E.E Cummings and His Influences to Writing Poetry - Research Paper Example

Cummings was a controversial poet whose status was preceded by his poetic influence. It is noteworthy that Cumming grew in a strict Unitarian home (Dendinger, 89). However, this did not deter him from fulfilling his ambitions. He felt that his parents did not understand his free spirit, and the unique view he had about life. However, his liberated mind and the encouragement he was getting from his parents resulted into adoption of these controversial styles of writing poetry. In addition, his enrolment into school only functioned to fuel his thoughts about having a free spirit.

Therefore, he did not take schoolwork as serious as anyone of his calibre was expected to by the society. In any way, it is while attending school that he developed the rebellion towards the frame of references of life. His attack on the mass mind and conservative patterns of contemplation as well as the restrictions the society had on expression originated from his staunch devotion to the person. He therefore believed in “the simple faith in the miracle of mans individuality’ (Bay-Cheng and Cole, 157).

Therefore, in most of his works, he always blamed man, but idealised personality. He thus directed his critics against the foes of individual, by letting no man rest in what he believes he knows. The rhetorical function of his language is based on this foundation. Therefore, this shows that Cumming’s influences to poetry started at a tender age when he stared composing points at only ten years (Bay-Cheng and Cole, 157). This means that his open-minded and at times lenient parents encouraged him early in his life to delve into his creative side.

In addition, Metcalf (374) notes that Dante who was an author but died even before Dante was born also influenced the early works of Cummings. This influence is reflected in the non-lectures that Cummings gave to the audiences he addressed. However, it was not Dante alone but also Dickens and Mallory. However, it is his controversial address to the Graduating class at Harvard University brought him into the public eye. This talk was about new art, in which he dismissed the admired poet Amy Lowell by referring to her as abnormal (Bay-Cheng and Cole, 160).

Some of Dante’s influences are reflected in the passages of some of the works of Cumming such as “Inferno”. In this piece of work, overt references appear in brief in his passages (Metcalf, 380). Most of these references serve to underpin Cumming’s ironic and negative thoughts of the modern world. However, this influence presents itself in a different way when Cumming, just like Dante, goes through an onerous journey just to safeguard his free spirited claims. Dendinger (95) asserts that his difficult journey is talked about in the novel “Emmi” where he has quoted Dante’s optimistic visions towards life from “Vita Nuova and “Paradiso”.

Another example of Cummings works is the “So shy shy shy” poem that has a conspicuous similitude to an extract “Vita Nuova”. Therefore, these comparisons suggest that most of Cummings directions in poetry were influenced by Dante’s work. His move to Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps in New York with a long time friend from college contributed in part to his poetic influences (Bay-Cheng and Cole Barbara, 162). This is because he was putting his thoughts to practice concerning what he believes is right.

He was, thus trying to deviate from the norm of fresh college graduates joining