E. E. Cummings (1894–1962)

Cummings me mostró lo que de verdad se puede hacer con la lengua inglesa.

A caballo entre las vanguardias y el modernismo, "Tulips & Chimneys" recoge las primeras incursiones líricas publicadas del enorme poeta norteamericano. La diferencia entre, por ejemplo, "Epithalamion" y "Chansons Innocentes" (la del extraordinario dominio de la forma y la experimentación más exacerbada) nos dan una muestra del enorme rango que Cummings dominaba incluso al principio de su carrera. Me hizo recordar show more ese dicho de Picasso, "cuando tenía siente pintaba como Miguel Ángel"...

Cummings ha sido uno de mis más gratos descubrimientos, y espero que en algún momento le sea otorgado su muy merecido lugar en los estanteros de los lectores hispanoparlantes junto con Pound, Williams, Eliot y Yeats (todos justamente traducidos). show less

Little Tree, illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray

E.E. Cummings' lovely poem, Little Tree, is made into a Christmas picture book by illustrator Deborah Kogan Ray, and the result is a gently appealing holiday tale, suffused with warmth and joy. The expressive but understated text describes how a small tree is found, cherished and decorated by a young brother and sister, while the artwork depicts two city children finding the tree in a lot, bringing it home and transforming it, eventually singing show more "Noel Noel" while gazing on its beauty...

Originally published in Cummings' collection, Tulips & Chimneys, in 1923, Little Tree has been presented as a children's book a number of times, illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray in this version, and by Mary Claire Smith in another. Caldecott Medal-winning author/illustrator Chris Raschka has also created an adaptation of it. This presentation is just lovely, pairing Cummings' gentle, emotionally resonant poem with beautiful, soft-edged illustrations. Recommended to young readers looking for sweet holiday tales, or for classic poems retold through the picture book form. show less

Let me start by saying that The Enormous Room is not exactly 'fun' to read, despite its youthful charms. This is the only extended work of prose that Cummings ever published, yet he so often blurs the line between verse and prose, making for a remarkably modernist flavor.

The Enormous Room is a fictitious retelling of Cummings' real life experience being incarcerated in a French military detention camp for vaguely defined traitorous behavior during the first World War. There is very little show more narrative structure or sequence of events, but rather a series of portraits of his fellow inmates, descriptions of the camp itself, and particular events that broke up his monotonous days of pain and drudgery.

It is through these whimsical, lively portraits that Cummings critiques his idiotic captors: the cops, the camp guards and bureaucratic leaders, and the French government as a whole. The hommes et femmes entombed in La Ferté-Macéhe have not actually be tried for anything. This is simply a way-station they are held in until their cases can be brought in front of a traveling board of judges. A dark cloud hangs over everyone, as they wonder if they will be released with little explanation, or be sent to an 'actual' prison for the duration of the war.

Despite these critiques, Cummings portrays this time as wildly fulfilling and joyous. Cummings can not think of a better group of people to spend the war with than the rejects and causalities of the military. The act of committing to his principles and sticking by his friend (only referred to as B) releases him from the expectations of a system he hates. Indeed, his rose colored glasses can be so powerful as to make the reader forget the grim reality of his circumstances: the overflowing buckets of human waste, the dank, cold, and dark solitary confinement cells, the greasy lukewarm soup, and the abusive guards. It is here the book shows its strongest ability: to take the hellscape of imprisonment and turn it into a farcical adventure story.

If nothing else, The Enormous Room's buoyant, youthful energy provides an unusual perspective on the horror of detention. That being said, the text itself is difficult to read. I'm sure you'd get more out of it if you had a rudimentary knowledge of French, because it's littered everywhere, whole paragraphs of it. It takes the wind out of Cummings' wry sense of humor when you are required to translate every other sentence. There's also tons of references to the The Pilgrims Progress, a work that I am unfamiliar with. It's entirely possible that my struggles with the The Enormous Room fall mostly upon my own ignorance of its style and substance. C'est la vie. show less

cummings isn't for everyone, I know, but really, he's more accessible than people think. This collection is a wonderful way to try out his poems for people who are new to him and a sheer delight for those of us who love him.

Not every poem here is marvelous, of course. There are some missing I'd have included and some included that I'd have left out, but that's merely personal preference. And frankly, with both "anyone lived in a pretty how town" and "my father walked through dooms of love" show more included, the other 98 could've been pure shite and this would still be a 5-star book. Fortunately, there are many, many more wonderful poems than just those two.

This was a perfect first read for the year--a reminder that no matter how badly humans may mess up the world, we are also capable of great hope and joy. show less