The life of Edgar Estlin Cummings starts on October 14, 1894 with his birth to Edward and Rebecca Haswell Clarke Cummings. At the age of sixteen he enters Harvard College, and begins to write poetry for Harvard Monthly. After Harvard, he joins Ambulance Corps, and sails to France to participate in World War I. Soon after his arrival he gets arrested and imprisoned for three months in a French detention camp on suspicion of disloyalty1. On New Years Day he is released, and soon after that he returns to New York and meets Elaine Orr, whom he marries later. Despite a birth of a daughter, Nancy, the marriage ends in divorce. During the Twenties, Cummings becomes more interested in art, and travels few times to Europe to study art. In 1927 he marries again, however that marriage also fails. In 1931 Cummings uses a rare opportunity to travel to Soviet Union, and upon his return he marries Marion Morehouse. He publishes two collections of poems in the early Thirties, and soon becomes the second most read poet in America. Cummings creates and publishes various collections of poems almost every year until his death in 1962.During his life, Cummings exposes himself to various different experiences. Those experiences influence his poetry, and tilt it toward the individualism. He was imprisoned for his anti-war views and ideas. This imprisonment influences Cummings to protest against the ideas of sameness and equality2. After the war ended, Cummings writes an autobiography, and concentrates on poetry. Before the Great Depression he publishes several anthologies of his works. During the Depression, Cummings has a chance to visit the Soviet Union and to observe its rapid industrial buildup3. On the other hand, he rejects the Communist idea of eliminating individualism, so his views on individual within society remain the same. His poetry turns into a living anthem of a self. 4 However, his family life becomes totally disordered. He marries ...
