Product Description
A rambunctious modern novel by the twentieth century's most inventive poet.

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1894, Edward Estlin Cummings rebelled against the prevailing values of his Harvard and Unitarianism-- steeped milieu. His relentless search for personal freedom led him to Greenwich Village in early 1917, where he established himself as a Modernist, composing his sui generis poems and abstract paintings. Later that year, he impulsively joined the war, serving in a Red Cross ambulance unit on the Western Front. His free-spirited, combative ways, however, soon got him tagged as a possible enemy of La Patrie, and he was summarily tossed into a French concentration camp at La Ferte-Mace in Normandy.

Unexpectedly, under the vilest conditions, Cummings found fulfillment of his ever-elusive quest for freedom. The Enormous Room (1922), the fictional account of his four-month confinement, reads like a Pilgrim's Progress of the spirit, a journey into dispossession, to a place among the most debased and deprived of human creatures. Yet Cummings's hopeful tone reflects the essential paradox of his experience: to lose everything--all comforts, all possessions, all rights and privileges--is to become free, and so to be saved. Drawing on the diverse voices of his colorful prisonmates--Emile the Bum, the Fighting Sheeney, One-Eyed Dah-veed--Cummings weaves a "crazy-quilt" of language, which makes The Enormous Room one of the most evocative instances of the Modernist spirit and technique, as well as "one of the very best of the war-books" (T. E. Lawrence). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

One of the greatest books ever written in English!
Perhaps the fact that, as I view this item, there is only one copy left in stock speaks volumes about the story itself. In continuous print since its original publication in 1921 (or 1922, I can never remember precisely), The Enormous Room is Cummings' tale of his ordeal as a prisoner of the French government during WWI. Cummings & his friend, William Slater Brown, being pacifists volunteered to drive ambulances for a French company. However, when they found that the paranoid French were heavily censoring their letters home & were spying on the foreign nationals that worked for them, Brown in particular began to include many salacious bits in his letters in order that he might really raise the ire of the censors, never thinking that he & his friend could be arrested for sedition or whatever it was that they were charged with. For four months, Cummings spent time in the grueling hell of La Ferte Mace, suffering greatly at the hands of the French who were supposed to be our allies.

Still, rather than see this as a moment to whine about his predicament, Cummings instead employed his usual individualist outlook onto the situation. As only Cummings can, he brings to life his experience through his use of language--his characteristically lyrical English with liberal doses of his aurally received French sprinkled throughout. This edition has a handy glossary at the back to help with the translation of the massive amount of French in the book, & it also contains the original illustrations, restored to the text as Cummings himself had wanted. The use of French is interesting in itself because of how Cummings & Brown would learn the language. At the outset, their adventure begins in chaos as they are lost in Paris with no way to find their ambulance company headquarters (not that they had the desire to find their post, either). During this time, they learned French while spending time with "ladies of the evening" in the Parisian pubs of the day. This colloquial French is what finds its way into the book, with many intentional misspellings that represent to the reader the experience Cummings & Brown would have had as Americans galavanting about Paris with absolutely no knowledge of the language or the customs of the locals. It is this almost childlike approach to experience that Cummings brings to the horror of his French prison ordeal, allowing him to elevate the human spirit, through comedy & through his unique outlook on life, in a way that can only be said of E.E. Cummings.

There are many direct allusions to "A Pilgrim's Progress," an old, English morality play (by Bunyan, I believe), as Cummings sees his imprisonment as his own odyssey of a sort. Of course, as is often the way with Cummings, there is also a healthy dose of his philosophy of the individual, of the indomitability of the human spirit, & of his sense of wonder at everything around him. He conveys things through language in a manner that is specific to the poet yet is undoubtedly the hand of a gifted novelist & storyteller. In so many ways, Cummings allows you to feel every second of his experience, at once awe-ful & awesome, a true journey to the depths of hell & back out through his own purgatory to a final salvation as he realizes that even at his lowest, he was always the free-minded individual who refused to be conquered by circumstance. This book stands alone among the many WWI novels. This is a story that is distinctly E.E. Cummings, distinctly the concision of a poet, yet beautifully crafted narrative that allows us to enter into his experience as he brings it to life on the page.

I highly recommend "The Cummings Typescript Editions" printing of this book, with forward by George J. Firmage. This edition, of all the editions I have found, is the most true to the author's original intent & contains the manuscript as he himself envisioned it (he actually oversaw a reprinting of the book, I believe in 1935 though it might have been 1928, in which he restored all of the language as he intended it, but I do not believe this version had any of the drawings he had made for the book). The flow of the text, the very helpful glossary of French idioms, & the emotive pencil drawings that illustrate the text make this a truly unique printing of this story. It is certainly worth owning, especially if you're a fan of Cummings already. If you have never read Cummings, this is certainly a good place to start because this was his very first book, a novel, published well before he ever put out a book of poems, though as I've said the poet is certainly present in the way he crafts the narrative to bring to life the imagery that makes up any good story. Of course, given the level & copious amount of French in the book, once you've gone through it using the glossary to understand everything, you really should go back through it at least one additional time just to experience the story all the way through as a continuous work, without stopping to look up the meanings you hopefully have retained from your first read through. This book is well worth the time & effort that several readings require, but I'm not really sure it's fair to call such pleasured reading "effort."

Lovely prose from a master poet
This book is a revelation. I never knew that e.e. cummings even wrote prose, having only studied his poetry in school and college. The author's brilliance and humanity is beautifully evoked in this unusual masterpiece, as he relates his inexplicable and unimaginably horrendous incarceration in WWI France. Cummings approaches the ordeal with surprising good humor, finding beauty in the tiniest squalid detail and human encounter. Pardoxically, his portrayal of his (comically inept!) French goalers is both funny and devoid of rancour.

Non-French speakers may find difficulty due to the many French words and expressions cummings intersperses in his rendition and dialogue, including turn of the century "argot" no longer in current use.

An exquisite work of literature.

Plotless Series of Character Sketches Make the Work a Bore
This is not a book for everyone.I received this book as a gift from a relative, and that's the main reason I thought I'd try it.The book is a portrayal of E.E. Cummings' imprisonment in France during WWI, and the bulk of the work is a portrayal of the many characters Cummings saw at the prison -- and the many cruelties they suffered at the hands of their keepers and each other.While Cummings' prose is casual, ironic, and sometimes amusing, the work as a whole suffers from a lack of a plot to drive it forward.I frequently grew tired of reading one elaborate character sketch after another.Other people obviously are forgiving of this fault because they enjoy Cummings' prose so much, but I couldn't bear it.

Interior Decorating
Best known for his poetry, "The Enormous Room" may seem like a departure for e.e. cummings.The artist turned his experience as a prisoner-of-war in France during WWI into a lyric memoir that reads like a novel.At times poetic, at others almost laughingly absurd in its depictions of the absurdities of imprisonment, "The Enormous Room" is a delectable read.

Cummings begins his novel by recounting his arrest and that of his friend, referred to only as B.They are eventually separated, and questioned, only to be reunited in jail.Apparently B. wrote some letters that the French censors considered to be seditious, and since Cummings was his constant companion and wouldn't denounce his friend, he was sent to jail as well.The remainder of the novel is filled with sketches of everyday life and the fellow inmates that Cummings befriends during his stay.For that reason, it reads like a series of vignettes rather than a cohesive novel.

While I enjoyed the book overall, I did not like the edition I had - an older printing of the Everyman's Library, which included no translations for entire conversations in French.Perhaps the most poignant aspect of "The Enormous Room" is the letter included at the start, written by Cummings' father as he tries to discover exactly what has happened to his son.Anyone familiar with the poems of e.e. cummings can see the poetry in his prose, in his descriptions and observations about life in jail, and the delight he takes in the rare moments of beauty that he could find.

Great, but not a classic.
Never more relevant than today, eighty-some years removed from World War I (to end all wars, ironically), this book deals with issues that nations still have not seemed to solved: fascist governments, disregard for due process, injustice in the name of expediency and national security.That the US quarantines Japanese-Americans twenty years after its first run only embarasses us; that eighty years later we still do the same thing breaks your heart.

Mr. Cummings writes in a sort of stream-of-consciousness first person, something on the order of Romantic prose mixed with his own style that is inimitably his own.A student of Cummings might be quick to see the parallel between his earliest poems and that evolution to his modern free verse, as taking place within this novel right before one's eyes.

Enjoyable stories, and Mr. Cummings and his friend are something of snobs, something of braggards even (becoming fluent in French after two weeks is extremely hard to believe).The annoyance quickly passes (and crops up again whever he mentions how much more evolved he is than other Americans) when he paints such vivid mental images of life in the enormous room, the ennui and absurdity of being held without due process, and the veritable Ellis Island of characters populating his new world.

A reader would do well to approach this book without reading the hyperbole of its back cover or the well-meaning but misguided praqises of some reviewers.This is a great book, but not a classic.Cummings is not a master novelist, which does not dimish his effort or take anything from his creative genius.Rather, it is much like falling into the trap of thinking a master in one form can be a master in another.Enjoy the reading, and marvel at ironic relevance it holds for us today.

Fred ... Read more

Product Description
This is the first selection from the poems of e.e. cummings to be published since 1959, five years before the poet's death. The 156 poems selected by cummings' biographer are arranged in twelve sections, each preceded by an illustration by cummings, many never before seen. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

e e cummings poems applicable to today's society
kennedy delivers an effective compilation and frames it with an introduction that explains how amazing this poet really is.in a world dominated by hypocracy veiled in meaningless procedures and technicalities, and supported by misguided veneration of randomly applied rule of law, cummings' poems serve to expose lies and the transcendence of values in western society. there is a great deal to learn from e e cummings.This book is a good start.

Cummings by subject
This edition of E.E. Cummings' poetry is easy to access: Kennedy organized the poetry based on subject: Childhood, War, Politics, etc. In addition, the book includes some of Cummings' sketches and paintings. Though I love the book, some of my favorite poems were not included. My goal is to get the book of all his poems from 1917-1962.

not even the rain has such small hands
Everyone should read ee cummings, even non-poetry lovers will love cummings whimsy and clever wordplay.He has also written the most beautiful, most romantic poetry of anyone in the English language.

e.e. rules!!!
One of the great poets of the 20th century gets a nice treatment here.A few of my favorites were not included (disappointed!!), but all in all this is a solid, representative anthology.

EEEEEEEEECAPITALEEEEEEEEEE
This is not a review. It is a complaint about the review I just read critisizing the editors of this fine collection. E.E. Cummings HATED that his publishers put his name in all lower case. He was not emphatic about it. He thought it was gimicky and exploitive of his publishes.
Whoa, when'd this horse get so high. ooop
S. ... Read more

Product Description
This centennial edition of E. E. Cumming's Complete Poems, published in celebration of his birth on October 14, 1894, contains all of the poems published or designated for publication by the poet in his lifetime.

At the time of his death in 1962, E. E. Cummings was, next to Robert Frost, the most widely read poet in America. Combining Thoreau's controlled belligerence with the brash abandon of an uninhibited bohemian, Cummings, together with Pound, Eliot, and William Carlos Williams, helped bring about the twentieth-century revolution in literary expression. He is recognized on the one hand as the author of some of the most beautiful lyric poems written in the English language, and on the other as one of the most inventive American poets of his time—in the worlds of Richard Kostelanetz, "the major American poet of the middle-twentieth-century." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (30)

A different look
The world is a different place when seen through the eyes of E. E. Cummings--or is it e.e.cummings?! To randomly read his work is to become somewhat disoriented by the thoughts, the violations of all one's carefully learned rules of grammar.It's like being launched into space, an other-worldly experience; and yet, it's all rooted in our worldly existence.It really must be viewed on the page and read outloud.

e.e. cummings is the best!
Some of e.e. cummings' poems are esoteric, but many of them are absolutely beautiful.Give him a chance and read as many as you can.You will not be disappointed.

E.E. Cummings: Complete Poetry
Awesome. If you love poetry, and if you do not have this book on your shelf,then there is something wrong. Very moving and wonderfully written and edited. Kudos. Kudos

be your own judge...
ee cummings is my favorite poet, so obviously I'm a little biased. But if you love poetry you'll appreciate cummings' unique style, emotion, thought process and expression that will make you think about what his writing means for days on end.

I've tried to illustrate his poems, never doing them any justice, but it's a fun exercise in understanding what he felt when writing.

If you're knew to ee I would suggest reading one of his poems, just one... flip through the book and pick any single one of them, then you'll know what I mean.

No Table of Contents
I need to read 3 specific poems, and there's no way to see if they are included without being able to : "See Inside". ... Read more

Product Description
These whimsical, timeless tales, by one of our most treasured poets, will appeal to any generation.

The four tales in this enchanting, newly illustrated volume, tell of lonely and extraordinary characters finding friendship in unlikely companions. In "The Old Man Who Said Why" a wise fairy's kind nature is taxed when one old man's questions throw the entire heavens into madness. In "The Elephant and the Butterfly" and "The House That Ate Mosquito Pie" shyness is overcome by the compelling love of new friends. "The Little Girl Named I" is a conversation between the author and a small girl, in the manner of A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh.

Clever, insightful, and magical, peopled with vivid characters—a house that prefers one bird to any human inhabitants, an elephant paralyzed with delight, a fairy who "always breakfasted on light and silence"—here are tales as only Cummings could write them. A delightful and surprising gift for anyone, young or old. 21 watercolors. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Children's Fairy Tales for Adults
This book of fairy tales is full of great lessons for adults, and they are fun to read.They are more fun if read out loud!They don't appear to be teaching a lesson.However, the lesson is hard to miss.

Fun fun fun to read and hear
These short stories are perfect, bedtime or anytime.They move along quickly and with a little bit of intonation go a "long, long, long, long, long" way in giving young children an appreciation of reading. Along with Oscar Wilde's children's stories and Dr Seuss's books, this is one of thebest additions you can ever make to your child's library.The artwork is also superb.

Great stories
The wording is difficult to read aloud to a young child, but the stories are fun and my two year old enjoys them.She really likes the artwork in the book.

Gentle, loving, and sensitive.
Cummings may be known for his unique style of poetry, but he should also be remembered for the most sensitive, loving fairy tales of the 20th Century. Read them to your children, no matter how old they are. I have been reading them for over 35 years.-- Sam Yulish, author of "Where Have All the Hippies Gone?" and "The Hesitant Psychic and other Strange Stories."

Charming.
The dedication of this volume tells us that Cummings wrote these tales for his daughter when she was a very little girl. But even if it hadn't, any reader would have known. As you read, it's as if you can hear a parent telling the stories to his child over a sleepy bedtime. The stories have an effortless feeling as if they are being spoken rather than written. This free and easy quality combined with the spectacularly imaginative subjects make for a really fun reading experience.

Unless you have a really patient child, however, I wouldn't recommend this edition for sit-on-the-lap reading. The illustrations aren't particularly engaging. Rather, I would let your kids sit down with some blank paper and a box of crayons and ask them to draw their own pictures while you read out loud to them. Or read to them at bedtime when their eyes are closed. These are the kinds of stories to be savored by the senses rather than "follow-along-while-I-read." ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (34)

One of my favorites!
I love this collection! Some are cute or funny, others are quite romantic or sexy. I think this plus a book of poems by Pablo Neruda makes a nice combination for poetry lovers (like Neruda's love sonnets). That way you get lots of fun and sexy and loving emotions all rolled into one. A great gift for high school or college students who are just getting into poetry or who adults who like a little fun in their literary lives.

A great introduction to e. e. cummings
e. e. cummings is one of my favorite poets, and this collection of his poems is a treat for any fan of his verse. The innovativeness of his language and the freshness of his images are continuously inspiring. It is sometimes hard to believe that most of these poems have been written well over half a century ago - they have all aged remarkably well. This is a testament to the simplicity and the permanence of the themes and ideas that e. e. cummings dealt with, and the original and inimitable way that he approached them. And if you are not already familiar with e. e. cummins' writings, this collection is one of the best places to start getting to know this great American poet.

Ranging From Profound to Messy
I like to refer to E. E. Cummings as a master of metaphor and incoherency.He may have a list of stupidly random words and phrases like "colon hobby photography" in a poem and then suddenly use a really neat phrase like "pulling all the sky over him with one smile" in the midst of the messy jumble.

But he RARELY becomes more coherent for more than a stanza.Here's one I think is good:

pleasure and pain are merely surfaces
(one itself showing, itself hiding one)
life's only and true value neither is
love makes the little thickness of the coin

And here's one that ain't quite up to it:

nothing may, quite
your my (my your
and) self without,
completely dare
be beautiful

Anyhow, in addition to a large mess, there are many good metaphors in his poems - comparing the sun to a worker striking for a living wage, and death putting on a universe (like a garment I imagine), but his primary trait that sets him apart from other poets seems to be his constant personification of words like when, where, until, most, etc.The punctuation really isn't very noticable.

I like the imagination of Cummings, but sometimes he's just too incoherent for my taste.Although he did say a few things I'd like to keep in mind:

"Deeds cannot dream what dreams can do"
"How should contented fools of fact envision the mystery of freedom?"

These kind of remind me of the Road Song of the Bandar Log from the Jungle Book.

i love e.e. cummings
But you don't have to... e.e. cummings is not for everyone, but this collection of poems hits the spot.Great for an e.e. fan.

Great gift.
This was a great little book.It was bought as a gift for my daughter. ... Read more

Product Description
E. E. Cummings’s erotic poems and drawings gathered in a single volume.

Many years ago the prodigious and famously prolific E. E. Cummings sat in his study writing and thinking about sex. His private brooding gave way to poems and drawings of sexual and romantic love that delight and provoke. Here, collected for this first time in a single volume, are those erotic poems and sketches, culled from Cummings’s original manuscripts by the distinguished editor George James Firmage.

from “16”
may i feel said he
(i’ll squeal said she
just once said he)
it’s fun said she
(may i touch said he
how much said she
a lot said he)
why not said she

Customer Reviews (1)

Erotic Poems
Many know and love e.e. cummings, one of the masters of modernist poetry.His style is distinctive in its use of punctuation and grammar, and poems such as "in Just-" and "maggie and millie and molly and may" are staples of school curriculums.But many don't know that cummings was known during his lifetime as a master of "adult" poetry, and his collection of erotic work has been collected into a new, exciting volume.The poems in //erotic poems// might not be appropriate for the classroom, but they are as celebratory and memorable as cummings' other work.

e.e. cummings was as playful with words as he was innovative, and this playfulness can be seen both in his joyfully sensual poems and his erotic line drawings.This is not porn by any stretch of the imagination; rather, the energetic sketches echo figure studies done by modernist contemporaries like Pablo Picasso.And the poems rely on sound and metaphor to convey their sensualism.Worms wriggle through soft dirt, a crisp city rises, fur turns electric, and jiggling, hushing, and oh's abound.Some are purely romantic, some are downright X-rated, but all are filled with joy for the act of love.

Reviewed by Katie Cappello ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Satisfied
Extremely fast delivery from this vendor!Book was in good condition - pages clean, not much yellowing, binding solid, hard cover nice.For $45 I was surprised to see a little mold on the edges of the pages.However, this item is hard to come by and I really wanted it to replace my decrepit softback copy, and that drives the price!

Certainly complete
A little difficult to read (content and form).There's alot more here than the small letters.

not just anybody...
'anybody lived in a pretty how town
with up so floating many bells down'

The poetry of ee cummings is something that most Americans gain exposure to during secondary school (and very rarely in the education of those outside America) -- he is often seen as an acceptable example of one who broke the rules -- rules, the teacher will often hasten to add, which must be mastered before they can be acceptably broken.

Yet this is not what ee cummings would hope had come of his legacy. In reading his poetry in this edition, his prose, his theatrical writings, and his unpublished manuscripts (some of which have been published under the title Etc.), a new vision begins to emerge of a real maverick--not someone who wanted to break the rules, but someone who eschewed the idea of rules so completely that breaking them was beyond the question, for that would have to recognise the value of the rules.

And yet, some rules creep in:

'the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls
are unbeautiful and have comfortable minds
(also, with the church's protestant blessings
daughters, unscented shapeless spirited)'

This is a classic example of a cummings sonnet--adhering to rhyme and meter, yet very original.

Or, perhaps not that original. Unfortunately, ee cummings has become a conventional unconventionality. He was a success at being different--at one point only cummings and Frost, New Englanders both, with very different vines growing on the respective sides of their fence, were able to make a living solely from their writing while concentrating on poetry.

This text almost all of the poetry cummings produced in his lifetime. In this we find his faith, his politics, his social criticism and his social prejudices, and his ideas of love and desire.There are other poems that go beyond this text (including ones never published in his lifetime) that are not included here, but this contains everything major, and all for which cummings became known.

Some of his poetry is best meant to be read aloud, as all good poetry ultimately finds its best expression not on the lifeless page but in the spirited, feeling telling. There is an incredible sense (try reading it aloud, slowly).

Some of the cummings poetry, however, is simplicity and verges on the concrete. These sometimes resort to cleverness that might have been genius of observation at the time but unfortunately due to overexposure now just seem an elementary type of cleverness. Of course, simplicity is so often overlooked, that when it is seen, we often react not as we should.

Arrangement on the page is so critical to cummings perception of how things must be that the lastest editions of his poetry are put in typewriter typeset (the way he composed and envisioned his poetry). The medium is part of the message, he would have said.

Try to read cummings with a new eye, and look for that which would have been shocking to the more standard and rule-bound Cambridge soul.

More than I could possibly describe
Not being able to remember a first line, which could be easily found in the Index of First Lines starting at page 849, I just looked through hundreds of pages trying to find a poem whose last line is spread over seven lines on page 700.These poems are not always easy to read, and now that I have found this one, I would love to share it with anyone who might be interested:

as joe gould says in

his terrifyingly hu
man man
ner the only reason every wo
man

should

go to college is so
that she never can(kno
wledge is po
wer)say o

if i

'd
OH
n
lygawntueco

llege

Good, I hope, for a polymorphously perverse heterosexist.
There may be some problem, like am I being retro? with the way that I think about the poems in this book, because I tried to read the whole book more than twenty years ago, and was so impressed that when an Etcetera collection of additional poems came out in 1983, I bought that too.I'm not sure I know anyone now who would even consider reading a book this big if it was just poems.The big revelation in the 1913-1962 collection, as far as I was concerned, was the poem "the boys i mean are not refined," which was first published in a limited edition of nine copies in 1935, according to the first paragraph of the inside flap of the First American edition 1972 of Complete Poems 1913-1962, which I still have.That poem, in particular, taught me a lot about culture, and how someone (famous) who knew what culture was could know what could be said, while others might just "speak whatever's on their mind."This might be close to what the verses in Proverbs that try to describe the difference between a wise man and a fool are trying to say, and it was great to find that someone who might be considered almost as modern as myself could be sensitive to this kind of thing, almost like hearing John Prine wondering if it would be possible for him to still blush in some song he wrote.

Even I don't read much of this book at any one time, anymore, but I appreciate how well it stores its pleasures.One of the curiosities of poetry is that it can be incredibly difficult to find a poem unless the first line is the one that pops into the appropriate recall mechanism, whenever a poem is thought of, and this book has been around a long time because, even when I don't know if I will be able to find what I am looking for, it is interesting to look through it trying to find the last line of a great poem that was greater at the end than at the beginning.My favorite poem in this book starts out with "jake hates/all the girls" but the great thing is an unexpected rhyme scheme, which jumps around from bold, meek, sleek, cold in the first verse to lean, mean, clean, green in the last.Actually, this poem might be considered utterly devastating if there was anything personal about it, but thoughts about all the girls have been on the conscience of philosophy about as long as books have been maintained for the future, and it does my heart good to see a poet try to join in the mess surrounding this topic.What I mean is, I think this poem is good in a way that centuries of being modern might try to deny, but it is here, under a number 21 in a section titled XAIPE, originally published in 1950, when I was alive and maybe even speaking, if something reminded me of my mother.Actually, she might not like this poem, so I think it's funny, if anyone can understand the humor in that.These reviews aren't supposed to be by great critics; they are just supposed to say: buy this book. ... Read more

Product Description
Reissued with a new preface for the centennial.Along with Pound, Eliot, and Joyce, Edward Estlin Cummings is one of the leading American poets who revolutionized literary expression in thetwentieth century. He was also a Cubist painter, a champion of the little man, a brilliantconversationalist, a romantic idealist, a famous irrational curmudgeon, and husband to three ofthe most beautiful women of his time. Thiscritical biography merges these various selvesinto one fascinating life story, many chaptersof which could be mistaken for a great romanticnovel. In following Cummings's development as a poet, it also includes a large number ofpreviously unpublished poems and drawings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A thorough biography of Cummings' life and writing
*Dreams in the Mirror* is a well-written, thorough biography recounting E.E. Cummings' childhood, his early gifts with language, his changing relationship with his father, his war experiences, what he valued and how he reacted to the world around him. I love the fact this book gives the reader a glimpse into what motivated Cummings and how these relate to his poetry. This isn't a book limited to biographical information, though: Kennedy provides literary criticism and analysis, and even though I didn't always agree with Kennedy's assertions, I appreciated the scholastic look at the pieces. He provided me new insight into a few poems. I highly recommend this book for Cummings lovers.

A Complete Biography
This book outlines every facet of the facinating life of E.E. Cummings.A must read for anyone researching or interested in his life.

Reason Without Rhyme
'Dreams in the Mirror: A Biography of E.E. Cummings' is a precise account of a unique, creative poet. Richard S. Kennedy has made sense of the seemingly incoherent mind that made the literary world spin in a profoundly deconstructed orbit during the period following Cummings' graduation from the Harvard School of Arts and Sciences in 1916. Perhaps the most significant element of Kennedy's book is the previously unpublished Cummings' poem discovered in the dusty closet of a Tunisian Bed&Beakfast he'd occupied in 1931. Titled 'Insanity is Just a Mind of State', it is one of Cummings' most autobiographical works, revealing the poet's life-long regret that he'd never wrestled an alligator. The lament, on page 79, reads:

'i'm mad; say they
but Almonds aren't NUTS!
(is) thE river SEINE in pariS;?'

The human mind is a beautiful thing.

Dreams In The Mirror
a wonderful book... especially the love story and photos of cummings and marion moorehouse

"Dreams" a thought provoking bio
Recently having completed DREAMS IN THE MIRROR, I can say that I haven't read a better biography in a long time. If you are a true E.E. Cummings fan (or e.e. cummings as he spelled it), the insights that Kennedy has intothe man's life, as well as the interpretations of his poems, seems to makesense.I own a copy of his "Complete Poems 1904-1962", andhaving read many of them, I thought that the logical next step was to seehow someone else thought of them.Kennedy's biography of Cummings is theonly one that I know of in existance.Adding to that is Nancy Andrews,Cummings' daughter, who gave a lot of insight into her father, as well aspreviously unpublished poems and even drawings(!!). The book doesn't readlike a novel, so don't expect to pace though it quickly.It is awell-written account of Cummings' life, so remember to pay attention.Being it as it may, and considering that information, I say go on and readit. It's worth the time. ... Read more

Product Description
Presents with illustrations the celebrated author's poem of scary, ghostly things. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

e. e. cummings for children
In the Halloween thriller hist whist, e. e. cummings' poem is beautifully illustrated into a timeless children's picture book.Amazingly, a single poem comprises this book.While some that are unfamiliar with cummings' style may be confused by his nonsense vocabulary, syntax stretches, and other irregularities, the veteran reader will acknowledge this as yet another wonderful free verse accomplishment of cummings.The alliteration in this poem superiorly extends itself to young audiences.The excited mood created by such phrases as "tip-toe/twinkle-toe" and "eyes rustle and run and/hidehidehide" transport the rushing, dancing reader to through the scary lines.

However, this would likely not make the children's book list without the expert watercolor and colored pencil drawings of Deborah Kogan Ray.Her illustrations wonderfully enhance cummings' already vibrant poem.The autumnal drawings are dark, but still somehow glow with life and vivacity.Ray well understands the concept of positive and negative space, and her artwork demonstrates this.The frightening creatures described are accurately and creatively drawn, and just when one is beginning to fear, the cheerful, grinning faces of the costumed children relieve the reader.

This amazing and beautiful book is a wonderful addition to children's literature; e. e. cummings and Deborah Kogan Ray together created a terrific Halloween story, hist whist.
... Read more

Product Description
A paperback collection newly offset from Complete Poems 1904-1962 with an afterword by the Cummings scholar George James Firmage. Published in 1958, 95 Poems is the last book of new poems published in Cummings's lifetime. Remarkable for its vigor, freshness, interest in ordinary individuals, and awareness of the human life cycle, the book reflects Cummings's observations on nature and his prevailing gratitude for whatever life offers: "Time's a strange fellow: more he gives than takes." This new edition joins other individual uniform Liveright paperback volumes drawn from the Complete Poems, most recently Etcetera and 22 and 50 Poems. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

95 poetic theses...
The poetry of ee cummings is something that most Americans gain exposure to during secondary school (and very rarely in the education of those outside America) -- he is often seen as an acceptable example of one who broke the rules -- rules, the teacher will often hasten to add, which must be mastered before they can be acceptably broken.

Yet this is not what ee cummings would hope had come of his legacy. In reading his poetry in book, 95 Poems, a new vision begins to emerge of a real maverick--not someone who wanted to break the rules, but someone who eschewed the idea of rules so completely that breaking them was beyond the question, for that would have to recognise the value of the rules.

There are some classic examples of cummings following convention but still breaking rules--adhering to rhyme and meter, yet very original.The poem 'maggie and milly and molly and may' shows this, structured yet new.

Or, perhaps no longer that original. Unfortunately, ee cummings has become a conventional unconventionality. He was a success at being different--at one point only cummings and Frost, New Englanders both, with very different vines growing on the respective sides of their fence, were able to make a living solely from their writing while concentrating on poetry.

Some of his poetry is best meant to be read aloud, as all good poetry ultimately finds its best expression not on the lifeless page but in the spirited, feeling telling. There is an incredible sense -- for example, the poem 'i am a little church (no great cathedral)' has a strength read aloud that it somehow misses being silent on the page.

Some of the cummings poetry, however, is simplicity and verges on the concrete. These sometimes resort to cleverness that might have been genius of observation at the time but unfortunately due to overexposure now just seem an elementary type of cleverness. Of course, simplicity is so often overlooked, that when it is seen, we often react not as we should.

Arrangement on the page is so critical to cummings perception of how things must be that the lastest editions of his poetry are put in typewriter typeset (the way he composed and envisioned his poetry). The medium is part of the message, he might have said.

Try to read cummings with a new eye, and look for that which would have been shocking to the more standard and rule-bound Cambridge soul.

Accessible and Intriguing
Reviewing E. E. Cummings' poetry is challenging due to the complexity of line and phrase construction employed by Mr. Cummings. Instead, consider what it is: A short collection of poetry by one of the most influential English language poets of the last 50 years. This, for me, was enough to by "95 Poems."

The poems have no titles except for numbers. While this might dismiss the need for a table of contents, it makes referencing a poem here difficult. Luckily, the publishers chose to include first lines in the contents. High school students will find "57" ("old age sticks"), the first Cummings' poem most us encounter. That said, "59" (or should I say number 59?) is my favorite.

when any mortal(even the most odd)

can justify the ways of man to God
i'll think it strange that normal mortals can

not justify the ways of God to man

Readers newly introduced to Cummings' groundbreaking style might find him hard to read. For me, it works for most of his poems. It fails occasionally, but this may be more as a result of my ignorance rather than Cummings' poetic inadequacies. Allowing the unique use of punctuation and line breaks to become like notes in a score, things came together for me, and this poetry became less obtuse. With each rereading, understanding Cummings becomes like learning to listen through an accent.

I fully recommend "95 Poems" by E. E. Cummings.

Anthony Trendl

more last than star
The sexagenarian Edward Estlin Cummings gives us poems of remarkable versatility and joy. The volume begins with autumn and ends with spring. In between we have songs and sonnets and serene calligraphy, urbanity and sarcasm and protest against tyranny, we have childlike wonder at a distant star and the ultranecessary reminder that "not all matterings of mind equal one violet."

We have clarity, we have acceptance of the universe as it appears:

now air is air and thing is thing:no bliss

of heavenly earth beguiles our spirits,whose

miraculously disenchanted eyes

live the magnificent honesty of space.

We have the bluejay as "beautiful anarchist" and the slender eulogy for "this man's heart" who was "true to his earth" and not interested in "anyone's world." We have the famous (and to our mind unsplendid) jingle about "maggie and milly and molly and may."

We have apothegms: "dive for dreams / or a slogan may topple you"; we have "first robin the" and his message "april hello," and we have the limitless grace of "out of the lie of no."

Poems 87 through 95 -- with perhaps one exception -- are immortal. It bears repeating: immortal.

There are a few typographical poems that don't quite work, and a few ballad-jingles where Cummings conceals his meaning rather too well, but all in all, the book called "95 poems" is a splendour and an ineffably graceful achievement, reminding us that:

--saharas have their centuries,ten thousand

of which are smaller than a rose's moment

(and, from the same poem, the 11th)

... there is a time for timelessness

Find it out of print it is great.
I really was amazed by this book.It is a classic of american poetry(once again out of print) it is worth finding.Half the poems areexperiments and sort of have a puzzle to them.Which makes them reallygood study in how far one can go with laungage.

The rest are as equalin creativity of construction but hammer home the poet's ideas in a verydirect and certain manner.This book shows that cummings could master anystyle and create new forms.Words were bent to the poets needs.eecummings could follow any poetic style, yet he decided to hae his own.For his style alone he should be read.But for this themes he should becharished.

Her is one of the best ones

i shal imagine life

is notworth dying,if

(and when)roses complain

their beauties are invain

but though mankind persuades

itself that every weed's

arose,roses(you feel

certain)will only smile ... Read more

Product Description
Fresh and candid, by turns earthy, tender,defiant, and romantic, Cummings's poemscelebrate the uniqueness of each individual, the need to protest the dehumanizing force oforganizations, and the exuberant power of love. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A unique quality that was all his own
The poetry of E.E. Cummings is a pure example of the what the modernist period represented in American literature.Having been a volunteer with the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps and prisoner of war during World War I, Cummings's poetry resonate his pre-war and aftermath experience as well as the artists and writers that influenced his work, Cubism and Post-Impressionism and Ezra Pound and Carl Sandburg.This is exhibited in one of Cummings's first collection of poetry, Tulips and Chimneys, which is organized in Cummings's original manuscript form with the over 100 poems in tact.

Published in 1923 but revised throughout the years to get it as close to how Cummings arranged the poems, readers will see a display of fragmented and unconventional style of avant-garde prose in their most unusual organization in terms of grammar and punctuation that distinguishes his poetry.Or as avant-garde critic Edmund Wilson once attested, "eccentric punctuation" (xvii).However, the underlying meaning of each poem is comprehensible with the delicacy of eroticism, "--GON splashes sink", benevolent innocence, "where did you go" and sweeping and epic prose, "Epithalamion" and "Puella Mea," which all came from the creative mind of a 25 year old Cummings.And with most works of poetry there is a certain imagery that is conveyed with each distinct poem that resembles a work of art.

All of the poems and sonnets have a significance of their own, but readers may find several that may become their favorites.For those who enjoy reading poetry or the curious, Tulips and Chimneys may be the place to start when encountering the poetry of E.E. Cummings.

Cummings' best !
This book stands as Cummings' most playful spontaneous ecstatic intimate beautiful poems ever written.

Many of his later collections are too directly philosophical (all the abstractions can really make the poems more of a complex thinking exercise rather than a felt experience) & too syntactically disjointed (disjointed to the point in which frustration replaces giddy enjoyment) in my opinion. however This collection is honestly COMPELLING & practical while maintaining the experimental edge--beautiful & true & honest & surreal & magical & beyond Anything .

The last 30 pages of this book (the '&' manuscript) contain some of the best poems ever written in the English language I'm serious

The Picasso of Poetry
Having glanced at his work in the past, I didn't think I'd like Cummings' work at all.It seemed 'pastiche poetry', pretty words smattered all over a page with no connecting thread.I couldn't have been further from the truth; even his shortest pieces ("I Am Going To Utter A Tree..") Cummings sometimes archiac style is unmistakably his own.Some of his "Unrealities" blend poetic word salads with ingenious covert metaphor: ("be these haunters of dreams always demurely half smiling from cool faces..") Cummings outdoes the beats with his crazed verbal exhortations to life. Simply reading or glancing at a few pages of his work makes one want to write.Above all, he is fun and certainly beyond imitation.

cummings en process
Tulips and Chimneys are poems which begin early in cummings carreer but are stunning in their simplicity, clarity and maturity.His erotocism, imagery and sensitivity to the beauty of nature manifest themselves in thejuxtaposition of thought and its connection to his relationship to thephysical environment as he has experienced it.

I love his flow of senseas it metamorphosizes through his words.It is never without deliberatemeaning.

Tulips and Chimneys is a book to carry with you in bookbag orbackpack or car or leave at work or in the bathroom or wherever you have aminute to restore your sense of wonder; of the wonder of what one person'smind can do to delight. ... Read more

Product Description

The author begins his "nonlectures" with the warning "I haven't the remotest intention of posing as a lecturer." Then, at intervals, he proceeds to deliver the following:

1. i & my parents
2. i & their son
3. i & selfdiscovery
4. i & you & is
5. i & now & him
6. i & am & santa claus

These talks contain selections from the poetry of Wordsworth, Donne, Shakespeare, Dante, and others, including e.e. cummings. Together, it forms a good introduction to the work of e.e. cummings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Insight to a master
Very enjoyable transcription of Cumming's lectures which offer much insight to this master's life and work.

"an artist, a man, a failure MUST PROCEED": an ars poetica
We learn here from the great Estlin Cummings, if we did not already know, that "Art is a mystery; all mysteries have their source in a mystery-of-mysteries who is love" (note the "who" denoting aliveness, as opposed to "which" denoting undeadness): "and if lovers may reach eternity directly through love herself, their mystery remains essentially that of the loving artist whose way must lie through his art, and of the loving worshipper whose aim is oneness with his god."

For the mature Cummings fan, this volume is a must.It traces the genesis of Cummings as poet and as man.It gives us his opinion (at which sophomores might marvel) that no one should venture free verse until he has MASTERED the sonnet, rondeau, ballade, etc.It gives us a syllabus of poems that he loved in his youth and continued to love in his adulthood:Dante, Swinburne, Shakespeare's 116th sonnet, Charles d'Orleans, Walther von der Vogelweide, Shelley, Keats.There are words of praise for Dante Gabriel Rossetti's sonnets.There are ten of E E Cummings' sonnets included in these lectures (but my copy of "i" contains three significant typographical howlers).

We see the libertarian Cummings, the man who "values freedom" and abominates "the subhuman superstate USSR."We see his almost impenetrable parody of Communism in a snippet of his book EIMI, about a trip to Leninist Moscow.We see bits of the play "Santa Claus," his gleeful proverbs called "jottings," and a few paragraphs in defense of Ezra Pound.

We have in the six nonlectures the heart of a man in love with life and spring and joy and birth and (yes of course) love."To feel something is to be alive."And woe betide the reader who feels nothing when she or he reads these marvellous pages.

An first hand, inside look into ee cummings
These six "nonlectures" give more insight into ee cummings than anything else I've ever read about or by him (except, perhaps, for the Enormous Room, also a fantastic book).He talks about his family, hisbeliefs, and colors it all with true cummings style.It's delightful.

Portrait of the artist in his own thoughts, in his own words
Absolutely indispensible for anyone who loves ee cummings-- tells of his history, his family, his dreams and ideas, friendships and schooldays, war and peace, love, life and all the rest. ... Read more

Product Description
The poem may i feel said he is a sensually ecstatic tribute to love and a humorous salute to the mating rituals between men and women. Originally published in Cumming's 1935 No Thanks collection, may i feel said he is one of the poet's most original and best loved works.
Marc Chagall's floating lovers and violin-playing horses are the perfect complement to Cumming's whimiscal poem. Chagall's lyrical work always reflected the artist's fascination with the many facets of love. "Is it not true that painting and color are inspired by love?" he wrote in 1973, at the age of 85. The twenty-three diverse paintings in this collection include many works that have rarely been seen in public.
may i feel said he is a stunning marriage of art and poetry and a giddy celebration of love. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A delightful taste of both artists
Sometimes when you combine two spices, the result isn't too wonderful.But that's not the case here.Putting these two artists together was a wonderful inspiration.This is a keeper!

WOW!
This is one of the most beautiful combinations of poetry and art. The poem is really quite beautiful. The art is inspirational. I don't knwo that I'd give it to a couple for their wedding though, cause the poem is about a man who is cheating on his wife....So don't take the advice of the other reviewer, the couple might look at you funny!

I'm Impressed
Just got this book and I love it. I purchased it based on reviews that I read and they are 100% correct.Beautiful pictures and a touching poem.Great as a wedding gift.

a beautiful marriage of words and Chagall
If you are a Chagall or e.e. cummings lover, this book is not to be missed.It is an absolute treasure and such a beautiful marriage of words and art!The images perfectly complement the text. Highly recommended, even as an introduction to either of these two artists.

a charming how-to for the romantic at heart
A terrific combination of art appreciation classes and literature for reading outdoors--took me back some 35 years to college days in its content, and then back up to the present in its pervasive wisdom. A joy forthe ear and eye, just like its message--lovemaking is for lots of ages andstages and a delight to the senses. Should be on every bookstore's fronttables. ... Read more

Product Description
At the time of his death in 1962 e.e. cummings was, next to Robert Frost, the most widely read poet in America. For this edition of cummings's work, George Firmage has gone back to the poet's original manuscripts to ensure the accuracy of the transcriptions. In particular, the spatial arrangement of the typography now conforms as precisely as possible to cummings's very specific intentions. To the contents of the volumes published during cummings's lifetime - now arranged in the order he originally specified - have been added all of the hitherto uncollected poems as well as the unpublished poems first issued in 1983. ... Read more

Product Description
In a warm and touching poem, e.e. cummings describes the wonder and excitement of a young brother and sister who find a little tree on a city sidewalk and carry it home, where they adorn it with Christmas finery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Tree as a true symbol of life
It is difficult to put into words the complex beauty of this book.If you are not familiar with the poetry of E.E. Cummings, this book will make you a surefire fan.The verse is sensitive, gentle and intimate.Beautifully paired with the whimsical, delicate and ever-bright illustrations by Mary Claire Smith, this book will sing to you and your child's hearts.

There are very few stories about Christmas which capture the essence of what all the decorations and packages truly represent.This is one of those few.The illustrations bring us back to a time when family and friends, hand-made gifts and music together were what were truly valued.Where Christmas was a festival which celebrated warmth, light, life and love.

For those who are sensitive to the masses of trees which are erased from our earth each Christmas, please take a look at this book.I especially appreciate that the angel who takes the tree from the forest to the child carries the tree with roots intact and then, through Ms. Smith's illustrations, the tree is pictured potted.The tree in this book is a true symbol of Life.

This book is one our family will treaure for generations to come. ... Read more

Product Description
E. E. Cummings, one of the most famous poets of all time, is known for his concise, often sassy poems that speak right to the heart. Illuminated through Caldecott Honor Illustrator Christopher Myers's electrifying artwork, E. E. Cummings' Love: Selected Poems is filled with humor, feeling, and romance for young teens and adults. From "the moon is hiding in her hair" to "may i feel, said he," this book fulfills the Cummings collector's ultimate wishes, and is the perfect gift for anyone interested in the magic and romance entrenched in the language of love. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Never arrived
I have purchased many books from Amazon vendors and I love that it is so easy to do from my own home.This is the first and only time that I have been burned on a purchase.The book never arrived.I wrote to the vendor twice and I also wrote to Amazon but I never received a response or a refund.I know that the poems are great, that is why I ordered the book to give as a gift but the bookseller, jersey.xray, is not realible.

bad visual art
the poems were great but the pictures are rather distracting
and have nothing to do with love what-so-ever ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
A biography of the twentieth-century American writer whose poetry combined artistic composition with word play and traditional rhyme and meter. Includes examples of his work. ... Read more

Product Description
Featuring rare archival recordings of the featured poet reading his own work!Each program in Random House Audio Voices' exclusive THE VOICE OF THE POET series is accompanied by a book containing the text of the poems and a commentary by J.D.McClatchy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Interesting to hear the poet read his own work
jake hates
all the girls(the
shy ones,the bold
ones,the meek
proud sloppy sleek)
all except the cold
ones

paul scorns all
the girls(the
bright ones,the dim
ones;the slim
plump tiny tall)
all except the
dull ones

gus loves all the
girls(the
warped ones,the lamed
ones;the mad
moronic maimed)
all except
the dead ones

mike likes all the girls
(the
fat ones,the lean
ones;the mean
kind dirty clean)
all
except the green ones

That was my favorite poem on this CD because it brought to mind Shel Silverstein's fun poetry. (Amazon forces everything to the left margin, so the word placement is incorrect.)
A great line from another poem, as timely as ever:

a politician is an arse upon which everyone has sat except a man

And this one:

listen: there's a hell
of a good universe next door; let's go

Much of e.e. cummings's work makes no sense to me, although his later poems are sometimes more graspable. I do like his playful use of word and letter placement and random punctuation. This CD comes with a booklet so you can read along and see how he placed things.
Many years ago I had one of those magnetic refrigerator poetry sets. You could just grab words you liked and move them around until you liked your "poem." A lot of cummings's poems remind me of the long ago fridge creations my friends and I used to make after a few margaritas. For example, we might have come up with this if ol' e.e. hadn't beat us to it:

stride after glide massacre monday did
more) ask a lifelump buried by the star
nicked ends next among broken odds of yes
terday's tomorrow (than today can guess

See what I mean?

ee cummings done right
This is a fantastic way to get to know e. e. cummings as he was meant to be known: through his own voice. This is a fantastic recording that gives his poetry the depth that simply reading it from a book cannot.

disappointing
I thought this might be a rare treat; instead a disappointment.Difficult to understand the author.

Brilliant
What a magnificent poet.To hear his voice is just like traveling back in time.The wisdom is astounding. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

simple words, deep feelings
A must have for cummings lovers and poetry addicts in general.The collection of poems put together in this book will leave you craving for more and yet will let your slip into the dark places in your mind to constantly analyse the poem you're reading while analysing yourself. A must have in your collection. ... Read more