E. E. Cummings

Biography

Edward Estlin Cummings (1894–1962), known as E. E. Cummings or e e cummings, was an American poet, painter, essayist, and playwright who became one of the most innovative and widely read poets of the twentieth century. His experimental typography, unconventional punctuation, and fragmented syntax created a distinctive visual and linguistic style that influenced generations of poets. But beneath the formal experimentation, Cummings was essentially a lyric poet of love, spring, childhood, and the wonder of individual experience. He published twelve volumes of poetry, several plays, and the autobiographical novel The Enormous Room (1922), based on his imprisonment in France during World War I.