E.e. Cummings a Selection of Poems

by Horace Gregory (Contributor)

Excellent Book

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Literature, Nonfiction, American

Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Horace Gregory was a prize-winning American poet, translator of classic poetry, literary critic and college professor.

A graduate of the University of Wisconsin in 1923, he was the author of eight books of poems, and a memoir in 1971. He married poet and editor Marya Zaturenska (1902–1982), in 1925.

His collected essays were published in 1973. He also wrote book reviews that were published in the New York Times. His work appeared in The New Yorker Contemporary Poetry, The Wisconsin literary magazine, and Poetry Magazine.

His poetry is known for its dramatic structure and deep insights into contemporary life's harshness.

Gregory was a professor of English at Sarah Lawrence College, from 1934 to 1960.

During the end of his life, Gregory and his wife were residents of Palisades, Rockland County, New York.
His papers are at Syracuse University

Reviews

[Theo Logos · Rating 5 out of 5]

All poetry should be read aloud. E.E. Cummings poems demand more — they must also be visualized on the page. His unique use of punctuation, playfulness with upper and lower case, his run on words and line spacing on the page are as vital to his style as is his poetic voice. If you hear these poems without seeing them you are missing half the show.

And what a show it is! What a voice! Cummings poems are exuberant, erotic, full of life and a mad playfulness, yet always cognizant of looming death. His phrasing is brilliantly memorable —
O crazy daddy
of death dance cruelly
or —
spiral acres of bloated rose
coiled within cobalt miles of sky
and —
crazy jay blue)
demon laughshriek
ing at me
these but a taste of the feast offered up here for your wonderment.

These poems, selected from volumes spanning his career, reveal Cummings as the rarest of poetic birds — a Modernist without pretentiousness. While his poetry definitely broke with classical forms and forged a new way, he never forgot that poetry should be joyful, accessible, even playful. For that he has earned his place in my pantheon of all time greats.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don’t read e.e. cummings. Read e.e. cummings aloud.

[Anthony Clair · Rating 5 out of 5]

cummings remains one of my all-time favorite poets. My wife and I even had 2 cummings poems read at our wedding. I come back to this slim volume constantly, and occasionally reread it. The presentation is simple: just the poems, ma'am, just the poems. Poems are organized by the collection in which they originally appeared, with the collection's date.

This collection is a great way to revisit some of my favorites ("somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond" and "if i have made,my lady,intricate"), as well as a great way to get to know different poems from all across cummings' vast output.

[Emma Stockdale · Rating 5 out of 5]

"seeker of truth

follow no path
all paths lead where

truth is here"

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

just great poetry. I never wrote the same again.

[Mattea Gernentz · Rating 4 out of 5]

“in time of daffodils(who know
the goal of living is to grow)
forgetting why,remember how

in time of lilacs who proclaim
the aim of waking is to dream,
remember so(forgetting seem)

in time of roses(who amaze
our now and here with paradise)
forgetting if,remember yes

in time of all sweet things beyond
whatever mind may comprehend,
remember seek(forgetting find)

and in a mystery to be
(when time from time shall set us free)
forgetting me,remember me”

[Alex Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

e. e. cummings is just a tad too much for me. Also I would not recommend sitting down and straight reading this book; his poetry is definitely one just to be sampled bits at a time.

[Monique · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite reads and most prized possessions, for no other reason than it speaks to my heart. :)

[Landin Chesne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Generous wisdoms impart such as:

""& everything is easier
than I had guessed everything would
be;"

and:

"I am a shape that can but eat and turd"

masterfully, as to feel coherent & precise!

[Jaime]

I read all these poems out loud to my daughter in the morning. I liked the poems but they are insane to read OUT LOUD (in general) to a TODDLER (in particular) so I cannot really give this a star rating as it were!!!

[Gracie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My love for e.e. cummings will never fade. The innovative use of language, the avant-garde style. With just a few precise words he can usher in a rush of emotion or thought. Or simply create a beautiful image with his unconventional ways. But never are these beautiful images just that- there is always some underlying message, however subtle it may be.

"i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)" is by far my favorite, having been the first cummings poem that I read. I also quite enjoy "anyone lived in a little how town". It's so fun and yet serious. And catchy- "anyone lived in a little how town/with up so flowing many bells down"- who couldn't fall in love with that?

Some may not like the out-of-the-ordinary style and language, but that is exactly what drew me to cummings. The book was given to me by my mother, and is by far the most well-loved book on my shelf, with nearly every page dog-eared and with scrawled exclamation points on the side. I will never get tired of this collection of poems, discovering and interpreting new things with every read. Another thing that cummings' poems do very well- they grow with you. With every new life experience I am able to take something different, something deeper away from the poem.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so ashamed to say I've never read ee cummings before - how reprehensible is that? I read a scathing review where someone compared cummings to Joyce - Finnegan's Wake - and talked about how nonsensical he was. But that's kind of what I liked about this. This particular collection starts out more... collected... and slowly devolves (or evolves) into glossy (maybe) nonsense. And it's delightful. Sometimes, it's okay to ready poetry just for the string of words, to feel the way the words feel and taste in your mouth; to see if they make your salivary glands work overtime. cummings rips open the guarded chests of his readers and makes us feel - he writes about love. He writes about happiness. In a world where there is lots of sadness, this is welcome.

[T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

When my aunt heard that I love e.e. cummings, she gave me this book, her own copy, bought almost two years after I was born. That's a really long time. When she migrated to the US, she gave almost all of her books away. And this is probably one of those she kept with her through the years. She gave it to me together with a painting of Gustav Klimt's The Kiss. This is probably the closest we've ever been and will be.

Here, gratitude in cummings' voice:

Into strenuous birds shall go
my love walking in the grass

their wings will touch with her face
and all the while shall my heart be

With the bulge and nuzzle of the sea

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one's tricky, because I actually love some of the poems in here. Yeah, the punctuation and capitalization
is
al
l
differ;
ent and a little
overdonesometimes,
but it's also often highly effective. The problem with this collection, for me, was the hit-to-miss ratio. For every poem I realiy liked (and there were several -- Cummings sometimes has remarkably fresh imagery and he is a powerful poet of love and a kind of joie d'vivre despite the difficulties of life) there were several that I just did not like much at all. Still glad I read this collection, though.

[Shay · Rating 2 out of 5]

So as it turns out, I am very, very picky about my poetry and this was just not my cup of tea. The language was in turn flowery and seemingly nonsensical, and the love poems were a little much in my opinion. There were a couple of poems I really liked ("it may not always be so" and "if seventy were young", for example) but otherwise I was a bit bored and distractible when trying to get through this.

[Vin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do love eeyore comings; and goings

[Thalia Andasol]

disliked most of this. read it while drinking a lime margarita cider (girl beer). at one point, a guy at the bar open mic was performing celtic songs and that was far more enjoyable.

[Kristopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only took 4 years. But the good stuff takes the time it needs. “Poetry is immeasurable being, not measurable doing.”

“seeker of truth
follow no path
all truth leads where
truth is here”

“time is a tree (this one leaf)
but love is the sky and; am for you
just so long and long enough”

“ — ‘dying’ the ghost of you
whispers ‘is very pleasant’ my ghost to”

“Who are you, little i
(five or six years old)
peering from some high
window; at the gold
of november sunset
(and feeling: that if day
has to become night
this is a beautiful way)”

“My father moved through depths of height”

“A world of made is not a world of born”

“(And everybody never breathes quite so many kinds of yes)”

“and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)”

“(eternity being so sans until twice i have lived forever in a smile)”

“May came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world & as large as alone
For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea”

[Pand Milo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I figured at least one person would mention how he used not one but TWO slurs in one of these poems... and look, I understand that this was written a long time ago, but a slur is a slur! Not sure if the poem was satirical in nature, but I still wasn't fond of the usage.

In addition, his portrayal of women and mankind isn't the best. Almost seems like he tries too hard to be witty!

I do think, for historical and literary purposes ONLY, this is still worth reading. Cummings has an interesting musical quality to his poetry and plays a lot with line structure.

Great for studying, but otherwise okay at best and problematic at worst. Some works are best left in the past!

[Maggiemcbeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

“In your most frail gesture are thing which enclose me, your slightest look easily will enclose me.” uh oh barf! Love is not blind!

“(I do not know what it is about you that closes and opens; only something in me understands the voice of your eyes is deep than all roses)”

My reaction to his work is for sure a whirlwind, but I always land straight on my back, looking up, wondering how someone could birth such beautifully soft and authentic explanations of the human experience/existence. It speaks to so much more than just his own life, but to life as a whole.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t dislike cummings, but I do feel that his popularity has slowly declined over time. Reading this book in contrast with contemporary poets who have left me speechless, such as Joshua Bennett, Tiana Clark, and Ada Limon, cummings leaves me feeling wanting. His poetry is at times playful, but the deeper substance this play might convey seems to disappear once his poetry undergoes scrutiny beyond the linguistic level.

[emma]

often nonsensical, but greatly quotable. favorite line(s):

(i do not know what it is about you that closes and opens; only something in me understands the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Note to self: I read this thinking of buni and her early connection/admiration for e.e., but couldn't connect as well as I'd have liked. At times entertaining in his word play, but mostly hollow for my read.

[Tessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't finish bc I was bored, and irritated with his descriptions of women. Perhaps he is significant when it comes to the history of poetry, but I was not particularly enthralled with his work.

[Brittany Summers · Rating 2 out of 5]

My take-always from this book were the writer’s love of the use of flowers and sex. This author just isn’t for me.

[Meghan Violet · Rating 5 out of 5]

god its so good i cant wait to re read all of the poems a hundred times

[Claire Moynihan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My dog just ate the cover off of this

[Matt Maielli · Rating 3 out of 5]

“the sweet small clumsy feet of April came
into the ragged meadow of my soul.”

[Miranda Calvelo · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some amazing poems in here, but overall, E.E. Cummings’ style is just not for me.

[Taylor Torregrossa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My absolute favorite book of poetry. My brain is truly just aligned with the way E. E Cummings writes. I have an understand and connection with his poetry that I don’t have with any other poet.