E. E. Cummings: A Poet's Life

by Catherine Reef

Even before his groundbreaking style helped change the landscape of American poetry, E. E. Cummings was going against the grain. Defying the traditionalists of the early 20th century, Cummings lived a life devoted to the shifting archetypes of art and literature, and wrote some of the most celebrated poetry of the modern era. Nearly a century after his first works were published, E. E. Cummings is still inspiring readers. Noted nonfiction writer Catherine Reef provides a well-rounded portrait of Cummings while examining the culture in which he lived as he developed his craft. Serving as both an exploration of his rich and sensational life as well as a foundation from which readers can learn about his work, this comprehensive biography includes Cummings’s original sketches and paintings, quotes from friends and family, photographs, and the poetry of Cummings and his peers. Bibliography, endnotes, index.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Poetry, Art

160 pages, Hardcover

First published December 20, 2006

About the author

Catherine Reef is the author of more than 35 nonfiction books for young people. Her books for Clarion include the highly acclaimed JOHN STEINBECK and SIGMUND FREUD, which was the recipient of the 2002 Sydney Taylor Award, presented by the Association of Jewish Libraries. She lives in College Park, Maryland.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is aimed at the YA audience and I found it occassionally patronising in tone, but for the most part a pleasant read. It's quite heavily illustrated with photos and facsimilies and tries to explain not only the poet's life but how his work was experimental, innovative and challenging in terms of technique and sentiment (for its time).

I learned a lot, having previously known next to nothing about Cummings' life. He was a painter as well as a poet, heavily dependent financially on his parents for almost his whole life and only recognised for his genius quite late in life. He had a quite adventurous life, what with ending up interned in France during WWI and visiting Soviet Russia in the 1930s.

I can recommend this as an introduction to Cummings' life and work, but I still want to read a comprehensive biography aimed at adults.

[Audrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This rating is about this book in particular and definitely doesn't reflect my feelings about Cummings -- he is one of my favorite poets. But this was awfully dry. While it provides a nice overview of Cummings as a person, there's just not much personality to it -- which really doesn't fit with the person being described at all. I'm not convinced the book does him justice, especially since it seems to be targeted to young adults rather than adults. However, seeing a number of my favorite poems referenced here makes me want to go out and purchase a "greatest hits" collection of his work -- I'll have to look for one this weekend in Lexington at Joseph Beth's.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Catherine Reef writes some of the best YA and middle grade biographies. I find her writing style easy to read and understand. This book in particular has a good ratio of text and pictures. As always, the index is helpful. Reef does an excellent job of synthesizing information from her well-documented research.

Estlin Cummings believed in living life to its fullest. This brought him a lot of pain as well as joy. I never knew there was so much more to his poems than the abstract concepts they portrayed in an abstract way. He pushed the boundaries of language and grammar and meaning in creative ways and was a pioneer in doing so.

[Rebecca A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like artists' biographies. In this one, we get some info and insight into Edward Estlin Cummings. Born in 1894, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, his family expected great, though mundane, things of him.

What they got was an idiosyncratic, buck the tide poet, who hewed to his personal and artistic beliefs despite everything.

Author Catherine Reef does an excellent job of presenting the historical, familial, and personal contexts E.E. Cummings inhabited, along with the development of his personal art, a body of poems unlike any in American or world literature.

[Rebecca Tredway · Rating 3 out of 5]

The children's non-fiction section at the library has really interesting titles on display, so I finally picked up one. It was just the right length for my interest level and I learned a lot. Can't say I really like Cummings more after learning about him, but I do understand his work better.

[AnandaTashie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not really a "biography person" in the sense that I typically ever want to read several hundred pages. Also? It just feels very invasive. Saying that, this book's length (127 pages of writing; 149 total) worked well for me. I really love Cummings' poetry and became curious about the man himself. This book covered the major events of his life, shed light on what influenced his actions, gave glimpses of his personality and world views, delved into his writing process / meanings / publishing. I found some of the photos kind of irrelevant, but the writing was accessible and I stayed intrigued.

Estlin Cummings was brilliant, charismatic, a pusher of boundaries, not too fond of responsibility or authority, and had a strong desire to be ALIVE while here. Reading about his life was bittersweet for me. Aspects (like his relationship with his daughter) left me feeling sad; other parts were deeply inspiring. Glad I learned a bit more about him.

Things I wanted to remember:

- Cummings referred to Gertrude Stein's work "sound painting" (note: Tender Buttons).

- I want to research the Sedation Act of 1918.

- "The artist is merely the earth's most acute and wiley observer of everything-under-the-sun."

- Experimented with book titles by putting together two words that seemed to have nothing in common. I want to use this as a writing prompt for myself.

- "There is no such thing as 'doing wrong' or 'being right about something' -- these are 4th hand absurdities invented by the aged in order to prevent the young from being alive."

- IS = pure feeling / highest state of awareness. Parentheses = two events / thoughts occur at the same time. Unwritten words = how speech can trail off into thought.

- To his daughter: "Goodbye dear & next time when I feel a little better we'll ride on the donkeys & / next time on the pigs maybe or you will [ride] a bicycle & i will ride a swan & next / time when my heart is all mended again with snow & repainted with bright new / paint we'll ride you & I"

- Science: "(While you and i have lips and voices which / are for kisses and to sing with / who cares if some oneeyed son of a bitch / invents an instrument to measure Spring with?"

- "We can never be born enough. We are human beings;for whom birth is a supremely welcome mystery, the mystery of growing:the mystery which happens only and whenever we are faithful to ourselves. (...) With you I leave a remembrance of miracles:they are by somebody who can love and who shall be continually reborn."

- Fairy tale for his daughter, where the fairy flies to the moon to tell the old man to stop asking "why?" or he will fall back to earth. "And the little old man smiled;and looking at the faerie,he said "why?" and he fell millions and millions and millions of deep cool new beautiful miles(and with every part of a mile he became a little younger;first he became a not very old man and next a middle-aged man and then a young man and a boy and finally a child)until,just as he gently touched the earth,he was about to be born."

- "Buffalo Bill's / defunct / who used to / ride a watersmooth-silver / stallion / and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat / Jesus / he was a handsome man / and what i want to know is / how do you like your blueeyed boy / Mister Death"

[Mercurialgem · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had never heard of this Poet and this book was a great introduction..........lots of photos too - Loved it!

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I love E.E. Cummings. Though I think this book was dumbed down quite a bit, it gave me a nice overview of the life of someone so profoundly wonderful.

I wrote down some wonderful, perhaps even motivational, things he said.

It was a good read, I guess.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting examination of the poet's life. Certainly I learned a fair amount about the poet I hadn't known. I would have liked more about his writing style, more excerpts from letters etc. to flesh it out and make it sparkle more.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

My junior in high school daughter just wrote a paper on Cummings, and it brought me back to my high school years when Cummings was my favorite poet.

This is a biography aimed at yong adults, which is generally just right for most of us.

[Lois · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating Y/A biog. of American poet who broke the rules in his poetry & life, poems, details of Cumming's prose, plays & pictorial works, historical events & photos, info about other well-know poet friends, selected bibliog., published works, wonderful glossary; excellent writing

[Wally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent treatment of E E Cummings' life and work, with some good samples of his poetry. The book is geared towards teens, and so it elides some of his racier work, and sometimes seems a bit young, but otherwise a good examination of a major modern poet.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really easy to read, photograph filled biography. I knew a little about cummings from bits and pieces of lectures I had read, and Wikipedia, but this book shed more of the story and really revealed him and his background. Very happy to get into this book.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

Biography of Cummings aimed at middle/high schoolers. Quick and thorough, an interesting read with the bonus of a photograph of the genesis of "Buffalo Bill's /defunct".

[Sue Poduska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating life of the poet/artist/writer.