E. E. Cummings Books

I am just now rediscovering poetry. I've always enjoyed it as a teenager, so I bought three books by word-of-mouth this year. I can't say this one was my favorite, but it is a classic! I am sure the effect of Cummings at the time was great, but I strongly suggest that readers take in the writers of our day. This book is a great starting point, but it only gives you a history of what's going on with more contemporary poets.

Cummings is one of the best American minor poets. He invents a language, a style a way of saying things all his own. And he does this in memorable lines and with his own kind of beauty. "What of a much of a which of a wind " " There's a hell of a universe ,next door. Let's Go" " I sing of Olaf, glad and big " " Nothing not even the rain has such small hands" The style is magnetic and there is a most individualistic celebration of life and love.
Appealing. But without the largeness of Whitman or the mind of Dickinson or the music of Stevens,it is not at the very highest level.
And also sharing with Pound and Eliot, and to a lesser degree Hemingway and Fitzgerald the Anti- Semitism of his time which makes it therefore almost impossible for me to read the stuff with uncritical joy as I would like to.

I got this book in a used bookstore that was owned by a "former hippie"...is there such a thing, I always felt once a hippie, always a hippie...I didn't even ask for him to recommend it to me, he just looked in my eyes and said, "Hey, man, do you want to read something great?"

I read the whole book from cover to cover in the bookstore and I knew I had to have it as part of my collection. When the old hippie put the book in a bag he just smiled at me as if to say, "I told you so..."

So now I'm telling you, you who is looking for something crazybeautiful in which to pour your lovelyeyeslikemine over. Carry this book with you. Go to the local coffeehouse with pen in hand and make notes in the margins. Talk to Mr. Cummings as though he was right in front of you, because in a way, he never died. He is still very much alive and he especially loves new seekers of his words.

There are certain things that one must read before they exit the planet and this is one of them. You may not go crazy over it as much as I did, and if you weren't the least bit impressed I suggest that you make an appointment with the doctor and see if you have a pulse.

This little book is de-light-full and will work its magic in you if you let it.

This sweet little volume is a great introduction to Cummings' work...perfect as a gift to someone who's expressed an interest in him. The small, thin size makes it MUCH more portable than a 20-pound "complete works" volume!

I was determined to hate e.e.cummings. The quirks of his spelling and punctuation alone seemed to me to be contrived and overly pretentious and I felt instinctively (without reading it) that his poetry must be some sort of grand put-on. I am even today still not completely convinced he did not suffer some form of mild to severe brain damage (perhaps progressive) that increasingly affected his later writings. However, once I was introduced to the man through this excellent collection, I could no longer deny the stunning originality of his poetry or the gorgeous music of his lyrics, particularly when read aloud (most effectively and rewardingly to an adoring female audience of one). I have been converted into an admirer through this collection.

100 SELECTED POEMS is a fine and concise introduction to the works of this nonconformist poet. There is a sampling of his very best poems and enough variety to sway all doubters. This collection wisely (I feel) avoids the more terrifyingly eccentric typography of some of his more notorious efforts, though some of the later poems in this collection push the envelope far enough to be discomforting (but in a good way). No collection of American poetry would be complete without e.e.cummings, and this book rattles like a fragment of angry candy.

Jeremy W. Forstadt

Everyone should read ee cummings, even non-poetry lovers will love cummings whimsy and clever wordplay. He has also written the most beautiful, most romantic poetry of anyone in the English language.

It really is a great collection of e.e. cummings - certainly everything I wanted.

But what's to review - it's e.e. cummings, it's great

Now I must get back to my toboganning into know

Enjoy.

P.S. e.e. cummings was emphatic about his name being in lower case, so I do have to criticize the Editors of this book for putting his name in caps

One of the great poets of the 20th century gets a nice treatment here. A few of my favorites were not included (disappointed!!), but all in all this is a solid, representative anthology.

This is not a review. It is a complaint about the review I just read critisizing the editors of this fine collection. E.E. Cummings HATED that his publishers put his name in all lower case. He was not emphatic about it. He thought it was gimicky and exploitive of his publishes.
Whoa, when'd this horse get so high. ooop
S.

This review is from a strictly prose guy, as poetry usually goes right over my head. In my efforts to understand poetry, I have discovered that the work of e.e. cummings breaks through the stylistic barriers that make many people shy away from poetry altogether. cummings' use of bizarre spacing, punctuation, and phrasings keeps the reader away from the "sing-song" routine that tends to damage the credibility of many a poem, and cummings uses the art of style to say many things and make many points in just a few words. The most fascinating aspect of cummings' work is letting the small number of words in a poem really sink in until you gain many insights. This book usefully arranges cummings' most noteworthy poems into categories so you can more easily dwell on his major areas of subject matter. cummings did not live the hard life of many noteworthy poets, so a good number of his poems are musings on abstract concepts like life, love, mythology, and mortality. However, his much sharper observations on war, prostitution, politics, and the dark side of urban life can be truly shocking once you delve into their deeper meanings. Contemplating the title of this review, which is also the first line of the poem on page 181 of this book, will help any poetry-fearing reader to dive into cummings' world.

I was given this book several years ago when I was out book shopping with a teacher I love to be with.

We were both rather caught up that day in the spirit of the art and poem.
Feels almost a decade ago, so it probably was.
I liked Chagall's pictures some of which here I had not seen, will never see (though I've made a good stab at knowing his work)and appreciate this book form and maybe, in my way, felt that the poem was pushing me to consider them from a perspective I might have seen differently sans text. It would be typical that my friend was drawn to the words reading it to me several times, and I think drawing a bit of customer interest, while I was held by the images. Well we were in a children's bookstore in the art books looking for things to use in teaching...so I guess in a way...we were behaving rather like a child might finding the National Geo holding pictures of "naked people" something I recall of my brothers days. I imagine the internet fills that role now.....

This said I would contextualize this...I was raised in another "time" and in the arts and literature. In my era if creating a piece we were asked frankly to shock, disarm, question to engage with literature and art for its ability to speak the human truth that often is hidden or obfuscated. That love contains a side that exists physically ....a kind of accepted truth. Thus you have Cummings poem. Which is a bit..risque. Or these paintings. I don't know why I find reality TV not this or expressions in culture now different but I do. I am aware that changes in outlooks now conclude that a book like this one would be kind of a scandal in school.
Not that I was taking it there, but in my time I think "nobigdeal". I find this odd with what goes on media wise...but enough said.

I would imagine the persons exchanging this as a gift would be talking of love, or like my friend and I feeling silly happy about an aspect of living. If I put it on the coffee table in a stack of art books my kids read it, enjoy the pictures, like the book but I doubt think much one way or another besides its sweet. To me at the time I found it spoke to journeys in our lives, positive aspects of this thing denoted as love functioning in our days....funny...irreverent. Rather a playful relationship to the viewer maintained, nice diversion. I'd give it to someone with a heart.

If you are a Chagall or e.e. cummings lover, this book is not to be missed. It is an absolute treasure and such a beautiful marriage of words and art! The images perfectly complement the text. Highly recommended, even as an introduction to either of these two artists.

Just got this book and I love it. I purchased it based on reviews that I read and they are 100% correct. Beautiful pictures and a touching poem. Great as a wedding gift.

A terrific combination of art appreciation classes and literature for reading outdoors--took me back some 35 years to college days in its content, and then back up to the present in its pervasive wisdom. A joy for the ear and eye, just like its message--lovemaking is for lots of ages and stages and a delight to the senses. Should be on every bookstore's front tables.

This is one of the most beautiful combinations of poetry and art. The poem is really quite beautiful. The art is inspirational. I don't knwo that I'd give it to a couple for their wedding though, cause the poem is about a man who is cheating on his wife....So don't take the advice of the other reviewer, the couple might look at you funny!

My AP Biology class used the Campbell textbook, and I purchased this study guide to read along with it. It's perfect for summarizing the text and it goes into detail which is probably needed for the class tests. I wouldnt advise that you rely on the study guide, however, it is an excellent review with some practice questions and charts in each section that match the textbook. It goes into great depth for it to be a good AP test prep book. If you are looking for a AP Bio prep book for the AP test, I recommend Cliffnotes. If your class is using the respective Campbell textbook, it's a great idea to have this as well.

My AP Biology course uses Campbell's Biology as its main text. I ordered the study guide to help me study for tests. When I do the reading, I use this study guide to read the short summary, then read the section in the book. So far, this strategy has been very effective. In addition, the multiple choice study questions at the end of each chapter is very helpful. This book presents the information in a very organized, logical, and concise way. I would recommend it to anyone.

This study guide helped to clarify information in my text that was unclear. By using this study guide it helped me to raise my grades in both of my college biology classes. Subjects liked ecology, the five kingdoms and energy pathways were explained with the reader in mind. I also found the following awesome for test preparation:

The Ultimate Study Guide for Biology: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations (Topics: Organization of Living Things & Chemistry of Life, Structure and Function of the Cell and Energy Pathways, Reproduction and Heredity, Genetics) Volume 1 by Patrick Leonardi

The Ultimate Study Guide for Biology: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations (Topics: Evolution, Kingdom Bacteria, Kingdom Protista, Kingdom Fungi, Viruses, Plant Form and Function) Volume 2 by Patrick Leonardi

The Ultimate Study Guide for Biology: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations (Topics: Kingdom Animalia, Organization of the Animal Body, Animal Form and Function, Animal Reproduction, Development and Behavior) Volume 3 by Patrick Leonardi

The first study guide is great for getting a clearer explanation for harder subjects like the Krebs cycle and genetics. However, the the last three study guide helped me to figure out what kind of questions would appear on my college exams. I was recommended these books from my cousin who took bio at another college. I'm glad I took his advice, they helped me a lot.

First, let me say that, early on in the semester, I became disenchanted with the class I was using Campbell's book for (general biology). It was pretty evident that one of the main intentions of the class was to weed out students, and so I didn't find it very appealing; however, if you are unsure about which facet of biology you're interested in (or if you're interested at all), then the class might hold some value for you.

Taking that into consideration, I wanted to get what I need to know for the tests, and not waste anymore time. Taylor's study guide was perfect for this; it gives only what you need to know, and presents in a fashion such that the reader cannot be passive; i.e. its perfect for test preparation. I went from spending upwards of 10 hours a week reading and outlining Campbell's book to maybe 10-15 preparing the weekend before the test (about two days in the library), with equal results.

I must admit that I actually learned the material better when I was reading and outlining, but after asking myself to what end, I decided it wasn't worth it. This certainly isn't the only use of the study guide, but it worked for me, and I think it illustrates the power of this guide.

I used this book to help study for a very fast paced class at the University of Minnesota. I improved my grade from about 70% on the first exam, to over 90% on the second and about 95% on the final by using the book.

The text is simply too filled with information. I found it difficult to know what to focus on in my studying. And there are just too few sample questions in the back.

The study guide provides worksheet style exercizes to focus the student.

I think would be especially helpful for courses where they use a "test bank of questions to generate the exam.

The sexagenarian Edward Estlin Cummings gives us poems of remarkable versatility and joy. The volume begins with autumn and ends with spring. In between we have songs and sonnets and serene calligraphy, urbanity and sarcasm and protest against tyranny, we have childlike wonder at a distant star and the ultranecessary reminder that "not all matterings of mind equal one violet."

We have clarity, we have acceptance of the universe as it appears:

now air is air and thing is thing:no bliss

of heavenly earth beguiles our spirits,whose

miraculously disenchanted eyes

live the magnificent honesty of space.

We have the bluejay as "beautiful anarchist" and the slender eulogy for "this man's heart" who was "true to his earth" and not interested in "anyone's world." We have the famous (and to our mind unsplendid) jingle about "maggie and milly and molly and may."

We have apothegms: "dive for dreams / or a slogan may topple you"; we have "first robin the" and his message "april hello," and we have the limitless grace of "out of the lie of no."

Poems 87 through 95 -- with perhaps one exception -- are immortal. It bears repeating: immortal.

There are a few typographical poems that don't quite work, and a few ballad-jingles where Cummings conceals his meaning rather too well, but all in all, the book called "95 poems" is a splendour and an ineffably graceful achievement, reminding us that:

--saharas have their centuries,ten thousand

of which are smaller than a rose's moment

(and, from the same poem, the 11th)

... there is a time for timelessness

I really was amazed by this book. It is a classic of american poetry (once again out of print) it is worth finding. Half the poems are experiments and sort of have a puzzle to them. Which makes them really good study in how far one can go with laungage.

The rest are as equal in creativity of construction but hammer home the poet's ideas in a very direct and certain manner. This book shows that cummings could master any style and create new forms. Words were bent to the poets needs. ee cummings could follow any poetic style, yet he decided to hae his own. For his style alone he should be read. But for this themes he should be charished.

Her is one of the best ones

i shal imagine life

is not worth dying,if

(and when)roses complain

their beauties are in vain

but though mankind persuades

itself that every weed's

a rose,roses(you feel

certain)will only smile

The poetry of ee cummings is something that most Americans gain exposure to during secondary school (and very rarely in the education of those outside America) -- he is often seen as an acceptable example of one who broke the rules -- rules, the teacher will often hasten to add, which must be mastered before they can be acceptably broken.

Yet this is not what ee cummings would hope had come of his legacy. In reading his poetry in book, 95 Poems, a new vision begins to emerge of a real maverick--not someone who wanted to break the rules, but someone who eschewed the idea of rules so completely that breaking them was beyond the question, for that would have to recognise the value of the rules.

There are some classic examples of cummings following convention but still breaking rules--adhering to rhyme and meter, yet very original. The poem 'maggie and milly and molly and may' shows this, structured yet new.

Or, perhaps no longer that original. Unfortunately, ee cummings has become a conventional unconventionality. He was a success at being different--at one point only cummings and Frost, New Englanders both, with very different vines growing on the respective sides of their fence, were able to make a living solely from their writing while concentrating on poetry.

Some of his poetry is best meant to be read aloud, as all good poetry ultimately finds its best expression not on the lifeless page but in the spirited, feeling telling. There is an incredible sense -- for example, the poem 'i am a little church (no great cathedral)' has a strength read aloud that it somehow misses being silent on the page.

Some of the cummings poetry, however, is simplicity and verges on the concrete. These sometimes resort to cleverness that might have been genius of observation at the time but unfortunately due to overexposure now just seem an elementary type of cleverness. Of course, simplicity is so often overlooked, that when it is seen, we often react not as we should.

Arrangement on the page is so critical to cummings perception of how things must be that the lastest editions of his poetry are put in typewriter typeset (the way he composed and envisioned his poetry). The medium is part of the message, he might have said.

Try to read cummings with a new eye, and look for that which would have been shocking to the more standard and rule-bound Cambridge soul.

Reviewing E. E. Cummings' poetry is challenging due to the complexity of line and phrase construction employed by Mr. Cummings. Instead, consider what it is: A short collection of poetry by one of the most influential English language poets of the last 50 years. This, for me, was enough to by "95 Poems."

The poems have no titles except for numbers. While this might dismiss the need for a table of contents, it makes referencing a poem here difficult. Luckily, the publishers chose to include first lines in the contents. High school students will find "57" ("old age sticks"), the first Cummings' poem most us encounter. That said, "59" (or should I say number 59?) is my favorite.

when any mortal(even the most odd)

can justify the ways of man to God
i'll think it strange that normal mortals can

not justify the ways of God to man

Readers newly introduced to Cummings' groundbreaking style might find him hard to read. For me, it works for most of his poems. It fails occasionally, but this may be more as a result of my ignorance rather than Cummings' poetic inadequacies. Allowing the unique use of punctuation and line breaks to become like notes in a score, things came together for me, and this poetry became less obtuse. With each rereading, understanding Cummings becomes like learning to listen through an accent.

I fully recommend "95 Poems" by E. E. Cummings.

Anthony Trendl

I bought this book as a reference book for a research paper on E.E.Cummings. It is not a biography yet has a lot of great information on his life and poetry. It is organized in sections for different types of his poetry. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in E.E. Cummings!

E. E. Cummings is perhaps the most misunderstood poet of his generation. His verse has been decried and described as simplistic, sentimental, fatalistic, misanthropic, myopic, and just plain unapproachable, despite the fact that it has had such wide popular appeal.

No poet who has enjoyed such popularity as Cummings has been so largely ignored by the scholarly establishment. Professors scarcely mention his name, and many anthologies of 20th Century American verse simply choose not to include him, as though he were only a minor figure. In fact, there could be no statement more off the mark than one that dismisses this artist as a minor figure. If there is proof of this, Richard Kostelanetz has given it to us in this excellent compilation.

For anyone who is only vaguely familiar with E. E. Cummings, this book is a good place to begin to delve further into the mind, life, and work of a consummate artist and one-of-a-kind individual. To be truthful, the only knock against the book is that it doesn't give us enough of Cummings. But, to Kostelanetz' credit, we must acknowledge the wide and varied cross-section of work available to us here.

Here we find for the first time selections that would have been previously unavailable or largely unattainable for most readers. There is everything from poems to biography to theatre. Included are some of Cummings' letters, some of his criticisms, a ballet scenario, a film scenario, a bit from the non-lectures delivered when he was the Norton Professor at Harvard, an untitled novel, poems set to music, and much more. Hardly any aspect of Cummings' literary career goes untouched.

In addition, Kostelanetz includes small essays at the beginning of each section that are both cutting and insightful despite their brevity. In these essays, Kostelanetz comments on everything, from the fact that Cummings was an accomplished painter to the fact that Cummings was perhaps the most prolific sonnet writer of the past 100 years. Each little piece offered adds something to one's appreciation of the genius that is E. E. Cummings, even the miniscule note that betrays the convention of spelling the author's name with lower-case letters as something assigned to him by outside forces.

For those who are tired of the same old anthologies, tired of those books that won't take chances on publishing anything too far outside the mainstream, AnOther E. E. Cummings is a must have. This collection, by no means complete in itself, is nonetheless the last, necessary piece to anyone's Cummings puzzle. Indeed, no collection should be considered complete without it.

I was briefly introduced to e.e. Cummings in college and I loved his poems. I randomly picked this book up in a bookstore because it seemed fairly complete and interesting. It is. It has some background info. on cumming's and some hints on how to read him. The poems in this book are amazing! I would recomand this book to anyone who is fascinated with e.e. cummings.

This collection gives an indispensible insight into E. E. Cummings' overall projects as a poet, helping a reader to understand his 'standard poetry' more fully. It is a smart collection of Cummings' most experimental and innovative works. A must-have for any reader of his poetry.

Very enjoyable transcription of Cumming's lectures which offer much insight to this master's life and work.

We learn here from the great Estlin Cummings, if we did not already know, that "Art is a mystery; all mysteries have their source in a mystery-of-mysteries who is love" (note the "who" denoting aliveness, as opposed to "which" denoting undeadness): "and if lovers may reach eternity directly through love herself, their mystery remains essentially that of the loving artist whose way must lie through his art, and of the loving worshipper whose aim is oneness with his god."

For the mature Cummings fan, this volume is a must. It traces the genesis of Cummings as poet and as man. It gives us his opinion (at which sophomores might marvel) that no one should venture free verse until he has MASTERED the sonnet, rondeau, ballade, etc. It gives us a syllabus of poems that he loved in his youth and continued to love in his adulthood: Dante, Swinburne, Shakespeare's 116th sonnet, Charles d'Orleans, Walther von der Vogelweide, Shelley, Keats. There are words of praise for Dante Gabriel Rossetti's sonnets. There are ten of E E Cummings' sonnets included in these lectures (but my copy of "i" contains three significant typographical howlers).

We see the libertarian Cummings, the man who "values freedom" and abominates "the subhuman superstate USSR." We see his almost impenetrable parody of Communism in a snippet of his book EIMI, about a trip to Leninist Moscow. We see bits of the play "Santa Claus," his gleeful proverbs called "jottings," and a few paragraphs in defense of Ezra Pound.

We have in the six nonlectures the heart of a man in love with life and spring and joy and birth and (yes of course) love. "To feel something is to be alive." And woe betide the reader who feels nothing when she or he reads these marvellous pages.

These six "nonlectures" give more insight into ee cummings than anything else I've ever read about or by him (except, perhaps, for the Enormous Room, also a fantastic book). He talks about his family, his beliefs, and colors it all with true cummings style. It's delightful.

Absolutely indispensible for anyone who loves ee cummings-- tells of his history, his family, his dreams and ideas, friendships and schooldays, war and peace, love, life and all the rest.

A little difficult to read (content and form). There's alot more here than the small letters.

Not being able to remember a first line, which could be easily found in the Index of First Lines starting at page 849, I just looked through hundreds of pages trying to find a poem whose last line is spread over seven lines on page 700. These poems are not always easy to read, and now that I have found this one, I would love to share it with anyone who might be interested:

as joe gould says in

his terrifyingly hu
man man
ner the only reason every wo
man

should

go to college is so
that she never can(kno
wledge is po
wer)say o

if i

'd
OH
n
lygawntueco

llege

There may be some problem, like am I being retro? with the way that I think about the poems in this book, because I tried to read the whole book more than twenty years ago, and was so impressed that when an Etcetera collection of additional poems came out in 1983, I bought that too. I'm not sure I know anyone now who would even consider reading a book this big if it was just poems. The big revelation in the 1913-1962 collection, as far as I was concerned, was the poem "the boys i mean are not refined," which was first published in a limited edition of nine copies in 1935, according to the first paragraph of the inside flap of the First American edition 1972 of Complete Poems 1913-1962, which I still have. That poem, in particular, taught me a lot about culture, and how someone (famous) who knew what culture was could know what could be said, while others might just "speak whatever's on their mind." This might be close to what the verses in Proverbs that try to describe the difference between a wise man and a fool are trying to say, and it was great to find that someone who might be considered almost as modern as myself could be sensitive to this kind of thing, almost like hearing John Prine wondering if it would be possible for him to still blush in some song he wrote.

Even I don't read much of this book at any one time, anymore, but I appreciate how well it stores its pleasures. One of the curiosities of poetry is that it can be incredibly difficult to find a poem unless the first line is the one that pops into the appropriate recall mechanism, whenever a poem is thought of, and this book has been around a long time because, even when I don't know if I will be able to find what I am looking for, it is interesting to look through it trying to find the last line of a great poem that was greater at the end than at the beginning. My favorite poem in this book starts out with "jake hates/all the girls" but the great thing is an unexpected rhyme scheme, which jumps around from bold, meek, sleek, cold in the first verse to lean, mean, clean, green in the last. Actually, this poem might be considered utterly devastating if there was anything personal about it, but thoughts about all the girls have been on the conscience of philosophy about as long as books have been maintained for the future, and it does my heart good to see a poet try to join in the mess surrounding this topic. What I mean is, I think this poem is good in a way that centuries of being modern might try to deny, but it is here, under a number 21 in a section titled XAIPE, originally published in 1950, when I was alive and maybe even speaking, if something reminded me of my mother. Actually, she might not like this poem, so I think it's funny, if anyone can understand the humor in that. These reviews aren't supposed to be by great critics; they are just supposed to say: buy this book.

'anybody lived in a pretty how town
with up so floating many bells down'

The poetry of ee cummings is something that most Americans gain exposure to during secondary school (and very rarely in the education of those outside America) -- he is often seen as an acceptable example of one who broke the rules -- rules, the teacher will often hasten to add, which must be mastered before they can be acceptably broken.

Yet this is not what ee cummings would hope had come of his legacy. In reading his poetry in this edition, his prose, his theatrical writings, and his unpublished manuscripts (some of which have been published under the title Etc.), a new vision begins to emerge of a real maverick--not someone who wanted to break the rules, but someone who eschewed the idea of rules so completely that breaking them was beyond the question, for that would have to recognise the value of the rules.

And yet, some rules creep in:

'the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls
are unbeautiful and have comfortable minds
(also, with the church's protestant blessings
daughters, unscented shapeless spirited)'

This is a classic example of a cummings sonnet--adhering to rhyme and meter, yet very original.

Or, perhaps not that original. Unfortunately, ee cummings has become a conventional unconventionality. He was a success at being different--at one point only cummings and Frost, New Englanders both, with very different vines growing on the respective sides of their fence, were able to make a living solely from their writing while concentrating on poetry.

This text almost all of the poetry cummings produced in his lifetime. In this we find his faith, his politics, his social criticism and his social prejudices, and his ideas of love and desire. There are other poems that go beyond this text (including ones never published in his lifetime) that are not included here, but this contains everything major, and all for which cummings became known.

Some of his poetry is best meant to be read aloud, as all good poetry ultimately finds its best expression not on the lifeless page but in the spirited, feeling telling. There is an incredible sense (try reading it aloud, slowly).

Some of the cummings poetry, however, is simplicity and verges on the concrete. These sometimes resort to cleverness that might have been genius of observation at the time but unfortunately due to overexposure now just seem an elementary type of cleverness. Of course, simplicity is so often overlooked, that when it is seen, we often react not as we should.

Arrangement on the page is so critical to cummings perception of how things must be that the lastest editions of his poetry are put in typewriter typeset (the way he composed and envisioned his poetry). The medium is part of the message, he would have said.

Try to read cummings with a new eye, and look for that which would have been shocking to the more standard and rule-bound Cambridge soul.

This book outlines every facet of the facinating life of E.E. Cummings. A must read for anyone researching or interested in his life.

Recently having completed DREAMS IN THE MIRROR, I can say that I haven't read a better biography in a long time. If you are a true E.E. Cummings fan (or e.e. cummings as he spelled it), the insights that Kennedy has into the man's life, as well as the interpretations of his poems, seems to make sense. I own a copy of his "Complete Poems 1904-1962", and having read many of them, I thought that the logical next step was to see how someone else thought of them. Kennedy's biography of Cummings is the only one that I know of in existance. Adding to that is Nancy Andrews, Cummings' daughter, who gave a lot of insight into her father, as well as previously unpublished poems and even drawings(!!). The book doesn't read like a novel, so don't expect to pace though it quickly. It is a well-written account of Cummings' life, so remember to pay attention. Being it as it may, and considering that information, I say go on and read it. It's worth the time.

a wonderful book ... especially the love story and photos of cummings and marion moorehouse

'Dreams in the Mirror: A Biography of E.E. Cummings' is a precise account of a unique, creative poet. Richard S. Kennedy has made sense of the seemingly incoherent mind that made the literary world spin in a profoundly deconstructed orbit during the period following Cummings' graduation from the Harvard School of Arts and Sciences in 1916. Perhaps the most significant element of Kennedy's book is the previously unpublished Cummings' poem discovered in the dusty closet of a Tunisian Bed&Beakfast he'd occupied in 1931. Titled 'Insanity is Just a Mind of State', it is one of Cummings' most autobiographical works, revealing the poet's life-long regret that he'd never wrestled an alligator. The lament, on page 79, reads:

'i'm mad; say they
but Almonds aren't NUTS!
(is) thE river SEINE in pariS;?'

The human mind is a beautiful thing.

I am learning a lot of things from the book and study card useful for class.

This is exactly what I had hoped for. Small footprint, plenty of capacity, no external power requirement and simple plug & play compatability for both XP and Vista.

I use this unit 3 different ways:
1.) As a backup device for a laptop running XP and a desktop running Vista
-- It's simple and very quick. I actually now backup my 2 computers now on a weekly basis. Prior to this I did it once a year if I thought about it!
-- Plus I keep this unit in my backpack which helps reduce the risk of losing everything if there were a fire/tornado or similar disaster.
2.) File transfer mechanism when the files are bigger than a USB memory stick holds
-- I don't always have a shared network I can use between computers so this is the next best thing.
3.) For programs I don't use on a regular basis at work. This would be demo stuff and large applications that I only use on a very infrequent basis.
-- This keeps my laptop hard drive free from some very large installs.

My 16 year old just finished this book for homeschool biology. It was comprehensive, thorough, yet easy for her to follow. The illustrations are excellent and prolific. It had quizes she could take to track her progress. I highly recommmend this book for high school biology.

I used this book to homeschool my 13 year old daughter, who went on to obtain a 750 on the SAT II Biology. I also taught a class to homeschoolers using THE WAY LIFE WORKS (much cheaper) as the main text, but using many of the CD-ROM activites from ESSENTIAL BIOLOGY as class material. I especially liked the MendAliens for genetics problems! There are many useful activites, quizzes, and chapter tests, wonderful graphics. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand "essential" biology.