"I am someone, who proudly and humbly affirms that love is the mystery-of-mysteries...that 'an artist, a man, a failure' is...a naturally and miraculously whole human being...whose only happiness is to transcend himself, whose every agony is to grow." This is a quote by a true transcendentalist, Edward Estlin Cummings, who "views nature as a state of becoming rather than as a stasis and who believes that the imaginative faculty in man can perceive the natural world directly" (Triem 5). In order to better comprehend and understand the poetry of E. E. Cummings, one must first examine his poems which had a great impact on American literature and influenced society, his original style of writing with his own techniques and use of imagery, and his unique forms of punctuation and capitalization unlike any other author of his time.
             E. E. Cummings was born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts to parents who encouraged him early on to develop and expand his creative gifts. He attended Harvard University, and helped found the Harvard Poetry Society. While at Harvard, Cummings became intensely interested in the new movements in the visual arts: futurism, impressionism, post-impressionism, and cubism, and he began painting. Cummings and his friends created The Eight Harvard Poets in 1917. In this, the printer unintentionally made Cummings's name and all the occurrences of letter "I" lowercase. Cummings liked the change, and decided to change his name to "e. e. cummings". Afterwards, Cummings made the decision to volunteer for the Norton-Harjes Ambulance group in France. While there, Cummings was ordered to say he hated the Germans and responded with "I like the French." As a result, he and a friend were imprisoned in a French detention camp because Cummings was ordered to say he hated the Germans and he responded with "I like the Frenc
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