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Jul 30, 2008

Bob rated it:

My first Cummings book (it cost me $1.95 many years ago) and still my favorite. There are so many poems in here which I think are good poems. The general critical consensus seems to be that Cummings was second-rate. Well, for me, he is more engaging than many poets that others fawn over. He was an accomplished sonneteer, though you might not recognize all his sonnets for what they are at first, due to his experiments with orthography. He was a fine erotic poet, and an effective political satiris More...

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Apr 17, 2009

CX rated it:

my intro to ee cummings, now can't put him down, always something to cheer, to complain, to trick, to play, to puzzle and some of the best love poems every written in any language (cummings having his own version o English!)

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May 24, 2011

Sparrow added it

It's a pleasure to write about e. e. cummings, as it is to read him. (And I believe, as is obvious, in never capitalizing his name. It's like putting "God" in lower case.) The extravagant praise on the back of this book, by Marianne Moore, John Dos Passos, Randall Jarrell, Karl Shapiro, is notably defensive, as if one must apologize for liking cummings -- the way one apologizes for loving Madonna. And there is a definite "pop music" to e. e.: the tender strains of love, and a More...

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Dec 03, 2010

Nathan rated it:

For some reason, I had never rated E. E. Cummings. He became the icon for form-twisting poetry, with his name written in lower-case reflecting the way his poems used and abused typography, grammar, and punctuation. I'm a symbol manipulating machine, it's why I'm a computer programmer and why I love to read. But I manipulate symbols within rules, and I love rules: I loved learning the rules of punctuation and spelling and grammar. Knowledge is power, it let me sort the world into right and wro More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Nov 25, 2008

Chris rated it:

all ignorance toboggans unto know
and trudges up to ignorance again;

--e. e. cummings

I feel like something just fell of the shelf inside me. I sat down planning to work my through this collection at a ten-a-day pace, and I finished it in two sittings, reading each poem twice or thrice or more along the way. Why/how the hell did I blunder this far forward without reading--really reading--cummings? I mumble-muttered the whole collection aloud to myself, and my ton More...

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Mar 11, 2010

Erika rated it:

To be fair, I didn't really have enough patience while reading this book to enjoy the poems like I should have. They aren't the kind of poems you can just stroll through without thinking much about what they mean. I did really enjoy the following poem in its entirety:

little tree
little silent Christmas tree
you are so little
you are more like a flower

who found you in the green forest
and were you very sorry to come away?
see i will comfor More...

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Jun 06, 2011

Bojan rated it:

e. e. cummings is one of my favorite poets, and this collection of his poems is a treat for any fan of his verse. The innovativeness of his language and the freshness of his images are continuously inspiring. It is sometimes hard to believe that most of these poems have been written well over half a century ago - they have all aged remarkably well. This is a testament to the simplicity and the permanence of the themes and ideas that e. e. cummings dealt with, and the original and inimitable way More...

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Mar 29, 2010

Traci rated it:

Man I don't even know. This book excites the imagination, sets it wandering, rocketing off into the wildest unexpected corners, with just the mere suggestion of a set of words: puddle-wonderful, watersmooth-silver stallion, a first dream called ocean, the mechanical dawn.

And I like the humor:

Humanity i love you because you
are perpetually putting the secret of
life in your pants and forgetting
it's there and sitting down

But sometimes it's like More...

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Jan 21, 2011

Née rated it:

I'm not going to review all of the e.e. cummings collections that I own (there are way too many as I have this thing about collecting them). What I will say is that cummings has this totally selfish/creative/lovely/beautiful/erotic way of writing that just gets me every time. There is rarely a poem of his that I've read that I don't like. He's modern and writes very much that way, and I love his playful use of punctuality and grammar as a means of conveying his emotions. If you've never read cum More...

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Aug 12, 2011

Paula rated it:

I loved every word, and can recite many. His poems are heartfelt and express so many different emotions, generally using very few words. His characteristic "grammarless grammar," rather than being off-putting, is very absoring, and moves the reader along at a pace synonymous with and appropriate to the subject matter. His is a unique voice in poetry, and his poems have a timeless quality. He will always be read, in much the same way that Shakespear's sonnets are still read centurie More...

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Nov 07, 2011

Solyndra rated it:

may my heart always be open to little
birds who are the secrets of living
whatever they sing is better than to know
and if men should not hear them men are old

may my mind stroll about hungry
and fearless and thirsty and supple
and even if it's sunday may i be wrong
for whenever men are right they are not young

and may myself do nothing usefully
and love yourself so more than truly
there's never been quite such a fool who could fail
More...

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Jul 12, 2009

Matt rated it:

I find reviewing poetry like reviewing a color. If your favorite color is blue, it's hard to explain why it appeals to you. Or why blue is better then red. Expressing the inarticulable, the ability to convey a sense of something beyond words through words, for me, is the greatness of a poet.

I first stumbled across cummings in high school in one of those gloss covered, all-encompassing, "LITERATURE" textbooks that public schools are so fond of. And, for whatever reason, More...

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Sep 06, 2008

Paula rated it:

I've always loved Cummings's unique poetic style, but I particularly like this collection of his work that's been compiled; it's a nice mix of old favorites and poems of his that I haven't read before. Li-Young Lee once said (at my undergraduate college) that the only subjects worthy of poetry are love and death, and this collection precedes that notion by about forty years.

For many, Cummings's poetry is a challenge because of his play with punctuation and, particularly, irregular sy More...

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Jan 07, 2008

Kanako rated it:

I know many people that dislike e.e.cummings’ work, but I never was really sure why. When I read this book of selected poems, I understood why, but at the same time, I was in love for the exact same reasons.
His diction is the first thing that pops up at any first-time reader. He mixes words up in a sentence, he puts words together to make one, his line breaks are unpredictable, and he barely has punctuation save for some rare periods and question marks that are also met with parenthesis More...

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Jul 15, 2007

brook rated it:

admittedly, i'm not the biggest cummings fan to ever walk the face of the planet. i haven't spent as much time as i could (or should) analyzing this collection, so my rating is subject to change if/when that ever happens. i can appreciate his method and abstraction, even if i'm far from an expert. following is one of my favourites. i have to smile when i read it, because not only does it offer an explanation as to why he writes the way he does, but also why i appreciate it as much as i do:
More...

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Oct 16, 2009

Jed rated it:

This is the first book of poetry I ever bought, and more or less my personal introduction to poetry. Being weaned on postmodernism and discovering everything that came before it afterwards is a strange experience. I think the painting equivalent would be to study Picasso first, then learn about the guys to whom he was a reaction.
Still great, though. He makes more sense, in a strange way, each time I read him. "my father moved through dooms of love" and "in spite of everythi More...

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Dec 29, 2007

Cara rated it:

she being Brand

-new;and you
know consequently a
little stiff i was
careful of her and(having

thoroughly oiled the universal
joint tested my gas felt of
her radiator made sure her springs were O.

K.)i went right to it flooded-the-carburetor cranked her

up,slipped the
clutch(and then somehow got into reverse she
kicked what
the hell)next
minute i was back in neutral tried and

again slo-wly;bare,ly More...

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Nov 05, 2008

Lindsay rated it:

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me,i and
my life will shut very More...

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Aug 01, 2011

Ronald rated it:

My first exposure to cummings and this was probably a seclection of what is considered to be his best poems. At first jarred by the syntactic rule-breaking, by the end of the book I was beginning to understand some reason to his use of words in unorthodox roles. While many of the poems left me with no logical interpretation, many of them were comprehendable and some downright hilarious. This book of poetry came to my attention when the poem "87" was featured on Garrison Keillor's Write More...

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Jun 23, 2009

Maarten rated it:

Cummings acted like an alchemist of language, truly a master of his craft, not simply adapting ideas to words but re-shaping language to breathe life across the page. And in those breaths are wonderful odes to love, life and all the mysteries of the world. A must-read for anyone!

(and a giant puzzle for me, because I underlined no less than eight passages that would fit perfectly as a motto to the third and last part of my own new book of poetry...!)

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Aug 29, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

silly, evocative, sensory - poems that read and sound like they mean. I don't analyze Cummings' poems so much as breathe them in. With this being said, I don't think this style of poetry is something I can ever really enjoy. Sometimes I am struck by the sounds and the sense of being surrounded by words, but more often than not, I want space to think -- I want pauses in which I can take his poem and make it into my own.

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Jul 13, 2009

Zane rated it:

Okay, so e.e.cummings is like the Norman Rockwell of poetry. Cummings is an amazing poet that contributed so much to the art, but because many of his poems are accessible to the begining reader he didn't get the "Modern" respect, or the going down in history appreciation that many less gifted poets recieved. Cummings is the good in poetry, he was positive durning a depressing time for much of poetry. A must read for poetry.

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Jun 11, 2010

Carey rated it:

So, e. e. cummings might not stand up to the greats on close inspection, but I find his poems delightful, sexy, charming and fun - so so what? e. e. cummings was creative, and there's no doubt that he's an influential poet of the 20th century even if most professors shy from giving his credit or teaching him in their classrooms. I guess you could say he's the Andrew Llyod Webber of poetry.

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Mar 25, 2009

Jamie rated it:

We all have that one book of poetry that is worn and tattered. The reason? Well, it's your shameless emotional mirror during all those times that you stripped it from the shelves to hideaway and be that noone, just the two of you, to share an understanding. The bindings coming unglued, it's tattered at the edges, there are marks all over it (intentional and incidental), it's been dropped, kicked, sat on, stuffed into pockets, and shoved face down. It's stained down the front and on it's back More...

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Sep 12, 2010

carissa rated it:

Edward Estlin Cummings' poetry might be my favorite. get past the weird punctuation, stop trying to make sense and sentences of it, and learn what poetry is - words that evoke and provoke, rather than explicate. love, society, spirituality: a mashup of the sublime and the earthy. he rhymes more often than you've heard. so good.

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Aug 17, 2009

Katie rated it:

How can you describe the beauty of E.E. Cummings? There is no way to put into words the simply ecstastic way in which he writes. For people who can't stand some improper grammar - you probably won't be his biggest fan. It's an aqquired taste to be sure. His poems are full of ambition, idealism, sex, and fantasy. The words float off the page. Read them out loud to yourself. I'll be astonished if you're not completely moved by them.

"i feel that(false and true are merely to know) More...

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May 26, 2009

Anna rated it:

My copy of this book is so dog-eared--I have to admit, when I bought it at 15 I paid special attention to the, um, adult poems--that I would never lend it to anybody. It's a joyful and expressive and passionate little collection. This simple verse has always been one of my favorites,

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

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Mar 11, 2009

Alison rated it:

i am writing this all in lower case to honor ee cummings. isn't he an awesome poet? i love his social commentary and unique style! besides, who doesn't appreciate someone who makes their living writing and sees no need to conform even in punctuation?

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Jul 26, 2011

Jobiska (Cindy) rated it:

Mine's an earlier edition, but same thing, without the looming face on the front, heh heh. An interesting breadth, but it doesn't have my favorite, "maggie and millie and molly and may..." Oh well, I have a photocopy of it stuck in the book.

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Sep 22, 2010

Rachel rated it:

Each poem's line is a puzzle piece, your eyes wander throughout the poems trying to organize and comprehend the imagery of nature and death which is so often incorporated into much of his poetry. Every single poem is lovely and unique.

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