Painting a 'word picture'

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” – e.e. cummings

After I took this photo on a trek into the Rocky Mountains earlier this week, this e.e. cummings quote just seemed apropos as a “descriptive” phrase.  And, since today is the anniversary of his birth (in 1894, the year in which I have set my newest novel) it seemed all the more reason to put the two together and have a short remembrance of him at the same time.

 

Cummings wrote some 2,900 poems, 2 autobiographical novels, 4 plays and several essays.

  

Some of his poems are free verse (with no concern for rhyme or meter), but many have a recognizable sonnet structure of 14 lines, with an intricate rhyme scheme. A number of his poems feature a typographically exuberant style, with words, parts of words, or punctuation symbols scattered across the page, and needing to be read aloud in order to clarify his meanings and emotions.  Also a painter, Cummings understood the importance of presentation, and used typography to "paint a picture" with some of his poems.

  

While he was not without controversy in his life and 

political leanings (he was a staunch supporter of 

Joseph McCarthy, for example), there’s little doubt 

that he is remembered as an eminent voice of 20^th century literature.

Check out Hello Poetry  http://hellopoetry.com/e-e-cummings/ to see some Cummings’ poems, including many showing his unique "paint a word picture" style.

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