that make the poem more realistic. All this combined together produces effective thought provoking ideas and with each read, I gradually get an improved understanding and appreciation of the poem.
“A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift was published in 1729, right in the middle of the Age of Enlightenment. One of the goals of this time was to “create a society that would be beneficial to everybody” (Sargent). Swift takes a satirical approach about this in “A Modest Proposal”. The tone of his article is humorous and wry, but some of his reasoning makes his parody proposal sound believable.
...Johnathan Swift’s essay “A Modest Proposal” was a wonderful piece of satire, which made the people who read it take an introspective look, and think about how they were treating those poor, lower-class Irish. The raw imagery used by the author caused people to be so disgusted, that they were forced to consider what would be a more humane solution. Swift was able to both capture the attention of his audience, and get them to think more reasonably about an issue most, at the time, ignored. This essay is a great example, even to this day, of how to use satire, irony, and reverse psychology to speck to an audience who would not usually care to listen. “A Modest Proposal” was likely very successful getting people during The Enlightenment, when they valued little else but logic, facts, and reason, to consider that perhaps sometimes, reason alone cannot guarantee success.
Evan Fraser and Andrew Rimas, “How to Feed Nine Billion people,” The Walrus, December 2012. http://thewalrus.ca/how-to-feed-nine-billion/
Holbrook, David. Llareggub Revisted: Dylan Thomas and the State of Modern Poetry. Cambridge: Bowes and Bowes, 1965. 100-101.
In “A Modest Proposal,” Swift employs a satirical tone to mock both the callous attitudes towards the poor and the poor themselves. Swifts “modest” solution to the fiscal and social issues going on in Ireland is nothing but the opposite, as he proposes that the impoverished should sell their infants as food for money. In using the word “modest” to describe his proposal of eating Irish infants and/or offering their flesh as a source of clothing, Swift makes the sarcasm of his story evident from the beginning. By using such an inconspicu...
When faced with adversity society often turns to satire to relieve the frustrations the people feel. One of the most widely known examples of satire is Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” Swift uses this work to vent his frustration with not only the governing bodies of 1729 Ireland, but also its residents. Swift discusses the possibility of ending Ireland’s famine and economic troubles by using the children of poor families as a source of nourishment for the workers. This suggestion although meant in a comedic way served a more serious role in displaying Swift’s and many others displeasure with the state of their nation. Swift uses many techniques to entice his readers and make his argument compelling. The serious tone and personal style of the essay lock in the reader 's attention, while the use of facts and figures serve to establish a false sense of seriousness within the argument itself.
E.E. Cummings suggests, "feeling is first who pays any attention to the syntax of things." According to Cummings, poetry is purely defined by the feelings the poem expresses and syntax plays no role. This is evident when he writes "for life's not a paragraph And death I think is no parenthesis." While poetry must express feelings and must create "imaginary gardens with real toads in them." Poetry cannot be defined by these standards alone. After all, without certain rules to define poetry any expression of emotion can be defined as poetry. While it is true that the main purpose of poetry is to create worlds and express emotions, poetry must also accomplish more.