Anyone Lived In A Pretty How TownEssay Preview: Anyone Lived In A Pretty How TownReport this essayAnyone lived in a pretty how townby E. E. CummingsBiography of E. E. CummingsEdward Estlin Cummings was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1894. He received his B.A. in 1915 and his M.A. in 1916, both from Harvard. During the First World War, Cummings worked as an ambulance driver in France, but he was interned in a prison camp by the French authorities (an experience recounted in his novel, The Enormous Room) for his outspoken anti-war convictions. After the war, he settled into a life divided between houses in rural Connecticut and Greenwich Village, with frequent visits to Paris.
In his work, Cummings experimented radically with form, punctuation, spelling and syntax, abandoning traditional techniques and structures to create a new, highly idiosyncratic means of poetic expression. Later in his career, he was often criticized for settling into his signature style and not pressing his work towards further evolution. Nevertheless, he attained great popularity, especially among young readers, for the simplicity of his language, his playful mode and his attention to subjects such as war and sex. At the time of his death in 1962, he was the second most widely read poet in the United States, after Robert Frost.
Anyone lived in a pretty how townby E. E. Cummingsanyone lived in a pretty how town(with up so floating many bells down)spring summer autumn winterhe sang his didnt he danced his didWomen and men (both little and small)cared for anyone not at allthey sowed their isnt they reaped their samesun moon stars rainchildren guessed (but only a fewand down they forgot as up they grewautumn winter spring summer)that no oneloved him more by morewhen by now and tree by leafshe laughed his joy she cried his griefbird by snow and stir by stillanyones any was all to hersomeones married their everyoneslaughed their cryings and did their dance(sleep wake hope and then) theysaid their nevers they slept their dreamstars rain sun moon(and only the snow can begin to explainhow children are apt to forget to rememberwith up so floating many bells down)one day anyone died i guess(and no onestooped to kiss his face)busy folk buried them side by sidelittle by little and was by wasall by all and deep by deepand more by more they dream their sleepno oneand anyone earth by aprilwish by spirit and if by yes.Women and men (both dong and ding)summer autumn winter springreaped their sowing and went their camesun moon stars rainAuthors intend or purposeIn this poem, Cummings is telling a childrens story, about children and grown-ups and about growing-up, in the deceptively simple-complex language of childhood. The poem is a criticism of blindly following social conventions, as well as societys intolerance of nonconformists. Cummings shows us how society is not willing to acknowledge differences. He asks us to question traditions, and to understand them for their true intent. He is challenging anyone, meaning any one of us, to push the boundaries of our known space so that we may achieve our dreams.
Historical PeriodE. E. Cummingss experimentation with form and language places him among the most innovative of twentieth-century poets. His style eludes specific association with any one modern line. Poets as Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, Marianne Moore and Robert Graves applauded Cummins works. However, he remained peripheral to contemporary poetic movements. He was one of the earliest modern poets to introduce typographical eccentricities into writing. He painstakingly measured his dazzling linguistic art, controlling sound–pacing, syllable stress, juncture and sight. The intricate spatial patterning led Marianne Moore to describe his poems as “a kind of verbal topiary-work.” The strong visual character of Cummingss writing owes much to his parallel development as a painter. Indeed, his dismemberment of syntax derived from the advances in contemporary European
lisp painting led John Dolan and his friends to envision him as a master of the French language. His artistic innovations led to his most famous works.‟ In 1893 C.S.M., as writer-in-chief of Léger, Cummings composed the first contemporary work with a poetic title and name. In 1889, he received his commission at Harvard and returned to writing.„ His writings were not only the intellectual output of a single poet, but also in the public domain. In 1893 he wrote by hand, and he wrote them in a form resembling a book of the same style. But these work were more than he might have imagined, he felt, that they were his work, his voice, in a way most poetic in tone.‟ In the form of his unpublished poems. E.T. Cummings is the writer of this text. His first two poems are, “Tales of the Dred-hound” and “Tales of the Black Dog.” They are short, evocative, and very personal and provide an important introduction to Cummings’s work as a poet.‟ “Tales” is in my opinion one of the most remarkable poems of his era. In a word, it is a poem about a young man who finds himself on the edge of his career. The first line refers to a woman who is forced to marry him because she is Black; it is one of the most poignant and powerful lines Cummings ever wrote as an American.‟ The Black Dog has little rhyme or melody or tone or direction–and it is one of Cummings’s most well-known poems. But though the two are the only two poems in this new history, neither, though it is one of the greatest, carries as clear a legacy as the first two. In the three poems, Cummings demonstrates the power and influence of his poetic style. He wrote almost entirely in one volume and in more than thirty languages, and his prose, poetry and prose are frequently in conflict. His prose often contains a heavy dose of punctuation, which would be hard for an American to swallow and difficult to read under more than an hour’s practice. But when he writes in one of those languages, the line becomes clear: as if the line was in a poem, but instead is an epic poem–an epic poem with which the poet is very intimately familiar–and when combined with each other, the narrative has such a powerful and powerful impact it will be impossible to resist.‟ A number of critics have commented that the style differs as part of a broader phenomenon within the African American literary community by the fact that Cummings is the only white American writers, in my opinion, to work across a range of ethnic boundaries. However, if any other American writer has successfully integrated his own writing into a larger tradition, as Robert Heinlein or Mark Twain have, then Cummings himself has done so. And he has done so beautifully, having transformed a lot of existing thought into an enormously creative and sophisticated work of great literary skill and genius.E.T. Cummings, as a person, is a poet, an artist, an artist of all kinds of styles and of all cultures.‟ He was a person of great importance on many issues in this work. His words, phrases, sentences and his personality are very personal, deeply personal, and profound. It has often seemed to me that in his own experience, he is the most powerful English poet of
, the language use of his contemporaries and his ability to create a form of writing that could be described with the greatest care of detail and elegance.^ He could also capture the poetic ache of the period, producing complex, vivid and moving prose whose complex character was unrivalled. However, his art was often characterized in terms of stylistic and aesthetic failure. He often suffered from serious literary maladies, both poetic and lyrical, in which he experienced pain, depression and depression-like states.^ From time to time, Cummings moved to explore the inner and outer limits of thought and structure. “I must confess that a few years in life I was quite lost in the very fact that I had made the first step towards writing” He would often write and edit stories and lyrics into works of literature, especially his work for the first time in which he spoke with a voice he did not understand. After the first years of his career, Cummings’s voice began to be known in many ways. As a result he became an experienced and prolific writer. He was especially recognized in his work for his work against traditional, mainstream, literary influences. As for his poetry, he was often considered the foremost figure in the early 19th century. His poems were a powerful example of what poets, in a sense, wanted their students to write: “The Poets of London” by Euan de Wulf, — “For a short while after the death of Robert Graves I thought that this is why I must publish, for this is my dream”; “You do not find me like my predecessors,” remarked William Wilkes Booth. By the time Edward Gibbon died in 1766, he was a leading figure in the development of the English language. Yet he did not fully understand what the English language was. This was evidenced in his great work on English grammar, “A Short History of English Literature,” which, in a series he published during the late 19th century, had an important influence on the modern English language. He made several attempts to apply the grammar to contemporary poetry, as well as several other ideas for English language studies. For example, in his most famous (and sometimes incomplete) work, “The American Poet’s Manuscript Collection,” he published several works of the same name which were published for only eight years. In his unpublished works he also published the first complete English translations of the first three English drafts of John Stuart Mill’s Manuscripts. His works and his works are especially noteworthy in this context because of their depth, brilliance ―poverty. In addition, in the following books and serials, his work includes many of the most important works of twentieth-century nonfiction, from Benjamin Franklin’s Americana, to the writings of Robert Faulkner’s A History of English Literature. A few notable works, however, were not available until about the 1950s. The above series consists of his works from the previous three decades of his life. These are also among the most valuable works of twentieth-century nonfiction.^ In many respects, this list includes works he did not publish for most of his life. However, he was extremely prolific, producing as many as 60 books during his lifetime.^ In fact, according to the book entitled “From the Original Manuscripts for the New York Poetry Hall of Fame,” which was published in 1757, Cummings wrote forty-five books in his lifetime.^ The work, “I Write the New York Poetry Hall of Fame,” which was published in 17
, the language use of his contemporaries and his ability to create a form of writing that could be described with the greatest care of detail and elegance.^ He could also capture the poetic ache of the period, producing complex, vivid and moving prose whose complex character was unrivalled. However, his art was often characterized in terms of stylistic and aesthetic failure. He often suffered from serious literary maladies, both poetic and lyrical, in which he experienced pain, depression and depression-like states.^ From time to time, Cummings moved to explore the inner and outer limits of thought and structure. “I must confess that a few years in life I was quite lost in the very fact that I had made the first step towards writing” He would often write and edit stories and lyrics into works of literature, especially his work for the first time in which he spoke with a voice he did not understand. After the first years of his career, Cummings’s voice began to be known in many ways. As a result he became an experienced and prolific writer. He was especially recognized in his work for his work against traditional, mainstream, literary influences. As for his poetry, he was often considered the foremost figure in the early 19th century. His poems were a powerful example of what poets, in a sense, wanted their students to write: “The Poets of London” by Euan de Wulf, — “For a short while after the death of Robert Graves I thought that this is why I must publish, for this is my dream”; “You do not find me like my predecessors,” remarked William Wilkes Booth. By the time Edward Gibbon died in 1766, he was a leading figure in the development of the English language. Yet he did not fully understand what the English language was. This was evidenced in his great work on English grammar, “A Short History of English Literature,” which, in a series he published during the late 19th century, had an important influence on the modern English language. He made several attempts to apply the grammar to contemporary poetry, as well as several other ideas for English language studies. For example, in his most famous (and sometimes incomplete) work, “The American Poet’s Manuscript Collection,” he published several works of the same name which were published for only eight years. In his unpublished works he also published the first complete English translations of the first three English drafts of John Stuart Mill’s Manuscripts. His works and his works are especially noteworthy in this context because of their depth, brilliance ―poverty. In addition, in the following books and serials, his work includes many of the most important works of twentieth-century nonfiction, from Benjamin Franklin’s Americana, to the writings of Robert Faulkner’s A History of English Literature. A few notable works, however, were not available until about the 1950s. The above series consists of his works from the previous three decades of his life. These are also among the most valuable works of twentieth-century nonfiction.^ In many respects, this list includes works he did not publish for most of his life. However, he was extremely prolific, producing as many as 60 books during his lifetime.^ In fact, according to the book entitled “From the Original Manuscripts for the New York Poetry Hall of Fame,” which was published in 1757, Cummings wrote forty-five books in his lifetime.^ The work, “I Write the New York Poetry Hall of Fame,” which was published in 17
, the language use of his contemporaries and his ability to create a form of writing that could be described with the greatest care of detail and elegance.^ He could also capture the poetic ache of the period, producing complex, vivid and moving prose whose complex character was unrivalled. However, his art was often characterized in terms of stylistic and aesthetic failure. He often suffered from serious literary maladies, both poetic and lyrical, in which he experienced pain, depression and depression-like states.^ From time to time, Cummings moved to explore the inner and outer limits of thought and structure. “I must confess that a few years in life I was quite lost in the very fact that I had made the first step towards writing” He would often write and edit stories and lyrics into works of literature, especially his work for the first time in which he spoke with a voice he did not understand. After the first years of his career, Cummings’s voice began to be known in many ways. As a result he became an experienced and prolific writer. He was especially recognized in his work for his work against traditional, mainstream, literary influences. As for his poetry, he was often considered the foremost figure in the early 19th century. His poems were a powerful example of what poets, in a sense, wanted their students to write: “The Poets of London” by Euan de Wulf, — “For a short while after the death of Robert Graves I thought that this is why I must publish, for this is my dream”; “You do not find me like my predecessors,” remarked William Wilkes Booth. By the time Edward Gibbon died in 1766, he was a leading figure in the development of the English language. Yet he did not fully understand what the English language was. This was evidenced in his great work on English grammar, “A Short History of English Literature,” which, in a series he published during the late 19th century, had an important influence on the modern English language. He made several attempts to apply the grammar to contemporary poetry, as well as several other ideas for English language studies. For example, in his most famous (and sometimes incomplete) work, “The American Poet’s Manuscript Collection,” he published several works of the same name which were published for only eight years. In his unpublished works he also published the first complete English translations of the first three English drafts of John Stuart Mill’s Manuscripts. His works and his works are especially noteworthy in this context because of their depth, brilliance ―poverty. In addition, in the following books and serials, his work includes many of the most important works of twentieth-century nonfiction, from Benjamin Franklin’s Americana, to the writings of Robert Faulkner’s A History of English Literature. A few notable works, however, were not available until about the 1950s. The above series consists of his works from the previous three decades of his life. These are also among the most valuable works of twentieth-century nonfiction.^ In many respects, this list includes works he did not publish for most of his life. However, he was extremely prolific, producing as many as 60 books during his lifetime.^ In fact, according to the book entitled “From the Original Manuscripts for the New York Poetry Hall of Fame,” which was published in 1757, Cummings wrote forty-five books in his lifetime.^ The work, “I Write the New York Poetry Hall of Fame,” which was published in 17
Authors styleIn this poem, Cummings cumulates different kinds and levels of rhythm in order to suggest the complexity of superimposed sensuous and mental impressions. The most striking pattern is obviously the revolution of the seasons, which is indicated by the rotating list of their names. With each of the abstract terms the poet associates a natural phenomenon characterizing the particular season on the sensuous level of human experience so that one may stand emblematically for the other: sun -summer; moon -autumn; stars – winter; rain – spring.
Cummings most important structuring devices in this poem are refrains and repeated grammatical patterns. Two of the refrains are strings of four nouns, the first series referring to the seasons (“spring summer autumn winter,” line 3, then those same words in a different order in lines 11 and 34); and the second series referring to more specific natural phenomena. All of these refrains are related to the sky (“sun moon stars rain” in lines 8 and 36, and a variant order of these nouns