Comment 10 of 10, added on May 7th, 2009 at 1:17 AM.

In this poem by Edward Estlin Cummings, who hails from the esteemed city of Cambridge Massachusetts, the average reader could be left somewhat disturbed. Cummings tended to bend the normal views of common English Syntax and Typography, creating his own style of how a poem should look. He'd often use his works to challenge the upper class and denounce elitism, while at the same time beliveing in strict, unadulterated artistic individualism. He was actually imprisioned on charges of espionage as a younger man, after serving in the military as a volunteer ambulance assistant in WWI. Many belive that he drew upon his experiences there upon publishing "Tulips & Chimneys" (1922), and he was said to have died thinking, "When skies are huyng and oceans drowned... the single secret will still be man."

Nick Johnson from United States

Comment 8 of 10, added on May 7th, 2009 at 12:52 AM.

In E.E. Cumming’s poem “you shall, above all things” you are exposed to many of his signatures and unique sense of style. While E.E. Cumming was attending college at Harvard and while free verse was becoming a major new influence, he found the guidelines that allowed him to experiment and break old rules of poetry. His improper use of punctuation and grammar is his trademark and is what allows his poetry to stick out more than the rest. E.E. Cumming is also well known for his use of imagery and metaphors. Like Emily Dickinson he also did not title his poems and the first line of his poems became the title. However Emily Dickinson and E.E. Cumming are very different due to their styles of writing. Emily Dickinson wrote with a strong rhyme scheme and meter as E.E. Cumming wrote in free verse.

Sarah Landry from United States