1. Playful Language and Wordplay:
* Lowercase Letters: Cummings often eschewed capitalization, creating a sense of intimacy and informality. He'd sometimes capitalize a single word for emphasis.
* Unusual Spacing and Punctuation: He broke conventional line breaks and punctuation rules to create visual poetry.
* Wordplay and Neologisms: Cummings loved playing with words, using puns, invented words, and unusual phrasing to create a sense of playfulness and surprise.
Example:
i carry your heart(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
2. Stream-of-Consciousness and Intimacy:
* Personal Expression: Cummings often wrote about personal experiences, emotions, and relationships. He wrote about love, loss, and the beauty of the ordinary.
* Fragmentation and Disjointedness: His poems often felt like a stream of consciousness, capturing fleeting thoughts and emotions in a fragmented and disjointed way.
Example:
the world is mud-luscious
and the smell of the earth is good
and the rain is falling all over the place
3. Simple Imagery and Vivid Descriptions:
* Nature as Inspiration: Cummings drew heavily from nature, using simple imagery to convey complex emotions. He loved depicting the natural world in a fresh, vivid way.
* Direct and Unadorned Language: His poems often felt stripped down, using simple language to evoke powerful emotions.
Example:
a leaf falls
in the still
air
a single
leaf
4. Challenging Conventions:
* Subversion of Traditional Form: Cummings often experimented with form, breaking away from traditional rhyme and meter.
* Exploration of Themes: He tackled themes of love, war, and societal issues, often questioning traditional values and perspectives.
Example:
i sing of Olaf glad and big
whose warmest heart did make his face
all shine with joy;whose laugh was like
a sunbeam's kiss upon a space
Writing Exercise:
1. Choose a Theme: Start with a theme that resonates with you, something personal or something from your observations of the world.
2. Experiment with Language: Play with lowercase letters, unusual spacing, and wordplay.
3. Embrace Fragmented Thoughts: Let your thoughts flow, even if they seem disjointed or incomplete.
4. Use Vivid Imagery: Draw inspiration from nature or everyday objects.
5. Challenge Conventions: Don't be afraid to break the rules and experiment with form.
Remember, E. E. Cummings's style is distinctive and recognizable. Don't be afraid to experiment and have fun with language to capture your own unique voice!