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[An Unofficial E. E. Cummings Starting Point]

 [PENCIL SKETCH OF E. E. CUMMINGS (C) 1997 DOUG WIPF]
Edward Estlin Cummings
October 14, 1894   em dash graphic   September 3, 1962

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E. E. Cummings was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts to Edward and Rebecca Haswell Clarke Cummings. Intensely creative, Cummings was also a fine artist, playwright and novelist; his life and art were tightly interwoven. Known for typographic innovation, Cummings controlled both the look and the content of his poems.
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Contents
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invisible spacer dot Information about The E. E. Cummings Society and its journal, Spring.
invisible spacer dot A small, informal bibliography
invisible spacer dot Chronology
invisible spacer dot Links
invisible spacer dot Notes on the capitalization of "E. E. Cummings"

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The E. E. Cummings Society

Cover of _Spring_ New Series #4. Reproduced with permission of and (C) The E. E. Cummings Society.

invisible spacer dot A resource not to be overlooked is The E. E. Cummings Society. Its journal, Spring, is published annually, and includes papers presented at the American Literature Association's conference, original poetry, news, and notices of events relating to the subject E. E. Cummings. Critical essays, so often requested here, are found within its pages, as are reproductions of Cummings' artwork.

invisible spacer dot Spring now has its own website at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan: http://www.gvsu.edu/english/Cummings/Index.htm. Included are notes on Cummings' works, a complete bibliography, links to other sites, and two important essays about the capitalization of Cummings' name.

invisible spacer dot Membership in The E. E. Cummings Society is $17.50; $12.50 for students; $22.50 for libraries, and includes a subscription to Spring.

Send subscriptions and submissions (manuscripts must be accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope) to:
invisible spacer dot Norman Friedman
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invisible spacer dot Flushing, New York 11358-1442

E-mail concerning Spring and The E. E. Cummings Society may be directed to Mike Webster at: websterm@gvsu.edu.

Spring cover © 1995 The E. E. Cummings Society. Reproduced with permission.

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A small, informal bibliography . . .


invisible spacer dot A Concordance to the Complete Poems of E. E. Cummings (Cornell Concordances) edited by Katherine Winters McBride © 1989, Cornell University Press. ISBN: 0801422396. This book can help bring that long-remembered fragment to realization. A Concordance to the Complete Poems of E. E. Cummings is expensive and hard to find; check your library's reference department.
invisible spacer dot E. E. Cummings Complete Poems 1904-1962 edited by George J. Firmage © 1991, (Centennial edition published 1994 in celebration of Cummings' birth on October 14, 1894) Liveright Publishing Corporation, New York. ISBN: 0-87140-152-5. In the Editor's note, Firmage leads, "This revised, corrected and expanded edition . . . " What more can one say? All the published poems and more are in this book.
invisible spacer dot E. E. Cummings Revisited by Richard S. Kennedy © 1994, Twayne Publishers, New York. Part of the Twayne's United States Authors Series (No. 637). ISBN: 0805739955. This book was "published to coincide with the centennial of the American poet's birth," and includes photos, artwork and a chronology.
invisible spacer dot E. E. Cummings Selected Poems edited by Richard S. Kennedy © 1994, Liveright Publishing Corporation, New York. ISBN: 0-87140-153-3 cloth, 0-87140-154-1 paper. Another book by Kennedy, organized around biographical information on Cummings, with the poems grouped by content. The book also contains black and white plates of Cummings' art and photography, and has one black and white photograph of Cummings at his studio window at Harvard.
invisible spacer dot Kennedy has also published a thorough yet readable biography of E. E. Cummings, Dreams in the Mirror, © 1980, Liveright Publishing Corporation, New York. ISBN: 087140155X. Also in paperback, © 1994, Liveright. Includes photos, drawings and bibliographical references. This is a must-read.
invisible spacer dot A rather artistically written biography of E. E. Cummings is found in American Writers. This article includes a bibliography. Check your library's reference department.
invisible spacer dot E. E. Cummings A Collection of Critical Essays, Norman Friedman, ed., © 1972, Part of the Twentieth Century Views series, contains essays by the likes of William Carlos Williams and Robert Graves, and an excellent bibliography. ISBN: 0131955454.
invisible spacer dot Re Valuing Cummings : Further Essays on the Poet, 1962-1993 by Norman Friedman, © 1996. I have not seen this book, however, the publisher's review at Amazon.com suggests Friedman's book could be essential in understanding Cummings and his works. ISBN: 0813014433.
invisible spacer dot Research Guide to Biography and Criticism, Literature, by Walter Beacham, © 1985, Research Publishing, Washington, DC. Five pages of resources to aid your research. Check your library's reference department for this one, too.
invisible spacer dot The Little Tree, illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray, © 1987, Crown Publishers, Inc., New York. ISBN: 0-517-56598-6. Cummings' Christmas poem brought to life by Ray's illustrations. Find a child and read this one together.
invisible spacer dot Hist Whist, illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray, © 1989, Crown Publishers, Inc., New York. ISBN: 0-517-57360-1. Cummings' Halloween poem beautifully illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray.
invisible spacer dot Microsoft Bookshelf '95 has a brief sound clip of (apparently) Cummings reading the first verse of anyone lived in. A black and white photograph of E.E. Cummings accompanies this article.

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Chronology
1894 invisible spacer dot Edward Estlin Cummings born, October 14, Cambridge, Massachusetts to Edward and Rebecca Haswell Clarke Cummings.
1911 invisible spacer dot Enters Harvard.
1912 invisible spacer dot First published poems in Harvard Monthly.
1915 invisible spacer dot Graduates Harvard Magna cum Laude, delivers commencement, "The New Art."
1916 invisible spacer dot Receives M.A. for English and Classical Studies from Harvard.
1917 invisible spacer dot Ambulance driver with Norton Harjes Ambulance Corps (American Red Cross), France.
invisible spacer dot Published in Eight Harvard Poets.
invisible spacer dot Imprisoned by French authorities on suspicion of disloyalty.
1918 invisible spacer dot Released from prison New Year's Day, returns to New York City.
invisible spacer dot Drafted into United States Army until Armistice.
1919 invisible spacer dot December 20: a daughter, Nancy, born to Elaine Orr [Thayer] and Cummings.
1920 invisible spacer dot Appears in the Dial.
1921 invisible spacer dot Returns to Paris and studies art. Remains until 1923 but often returns.
1922 invisible spacer dot The Enormous Room published.
1923 invisible spacer dot Returns to New York City. Resides at 4 Patchin Place, Greenwich Village.
1923 invisible spacer dot Tulips and Chimneys published.
1924 invisible spacer dot March 19: Marries Elaine Orr. They are divorced December 4.
1925 invisible spacer dot Receives the Dial Award.
invisible spacer dot & and XLI Poems published.
1925 invisible spacer dot Essayist for Vanity Fair and other journals until 1927.
invisible spacer dot Edward Cummings, father, dies.
1927 invisible spacer dot Marries Anne Barton
invisible spacer dot Him published.
1930 invisible spacer dot No Title and Anthropos: The Future of Art published.
1931 invisible spacer dot Visits Russia.
invisible spacer dot First major show of paintings at Painters and Sculptors Gallery, New York City.
invisible spacer dot CIOPW and VV (ViVa) published.
1932 invisible spacer dot Marries Marion Morehouse. *See note about this date.
1933 invisible spacer dot Guggenheim Fellowship.
invisible spacer dot Eimi and The Red Front published.
1934 invisible spacer dot August 31: Divorce to Anne Barton granted. *See note about this date.
1935 invisible spacer dot Tom and no thanks published.
1938 invisible spacer dot Collected Poems published.
1940 invisible spacer dot 50 Poems published.
1944 invisible spacer dot 1 x 1 published.
1945 invisible spacer dot Writes introduction to collection of Krazy Kat comic strips.
1946 invisible spacer dot Santa Claus (A Morality) published.
1947 invisible spacer dot Rebecca Haswell Clarke Cummings, mother, dies.
1950 invisible spacer dot Fellowship of American Academy of Poets.
invisible spacer dot Xaipe published.
1951 invisible spacer dot Guggenheim Fellowship.
1952 invisible spacer dot Charles Eliot Norton Professor at Harvard.
1953 invisible spacer dot i:six Nonlectures published.
1954 invisible spacer dot Poems 1923-1954 published.
1955 invisible spacer dot Special citation for Poems 1923-1954 by National Book Awards.
1957 invisible spacer dot Bollingen Prize in Poetry and Boston Arts Festival Award.
1958 invisible spacer dot 95 poems and E. E. Cummings: A Miscellany published.
1962 invisible spacer dot Dies September 3, North Conway, New Hampshire of a brain hemorrhage.
invisible spacer dot Adventures in Value with (Marion Morehouse) published.
1963 invisible spacer dot 73 poems published.
1965 invisible spacer dot Fairy Tales published.
1969 invisible spacer dot Selected Letters of E. E. Cummings published.
1972 invisible spacer dot Complete Poems: 1913-1962 published.
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*Note: invisible spacer dot Friedman, in E.E. Cummings A Collection of Critical Essays, gives 1932 as the year of Cummings' marriage to Marion Morehouse. However, in Dreams in the Mirror, Kennedy gives 1934 as the year of Cummings' divorce to Anne Barton, after which Marion Morehouse was considered Cummings' wife. Kennedy also states there is uncertainty as to whether Cummings and Morehouse actually held a wedding ceremony.

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Links

Linked sites will open in a separate browser window.

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invisible spacer dot My new favorite poetry site. Plenty of content (including EEC) found here:

Famous Poets And Poems - A large collection of Poems and Quotes from famous Classical Poets. Read and Enjoy Poetry!

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gold sphere graphic invisible spacer dot Grouped by themes and especially useful for teachers, Poems For All Occasions links to many poetry resources (including the above). Thanks to Sarah Morris for bringing it to my attention.
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gold sphere graphic invisible spacer dot Two poems by Cummings, a man who had fallen among thieves and anyone lived in a pretty how town, viewed from a med/lit POV are found here at NYU's Medical Humanities pages. Pretty interesting site; poke around.
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gold sphere graphic invisible spacer dot E. E. Cummings page at The Academy of American Poets. This page includes several of Cummings' poems and an audio file of Cummings reading "why must itself up every of a park."
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The following are not E. E. Cummings links, but are somehow related . . . in my mind, at least.
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gold sphere graphic invisible spacer dot Harvard University WWW Home Page .
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gold sphere graphic invisible spacer dot E. E. Cummings had a special relationship with Krazy Kat . . . his favorite comic strip. Elisabeth Crocker's site addresses Krazy Kat's gender-bending, and has annotated Krazy Kat comics as well. George Herrmiman's Krazy Kat .
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gold sphere graphic invisible spacer dot Where Cummings' friends and acquaintances (and many more) hang out . . . Great Writers .
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gold sphere graphic invisible spacer dot Cummings explored Cubism in his paintings, but I have found some disagreement on the carry-over of this style to his poetry. Richard Kennedy's Dreams in the Mirror clearly relates the Cubist influence in Cummings' poetry; George Haines IV's essay : : 2 : 1 ( E. E. Cummings A Collection of Critical Essays), disagrees, claiming this misunderstands "either Cummings or Cubism" (p.29). Here's another link about Cubism: Cubism from the WebMuseum.
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gold sphere graphic invisible spacer dot If only I would write according to Mr. Strunk's guidelines . . . this is site pre-E.B.W.
The Elements of Style.

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Notes on the capitalization of "E. E. Cummings"

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Thanks to Sangman Lee at Stanford University for providing a quote from the preface of E. E. Cummings Revisited, by Richard S. Kennedy, 1994. Here Kennedy states Cummings' name should name be capitalized, and that the E. E. Cummings Society has been working to correct the misinformation that Cummings had an all lower case version of his name legalized.

Norman Friedman's essays about this subject have been recently posted on the Grand Valley State University site. Please read these authoritative pieces.

However, note that the edition of American Writers I've seen states Cummings legalized "e. e. cummings" as the signature to his poems.

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This page is my attempt to provide information on resources about E. E. Cummings. Please note that I do not have any sources or references that are not listed on this page. I regret that I am not able to research sources for visitors to this site, honor requests for more information, about other websites, or critical reviews.
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All original text, graphics and artwork © 2000 Douglas M. Wipf.