Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA on 14th October 1894, Edward Estlin Cummings attended Harvard University and graduated with a B.A.. in 1915 and an M.A. in 1916. He served as a volunteer ambulance driver in France with the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps, American Red Cross, during The First World War. Edward was imprisoned for three months in a French detention centre, having been mistaken as a spy. He went on to serve in the United States Army (1918-1919), then studied art in Paris (1920-1924).
Edward published his book “The Enormous Room” (1922) as a recollection of his imprisonment in France. The book explains in late August 1917, his friend and colleague, William Slater Brown (known in the book only as B.), was arrested by French authorities as a result of anti-war sentiments expressed in letters. When questioned, Cummings stood by his friend and was also arrested and the pair were imprisoned for over four months in La Ferté-Macé, France.
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| With his ambulance in France, WW1 |
He then had several collections of his poems published, experimenting with punctuation, line division, and capitalization, possibly influenced by the style of French poet Apollinaire. In a letter to young poets published in a high school newspaper, Cummings said, "[N]othing is quite so easy as using words like somebody else. We all of us do exactly this nearly all the time, and whenever we do it, we're not poets."
“The Enormous Room” by e.e. cummings is available as a download on Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8446/pg8446-images.html
e.e. cummings is how Edward preferred his name to be written.
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By French poet Apollinaire
an example of his word play |
XXX
i sing of Olaf glad and big
whose warmest heart recoiled at war:
a conscientious object-or
his wellbelovéd colonel(trig
westpointer most succinctly bred)
took erring Olaf soon in hand;
but--though an host of overjoyed
noncoms(first knocking on the head
him)do through icy waters roll
that helplessness which others stroke
with brushes recently employed
anent this muddy toiletbowl,
while kindred intellects evoke
allegiance per blunt instruments--
Olaf(being to all intents
a corpse and wanting any rag
upon what God unto him gave)
responds,without getting annoyed
"I will not kiss your fucking flag"
straightway the silver bird looked grave
(departing hurriedly to shave)
but--though all kinds of officers
(a yearning nation's blueeyed pride)
their passive prey did kick and curse
until for wear their clarion
voices and boots were much the worse,
and egged the firstclassprivates on
his rectum wickedly to tease
by means of skilfully applied
bayonets roasted hot with heat--
Olaf(upon what were once knees)
does almost ceaselessly repeat
"there is some shit I will not eat"
our president,being of which
assertions duly notified
threw the yellowsonofabitch
into a dungeon,where he died
Christ(of His mercy infinite)
i pray to see;and Olaf,too
preponderatingly because
unless statistics lie he was
more brave than me:more blond than you.
https://poets.org/poem/i-sing-olaf-glad-and-big
