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= e e cummings =

 [[image:eecummings.jpg width="288" height="375"]]
 [|Image from Wikimedia Commons]

Biography
** e e cummings was born on October 14, 1894 to Rebecca and Edward Cummings in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He had one younger sister named Elizabeth. His given name was Edward Estlin Cummings. At a young age, both of his parents encouraged him to develop his creativity and imagination. Growing up in the golden age of American Circuses, he loved pretending to be a circus performer. He enjoyed drawing pictures of many things, such as: elephants, circuses, nature, and also war scenes. As a young child of the age of 10, he began writing poems. He attended Cambridge Latin High School, and then went on to attend The University of Harvard from 1911 to 1916. In 1915, he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree, and in 1916 he received his Masters Degree in English and Classical Studies. His first poems were in the Eight Harvard Poems. He decided to change his entire name by making it lowercase and without periods. cummings often used the lowercase version when signing documents as a sign of humility and legally changed it to, "e e cummings." In his early years out of college he traveled all over the world, which influenced his art a great deal. During his lifetime he also produced four plays including: HIM, Anthropos, Tom, a ballet, Santa Claus: A Morality. He was involved in three marriages and had one child, Nancy, from his first marriage. He died on September 3, 1962 in North Conway, New Hampshire, due to a stroke. ** 

===Quotes  ** "A wind has blown the rain away and blown the sky away and all the leaves away, and the trees stand. I think, I too, have known autumn too long. " **  === <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">** "America makes prodigious mistakes, America has colossal faults, but one thing cannot be denied: America is always on the move. She may be going to Hell, of course, but at least she isn't standing still." ** <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="display: block; font-size: 150%; color: rgb(235,171,15); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: rgb(254,255,245); text-align: center;">Poems
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="color: rgb(0,0,0);"><span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[|A Clowns smirk in the skull of a baboon] <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> [|!blac] <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[|am was] [|once like a spark] [|your little voice...] **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-size: 150%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span class="wiki_link_ext"> ===<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="color: rgb(0,0,0);"><span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-size: 150%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">**Explication** of "!blac"    === !blac k agains t

(whi) te sky ?t rees whic h fr om droppe d , le af a;;go e s wh IrlI n .g

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:VolcjiPotok_11.jpg ===<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="color: rgb(0,0,0);"><span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-size: 150%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">    === <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="color: rgb(0,0,0);"><span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-size: 150%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">The poem "!blac" by e e cummings has quite a different format than most poems. It is written in a format we can not identify; not like an ode, haiku, or a sonnet. The format of this poem is used to illustrate what cummings is trying to convey to the reader: a scene of a falling leaf. As the last letter(s) of one word are on the following line, the impression of falling is left on the reader;the poem is about falling leaves. But does the poem have a deeper meaning? If this poem is separated in two parts, the first being: "black against white sky," and the second being: "Trees which from dropped leaf a goes whirling," it would be easier to understand the message that cummings is trying to tell us. The first part, perhaps, is about conflict, black against white. No specific conflict specific conflict is being mentioned, just in general a conflict between two opposing ideas: black against white. The second part illustrates a falling leaf, with letters below each other, instead of next to each other. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="color: rgb(0,0,0);"><span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-size: 150%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">What do the two parts have to do with each other; what is their significance? It is possible that this poem has to do with cause and effect. The conflict between the black and the white result affect the leaf to fall from its tree. Perhaps, once all the leaves fall off the tree, what will be left is a bare tree, vulnerable and with nothing left to protect itself. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="color: rgb(0,0,0);"><span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-size: 150%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;"> It is thought that this poem represents the concept that poetry is a form of art, not with a brush and easel, but rather with words. "!blac k agains t (whi)te sky?" is an illusion depicting two very opposite colors, making one imagine. While the part of the poem saying, "t/ rees/ whic/ hfr/ om/ droppe/ d/ le/ af/ a;;go/ e/ s/ wh/ Irli/ n/ .g" is not quite as vivid as the first part, so the reader gets a mental image of what is happening. The theme in this poem is that conflict has a negative effect on the ideas or objects fighting, in this case black and white. cummings's style of writing this poem may confuse the reader. His style is not very clear, so one may have to read the poem multiple times before fully understanding the poem. The mood of this poem in some ways is clear, however it may not be very obvious. It seems like cummings has mixed emotions while writing this poem. He begins harsh, explaining the conflict, then sounds helpless, speaking of the leaves falling, and leaving the tree bare. I didn't like the author's style of writing. After reading the poem I was confused about its message. This poem was such a foreign concept that it did not seem to pertain to me because I couldn't quite fully understand cummings's purpose in writing it. Overall this poem was very creative. It was a meaning which is deeper and more complex than most poems. Although confusing at times, it was very good.

===<span style="display: block; font-size: 150%; color: rgb(0,0,0); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(214,214,214);"> <span style="display: block; font-size: 150%; color: rgb(0,0,0); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(214,214,214);"> Sources ===