Synopses & Reviews
This book may well be the standard work on e. e. cummings in our time. Mr. Friedman, the outstanding authority on the poet, has provided us with a comprehensive view and a handbook-survey to guide the reader toward a fuller appreciation of cummingss work. The book traces the poets development as a writer: where and when Cummings found his major themes, their significance, and where and when he mastered his characteristic way of embodying these themes.
Review
I admire the efficiency and thoroughness of this book. Almost all of the factual conclusions and informative observations are indisputable
Cummingss vision emerges significantly in his middle and later volumes, as Mr. Friedman points out.”R. E. Wegner, American Literature
Review
The poems are discussed with expertness and with critical joy, by Mr. Friedman, who treats cummingss books in this full and notable study. It deals not only with the poets lyric and comic aspects, but very importantly examines the basic mystical insight which is the real foundation of his work. Twentieth-century readers owe e. e. cummings a great debt for being the grand and joyful poet that he was; they also owe a debt to Mr. Friedman for interpreting his writings.”Harry T. Moore
Synopsis
This book may well be the standard work on e. e. cummings in our time. Mr. Friedman, the outstanding authority on the poet, has provided us with a comprehensive view and a handbook-survey to guide the reader toward a fuller appreciation of cummings's work. The book traces the poet's development as a writer: where and when Cummings found his major themes, their significance, and where and when he mastered his characteristic way of embodying these themes.
About the Author
Norman Friedman is Professor of English at Queens College. He previously taught at the New School of Research and at the Universities of Nantes and Nice in France, where he held Fulbright lectureships. He has won a Northwest Review poetry prize, and two Borestone Mountain Poetry Awards. His published works include Poetry: An Introduction to Its Form and Art and Logic, Rhetoric and Style (both with C. A. McLaughlin).