Ee Cummings Essay, Research Paper
E.E. Cummings is characteristically American.
E.E. Cummings is characteristically American. He is a famous, well known
American author. I found that his writing style is of a stereotypical American.
What is it to be stereotypically American? Well I found that one of the
main things is that you can say or write whatever you want and not feel
threatened about if what your saying is the right thing or not. Also a lot of
Americans will use sarcasm. Also you don’t have to come right out and say
whatever you mean. Some will talk about something completely different
then what they are really trying to say.
Cummings used a good amount of sarcasm in his writing. He sort of
made fun of things in his poems without coming out and saying it. He also
doesn’t just come right out and say what he means. I haven’t been able to
figure out many of his poems at all. The things he says just makes no sense at
all. Even after analyzing his work I haven’t been able to understand what he
means. I think that is one thing that most Americans do in one way or
another.
Cummings also wrote a large amount of poems that probably would
have offended people in one way or another. But freedom of speech is one
thing that all Americans have. We can say whatever we want and not have to
answer to anyone about it. If we were in another country that freedom of
speech isn’t allowed he possibly could have been thrown in jail for some of
his writings.
He was known for his lack of correct punctuation and capitalization in
his writings. Very often he would write his name as “e.e. cummings”, not
even capitalizing his own name. He basically had his own style of writing
things even though they were not written correctly. He never followed any
of the rules which might have been one of the reasons he was so remembered.
He was born in Cambridge Massachusetts. He grew up there and
worked at a mail-order publishing company for a short time. He decided to
volunteer for the Norton-Harjes Ambulance group in France. He was
imprisoned for three months in a French Detention camp. While being there
he wrote his first book titled “The Enormous Room”. Some people believe
that its because of him being locked up, that’s how he got his style of writing
in a way that no one else does.
After the war ended he went to Paris to study art. But when he
returned to the States he was already famous for his books.
You are probably wondering what most of this has to do with him
being characteristically American. Well he grew up and spent much of his life
here. Also his parents probably had a impact on him because they were
American too. This is why I added in a lot of those details.
He also used slang in his writing. He used words or phrases that meant
something different then what was written. He was known for using a jazz
rhythm in most of his writings. That was one thing that stood out about him.
He enjoyed a long and happy marriage to a American women that was
said to inspire him in allot of his writings. In his later years he divided his
time at his farm in New Hampshire and his apartment in New York. These
places are where he did most of his writings. I think that his lifestyle and the
things that he saw and went on during his life probably played a big part in
what he wrote. I mean he didn’t write about farms and apartment but I think
they played a part in his poems.
All in all I would have to say that E.E. Cummings is characteristically
American. Almost every stereotype I could think of for a American author fit
him. He seems to do some things that aren’t considered a American
stereotype, but he does a lot of things that are. So once again I have to say
E.E. Cummings is characteristically American.