Edward Estlin Cummings was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on October 14, 1894 to Rebecca Haswell Clarke and Edward Cummings. He attended public schools in Cambridge and graduated from Harvard University where he earned a BA in 1915 and an MA in 1916 for Classical Studies and English. During World War I, because he was a conscientious objector, Cummings volunteered for the Norton-Haries Ambulance Corps as an ambulance driver in Paris, France. Five months after receiving his assignment, he was arrested for treason (on false charges) for his alleged anti-war sentiment and letters that he wrote home and was detained for about three months. His father wrote a letter to the President of the United States on his son’s behalf to gain his release.
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For example, in his poem, "next to of course god america I”, E.E .Cummings displays contempt for the American politician giving a political speech with all the rhetoric a politician would include in a speech to excite the public into supporting their political agenda (210). The politician seems to be stroking the publics' sense of patriotism and love for their country, and using their fears to gain the support for a war or to justify an unpopular action. A good example we are familiar with, is the destruction of the twin towers in New York on 9/11 when politicians manipulated the public with fear to pass the Patriot Act. In the poem, the last sentence , ". . . the heroic happy dead who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter they did not think they died instead then shall the voice of liberty be mute?” (210) is very notable. The reason it is so notable is that this sentence has the only punctuation in the poem for the very reason to give it the most attention. In the first part, the different phrases with no punctuation or capitalization are meant to run into one another to show that they were empty words as they were used by the politician. Cummings' message to the public is to be aware of the hidden agenda of the politician and warns on following blindly and to question such rhetoric by politicians who would never in their lives be part of anything they are trying to convince the public to
For example, in his poem, "next to of course god america I”, E.E .Cummings displays contempt for the American politician giving a political speech with all the rhetoric a politician would include in a speech to excite the public into supporting their political agenda (210). The politician seems to be stroking the publics' sense of patriotism and love for their country, and using their fears to gain the support for a war or to justify an unpopular action. A good example we are familiar with, is the destruction of the twin towers in New York on 9/11 when politicians manipulated the public with fear to pass the Patriot Act. In the poem, the last sentence , ". . . the heroic happy dead who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter they did not think they died instead then shall the voice of liberty be mute?” (210) is very notable. The reason it is so notable is that this sentence has the only punctuation in the poem for the very reason to give it the most attention. In the first part, the different phrases with no punctuation or capitalization are meant to run into one another to show that they were empty words as they were used by the politician. Cummings' message to the public is to be aware of the hidden agenda of the politician and warns on following blindly and to question such rhetoric by politicians who would never in their lives be part of anything they are trying to convince the public to