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E. E. Cummings (Edward Estlin Cummings)

イー・イー・カミングス（エドワード・エストリン・カミングス）

E. E. Cummings (Edward Estlin Cummings)

Aliases: e e cummings / Edward Estlin Cummings
Pen Names: e e cummings (lowercase styling)（Stylistic lowercase rendering used in some editions and on book covers; a conventional styling associated with his work）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1894-10-14 （Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.）
Died
1962-09-03 （North Conway, New Hampshire, U.S. (Memorial Hospital)） age 67
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Unitarian
Residence History
Cambridge, Massachusetts (birthplace, childhood) → Paris (resident/visitor during the 1920s) → New York City (Greenwich Village, Patchin Place; resident from 1924) → Joy Farm / Silver Lake, New Hampshire (summer home)

Career

Occupations
poet, painter, essayist, novelist, playwright
Active Years
1915-1962
Influenced By
Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, Guillaume Apollinaire (calligram influences), Avant‑garde movements such as Imagism, Dada, and Surrealism

Education

Cambridge Latin High School
Classics (Latin and Greek)
Period: 〜1912
Year of Graduation: 1912
Country: United States
Studied Latin and Greek in a traditional curriculum
Harvard University
Arts (comparable to English/Comparative Literature)
Degree: Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude); Master of Arts
Period: 1912–1916
Year of Graduation: 1916
Country: United States
BA (magna cum laude) in 1915 and MA in 1916; elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Awards

Dial Award
1925
Organization: The Dial
Result: 受賞
Guggenheim Fellowship
1933
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: フェローシップ受賞
Shelley Memorial Award
1945
Category: 詩
Organization: Poetry Society of America (award administered)
Result: 受賞
Harriet Monroe Prize
1950
Organization: Poetry magazine
Result: 受賞
Fellowship of the American Academy of Poets
1950
Organization: American Academy of Poets
Result: 受賞
Guggenheim Fellowship (second award)
1951
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: フェローシップ受賞
Charles Eliot Norton Professorship
1952
Work: Poetry lectures (i—six nonlectures)
Category: 教職/講義
Organization: Harvard University
Result: 任命/講義
National Book Award (special citation)
1957
Work: Poems, 1923–1954
Organization: National Book Award Committee
Result: 特別表彰
Bollingen Prize (Poetry)
1958
Category: 詩
Organization: Bollingen Prize (awarding organizations varied)
Result: 受賞
Boston Arts Festival Award
1957
Organization: Boston Arts Festival
Result: 受賞
Ford Foundation grant (two-year)
1959
Organization: Ford Foundation
Result: 助成金受領

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Enormous Room

1922 Novel (autobiographical)

An autobiographical novel based on his detention during World War I in France; depicts imprisonment, friendships, and the absurdities of bureaucracy and war.

war and internmentfriendshipcritique of bureaucracy

Tulips and Chimneys

1923 Poetry collection

Early collection showing his experimental use of grammar, punctuation, and typography in poetry.

linguistic experimentationlovenature

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in)

1952 Poem

A short poem expressing deep love; among his best-known works often read at ceremonies.

loveunity of being
Adaptations
  • [Music (song/choral setting)] Musical settings (various works based on the poem)

Bibliography

  • The Enormous Room (1922)
  • Tulips and Chimneys (1923)
  • XLI Poems (1925)
  • is 5 (1926)
  • EIMI (1933)
  • No Thanks (1935)
  • Collected Poems (1938)
  • 50 Poems (1940)
  • i—six nonlectures (1953)
  • Poems, 1923–1954 (1954)
  • 95 Poems (1958)
  • Selected Poems 1923-1958 (1960)
  • Fairy Tales (1965, posthumous)

Adaptations

  • Musical settings of poems by Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio, Morton Feldman, Eric Whitacre and many others
  • Dance/theatre adaptations (choreography by Jean Erdman; staged performances using his poems)

Translations of Works

  • Many collections of his poems have been translated into French, Japanese, German, and other languages

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Modernistfree versetypographic experimentation and visual/graphic layout in poems
Recurring Motifs
love and sexualitynature (trees, moon, sun)individuality and selfhoodexploration of language itself

Health

  • Stroke
    1962
    Suffered a stroke in 1962, did not regain consciousness and died.

Legacy

Considered one of the major American poets of the 20th century; notable for linguistic and typographic experimentation, influence on free verse and modernist poetics, and cross-disciplinary work in painting and theatre.

Academic Societies

  • E. E. Cummings Society

Archives

  • Houghton Library (Harvard University) — E. E. Cummings papers and correspondence
  • Harry Ransom Center (University of Texas at Austin) — Cummings collection

In Popular Culture

  • Public displays of his lines (e.g., wall poems in Leiden)
  • Contemporary musicians (e.g., Björk) using his lines in songs

Quotes

  • i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling)
    Source: Poem "i carry your heart with me(i carry it in)" (1952)
  • may I be I is the only prayer—not may I be great or good or beautiful or wise or strong
    Source: Writings / journals

Trivia

  • He wrote approximately 2,900 poems in his lifetime.
  • He was also an active painter; his estate included many paintings and drawings.
  • The lowercase styling of his name (e e cummings) was popularized in publications, though he sometimes used capital letters himself.