nables the reader to agree with his reference to himself as " anauthor of pictures and a draftsman of words ".E.E. Cummings was aware of the inevitable frustration readers may endure whilestudying the first page of his last volume of poetry, 95 poems. With that assumption inmind, he issued a warning: " Watch out! This poem is not for the faint-hearted. It will notyield to those who merely want their prejudices caressed. Open up! " This unconventionalpiece looked as follows:l(aleaffalls)onelinessImmediate arguments arose once it was exposed to the public in 1958, because as far ascritics were concerned, it didnt say anything. Its vital purpose was not to promote certainopinions or thoughts on loneliness. Instead, it was meant to leave the reader with anostalgic feeling of it. The artistic design it forms on the page is an entity of genius initself. From the " L " to the " iness " the arrangement of letters is like that of a drifting leaf.Cummings has not deepened or extended the literal meaning of the leaf falling, instead, hehas added to it a visual quality that is solely aesthetic. He has used the black print of atypewriter to " paint " the image across the page. It is much like a sculptors masterpiecewhich evokes a feeling without speaking of it. For example, " The Thinker " by PaulRodin, even without the revealing title the bronze incarnation of a pensively posed mansuggests the idea of thinking. Basically, Cummings has indulged the readers imaginationby representing loneliness with ink and allowing their own perceptions to determine anyfurther values.In Pablo Picassos paintings Cummings recognized a perspective that was equallyas fresh and personal as his own. In a poetic tribute to this great contemporary artist,Cummings voices his own aesthetic as well as Picassos it begins:" Picasso you give us Thingswhichbulge . . . "( Poems 1923 - 1954 )Cummings continues by praising Picassos ability to exaggerate the raw beauty of theworld a...
