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Hist Whist
Presents with illustrations the celebrated author's poem of ghosts and goblins, witches, and the devil
24 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
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105 people want to read
About the author
E.E. Cummings
369 books3,951 followersEdward Estlin Cummings was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 14, 1894. He began writing poems as early as 1904 and studied Latin and Greek at the Cambridge Latin High School.
He received his BA in 1915 and his MA in 1916, both from Harvard University. His studies there introduced him to the poetry of avant-garde writers, such as Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound.
In 1917, Cummings published an early selection of poems in the anthology Eight Harvard Poets. The same year, Cummings left the United States for France as a volunteer ambulance driver in World War I. Five months after his assignment, however, he and a friend were interned in a prison camp by the French authorities on suspicion of espionage (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. He also traveled throughout Europe, meeting poets and artists, including Pablo Picasso, whose work he particularly admired.
In 1920, The Dial published seven poems by Cummings, including "Buffalo Bill ’s.” Serving as Cummings’ debut to a wider American audience, these “experiments” foreshadowed the synthetic cubist strategy Cummings would explore in the next few years.
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 toward 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.
The poet and critic Randall Jarrell once noted that Cummings is “one of the most individual poets who ever lived—and, though it sometimes seems so, it is not just his vices and exaggerations, the defects of his qualities, that make a writer popular. But, primarily, Mr. Cummings’s poems are loved because they are full of sentimentally, of sex, of more or less improper jokes, of elementary lyric insistence.”
During his lifetime, Cummings received a number of honors, including an Academy of American Poets Fellowship, two Guggenheim Fellowships, the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship at Harvard, the Bollingen Prize in Poetry in 1958, and a Ford Foundation grant.
At the time of his death, September 3, 1962, he was the second most widely read poet in the United States, after Robert Frost. He is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts.
source: http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/e-...
He received his BA in 1915 and his MA in 1916, both from Harvard University. His studies there introduced him to the poetry of avant-garde writers, such as Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound.
In 1917, Cummings published an early selection of poems in the anthology Eight Harvard Poets. The same year, Cummings left the United States for France as a volunteer ambulance driver in World War I. Five months after his assignment, however, he and a friend were interned in a prison camp by the French authorities on suspicion of espionage (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. He also traveled throughout Europe, meeting poets and artists, including Pablo Picasso, whose work he particularly admired.
In 1920, The Dial published seven poems by Cummings, including "Buffalo Bill ’s.” Serving as Cummings’ debut to a wider American audience, these “experiments” foreshadowed the synthetic cubist strategy Cummings would explore in the next few years.
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 toward 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.
The poet and critic Randall Jarrell once noted that Cummings is “one of the most individual poets who ever lived—and, though it sometimes seems so, it is not just his vices and exaggerations, the defects of his qualities, that make a writer popular. But, primarily, Mr. Cummings’s poems are loved because they are full of sentimentally, of sex, of more or less improper jokes, of elementary lyric insistence.”
During his lifetime, Cummings received a number of honors, including an Academy of American Poets Fellowship, two Guggenheim Fellowships, the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship at Harvard, the Bollingen Prize in Poetry in 1958, and a Ford Foundation grant.
At the time of his death, September 3, 1962, he was the second most widely read poet in the United States, after Robert Frost. He is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts.
source: http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/e-...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
December 17, 2021
This was a pretty awesome experience! The art is superb and the themes are great! Amazing for the little horror-like fans!
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July 6, 2011e.e. cummings wrote multiple titles for children, I think because he appreciated their still malleable playfulness, their fun and irreverence for formula. This book of poems opens with the sun peeking up with a barnyard of animals and a rooster (here deemed a 'rowster' who shouts rawrOO)and then proceeds into Spring, when the world is 'mud-luscious' and 'puddle-wonderful'. Poem #5 exhorts 'we're anything brighter than even the sun/(we're everything greater/than books/might mean)/we're everyanything more than believe/(with a spin/leap/alive we're alive)/we're wonderful one times one". Many of the poems feature animals. One line, "your kingbird doesn't give a damn" shouldn't bother a grown-up reading to a child, but take note. The seasons pass from Summer, to Autumn, and the last poems are Winter. The final poem #20 has a child comforting the little Christmas tree "i will kiss your cool bark/and hug you safe and tight/just as your mother would,/only don't be afraid." Highly detailed, black and white illustrations are by David Calsada, an artist for whom I could find no additional published titles, surprising considering the prestige of this commission.
September 29, 2017
hist whist, written by accomplished and renowned poet E.E. Cummings and illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray, is a completely original and creative children’s poem book. This book would be best for third grade and up as the illustrations may be a little scary for young kids and the poem may be a little too complex. There are no awards for this book, but much like Angelou, E.E. Cummings does not need any additional accolades for his work, although the illustrations are certainly deserving of one. In classic E.E. Cummings form, he places weird spacing all throughout the pages of this book in between the word non-word choices to describe the various witches, mice and demons. This is a Halloween book that describes witches and demons do sinister activities, only to reveal its only kids at the end in costumes. It tells kids that its really not hat scary at all and puts a once chilling book into a much lighter note.
The literary devices used in this book are interesting s there is a wealth of alliteration used and a significant lack in rhyming. Kids may be confused that a poem book has no rhyming, but it shows them that poems don’t need to rhyme. It tests the kid’s reading comprehension as well, since many of these words are not actual words and the kids have to learn by context and by seeing what is in the pictures. This I a great and creative books for kids, especially for Halloween; and it is a great change of pace from any other children’s book due to the author’s writing style. Around Halloween time you can have kids write their own stories about ghouls and goblins. Or have an activity where they think, pair, share with a partner and share a time they were frightened or spooked by something only to realize, it was nothing to be scared of in the end. There are multitudes of lessons that can branch off from this book, which conveys how advantageous this book can be for kids.
The literary devices used in this book are interesting s there is a wealth of alliteration used and a significant lack in rhyming. Kids may be confused that a poem book has no rhyming, but it shows them that poems don’t need to rhyme. It tests the kid’s reading comprehension as well, since many of these words are not actual words and the kids have to learn by context and by seeing what is in the pictures. This I a great and creative books for kids, especially for Halloween; and it is a great change of pace from any other children’s book due to the author’s writing style. Around Halloween time you can have kids write their own stories about ghouls and goblins. Or have an activity where they think, pair, share with a partner and share a time they were frightened or spooked by something only to realize, it was nothing to be scared of in the end. There are multitudes of lessons that can branch off from this book, which conveys how advantageous this book can be for kids.
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March 5, 2022I don't really know how I feel about this story. I picked it up because I recognized E.E. Cummings as a poet. I didn't like the poem itself, but I thought that the illustrations were gorgeous. If anything, I think they told a better story than the poem itself. They made you feel as though you were walking alone in the woods on a cold, dark, foggy night, encountering some spooky things. But I don't know if I would keep this one in my classroom. There are other poetry books and other books where the reader must make silly noises, that I think I would rather keep in the classroom. Also though, there is a fun little surprise at the end that you don't see coming, so that was fun!
September 15, 2018
Gorgeous paintings evoke the mystery and creepiness of Halloween, using e.e. cumming's evocative poem (reproduced on one page in the back of the book) to tell a story. It begins, " hist whist little ghostthings tip-toe twinkle-toe. It's mostly sounds and rhythm, but the illustrator makes it into a story. We have all experienced the surreality of Halloween, knowing all the while it's just little kids on a trick or treat rampage.
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March 1, 2023I love this book and had a blast reading it for the first time. I love that the book is one poem that is split into sentences, and each sentence is given its own page. I think this book would be great to use to teach students not only about poetry, but also onomatopoeia, and what images we associate with sounds. I personally don't think the images would be too scary for younger children, but that also depends. I think they're fun and whimsical, much like the poem.
February 11, 2025
I love the abstractness of this poem all the random words are so fun. I think it’s perfect for Halloween time especially with the illustrations. Speaking of the illustrations they are gorgeous I love the way Deborah Kogan Ray draws all the characters I especially love the green devil he seems very friendly. I also like how the illustrations at the show how all the monsters and animals were costumes.
September 29, 2019
While his poetry is marvelous, I'm not sure this is for most families. Not sure about introducing toddlers to the devil imagery, especially if you come from a religious house hold. The illustrations are great and spooky, but may be not for toddlers.
October 20, 2022
I had to read it twice and I still did not enjoy it. I found both the poem and the illustrations to be creepy, but I guess the aim was for it to be spooky. I would not bring it into my future classroom.
October 18, 2018
This is so atmospheric! The devily part at the end is a bit spooky, haha. But I love how Cumming's word choice describes more of the feel of each creature than the creature itself. Very interesting.
December 16, 2018
I liked the illustrations. The poem is not much.
July 21, 2022
3.5
The illustrations bring the poem to life. Superbly done! If I had read the poem first, without the illustrations, I wonder what I would have visualized.
Filed with Halloween.
The illustrations bring the poem to life. Superbly done! If I had read the poem first, without the illustrations, I wonder what I would have visualized.
Filed with Halloween.
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November 24, 2022I feel like a lot of students would love to read this because you can have fun and play with the language.
April 21, 2023
Cute little book pictures were great
January 22, 2024
Şiirleri okumak cumming in tarzı nedeniyle biraz karışık fakat bu farklılık benim hoşuma gitti. İçerisinde 2-3 tane tekrar tekrar okuyacağım şiirler var kesinlikle.
February 19, 2025
A catchy poem for Halloween.
October 13, 2016
This is a very good book to read during Halloween. It is mysterious and dark. The pictures are brilliant with the way they are painted and they match with the rhymes perfectly.
October 30, 2011
wide reading for CI546
grade level: elementary in terms of language but much older in terms of devil imagery!
genre: halloween poem
school use: I think you might get some complaints from parents about the scary devils in this book were you to use it with young kids.
review: I actually think this is a beautifully illustrated book...but what starts as sort-of silly Halloween spooky gets a little crazy with very ghoulish pages of devil devil devil. The contrast with the silly kid pages is quite drastic. I liked it for myself but wondered if kids might find it too scary?
also it's bizarre that a lot of the goodreads comments seem to think this is a collection of poems? This is just ONE poem "hist whist."
grade level: elementary in terms of language but much older in terms of devil imagery!
genre: halloween poem
school use: I think you might get some complaints from parents about the scary devils in this book were you to use it with young kids.
review: I actually think this is a beautifully illustrated book...but what starts as sort-of silly Halloween spooky gets a little crazy with very ghoulish pages of devil devil devil. The contrast with the silly kid pages is quite drastic. I liked it for myself but wondered if kids might find it too scary?
also it's bizarre that a lot of the goodreads comments seem to think this is a collection of poems? This is just ONE poem "hist whist."
January 3, 2015
This is such a sweet little book, in a creepy way! It's the perfect picture book for Halloween. The illustrations are lovely, such rich colors and textures. The figures are soft and inviting (well some of them are inviting) and they go perfectly with the poem. A great book for introducing children to classic poetry.
April 19, 2013
One of my all time favorite writers! This is a poetry book, seeming very dark, creepy and morbid but ends on a light hearted illustration making it bearable for children to read with a smaller chance of having a nightmare. The book has wonderful illustrations and short stanzas of rhymes.
February 8, 2008
a collection of his poems that are theme appropriate for children. such fun language and sound play! so far lily likes the one with animal noises, but we never get much farther.
October 13, 2008
its the gratest book i have read and i have been reading it sence i was 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 11, 2010
the art is wonderful
October 16, 2012
This book was weird and kind of scary. I think the words were parts of poems, but it seemed like they were chants? The pictures were also very scary too!
January 3, 2013
Lovely book for children based on ee cummings poem Hist Whist. A little scary, so perhaps for older kids or very brave younger ones. I loved the art work!! Very cute poem!
October 1, 2013
Spooky little poem by e.e. cummings has become a family favorite. The drawings of the spectral beings in the book are brilliant. Love this slim volume of narrative richness.
October 21, 2013
It's... um... weird... yeah that's the right word for it O_o
September 20, 2016
Not a big fan of poetry books and this one didn't sway me. Nit really sure if there was a story. If there was then i didn't get it. Art was nice though.
October 18, 2016
This book is not my style. I expected something different entirely.
November 1, 2024
One of my all-time favorites for Halloween!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews