Reef, C. (2006). E.E. Cummings. New York: Clarion Books.ISBN-10 0618568492
ISBN-13 978-0618568499
149 pgs
Format: Book
Genre: Biography
Classification: Non-fiction
Age level: Age 13 and up
Reader's annotation
E.E. Cummings is famous for his inventive and personal poems that strike a cord with many young adult readers. His tumultuous life story adds a fascinating dimension to his art.
Summary
This biography of the poet E. E. Cummings, known for his inventive style of writing marked by his of use of spacing, lower case letters and punctuation, charts his important life experiences and includes many photographs as well as copies of his manuscripts and paintings. Teen readers will likely be familiar with Cummings poems through class work or personal reading. Cummings states that he didn’t decide to be a poet, he simply was one. His work is known for being personal, honest and emotional. The story of his life is as compelling as his writing. He grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, attended college at Harvard University and earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in English. He lost his father to a car accident at a young age, served in World War I, spent time in a military prison, and later lived in Paris and Greenwich Village, and was married three times. All the while he kept writing, speaking to the reader directly about the secrets of living.
Notes
The book is really a straightforward biography and doesn’t contain many of Cummings’ poems. It’s meant as a supplement to books of his poetry. It’s inspiring and fascinating to see how Cummings made a life out of his art during unstable times and some rocky relationships.
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