A Miscellany (Revised)
āĻāĻ āĻ-āĻŦā§āĻā§āĻ° āĻŦāĻŋāĻˇā§ā§
Formally fractured and yet gleefully alive and whole, E. E. Cummingsâs groundbreaking modernist poetry expanded the boundaries of language. In A Miscellany, originally released in a limited run in 1958, Cummings lent his delightfully original voice to âa cluster of epigrams,â a poem, three speeches from an unfinished play, and forty-nine essaysâmost of them previously written for or published in magazines, anthologies, or art gallery catalogues. Seven years later, George J. Firmageâeditor of much of Cummingsâs work, including Complete Poemsâbroadened the scope of this delightfully eclectic collection, adding seven more poems and essays, and many of Cummingsâs unpublished line drawings.
Together, these pieces paint a distinctive portrait of Cummingsâs eccentric, yet precise, genius. Like his poetry, Cummingsâs prose is lively; often witty, biting, and offbeat, he is an intelligent observer and critic of the modern. His essays explore everything from Cubism to the circus, equally quick to analyze his poetic contemporaries and satirize New York society. As Cummings wrote in his original foreword, A Miscellany contains âa great deal of liveliness and nothing dead.â This remains true today, more than fifty years after its original publication.
āĻ˛ā§āĻāĻ āĻ¸āĻŽā§āĻĒāĻ°ā§āĻā§
E. E. Cummings (1894â1962) was among the most influential, widely read, and revered modernist poets. He was also a playwright, a painter, and a writer of prose. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he studied at Harvard University and, during World War I, served with an ambulance corps in France. He spent three months in a French detention camp and subsequently wrote The Enormous Room, a highly acclaimed criticism of World War I. After the war, Cummings returned to the States and published his first collection of poetry, Tulips & Chimneys, which was characterized by his innovative style: pushing the boundaries of language and form while discussing love, nature, and war with sensuousness and glee. He spent the rest of his life painting, writing poetry, and enjoying widespread popularity and success.
George J. Firmage edited many works by Cummings, including Erotic Poems; Complete Poems, 1904â 1962; and Fairy Tales.
