Cummings, E. E.

Cummings, E. E. (Edward Estlin Cummings, 1894–1962),
American poet, essayist, and artist. Known for his dramatic experiments in typography and syntax, Cummings also wrote some charming but fairly conventional fairy tales for his daughter: ‘The Old Man Who Said “Why”’, ‘The Elephant and the Butterfly’, ‘The House that Ate Mosquito Pie’, and ‘The Little Girl Named I’ (collected in 1965 with illustrations by John Eaton). His 1932 essay ‘A Fairy Tale’ has little to do with fairy tales, but celebrates art as detached from economics and politics and even ‘life’.

Elizabeth Wanning Harries