Edward Estlin Cummings (e.e. cummings, as he preferred to sign his name) (1894–1962) was an American poet, writer, painter, and playwright, widely regarded as one of the most original voices of twentieth-century literature. He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 14, 1894. From the age of eight he developed a passion for writing and began composing poems on a daily basis. He studied at Harvard University and, during World War I, volunteered for ambulance service in Europe.
In 1917, after only five months of service in France, he was arrested on suspicion of espionage, largely because letters he had written expressed anti-war views and sympathy for ordinary Germans. He spent more than three months in a detention camp before being released through the efforts of his family. This experience inspired his autobiographical novel *The Enormous Room* (1922). The following year he published the poetry collection *Tulips and Chimneys*, the book that first established his reputation as an innovative and unconventional poet.
Many more poetry collections, plays, essays, and nearly 3,000 poems followed, making him one of the most influential American poets of the twentieth century. He lived primarily in New York, traveled extensively throughout Europe, North Africa, Mexico, and the Soviet Union, and worked as an essayist for *Vanity Fair* magazine between 1924 and 1927.
In his personal life, Cummings experienced several turbulent relationships. In 1918 he began an affair with the wife of a Harvard friend, and their daughter was born the following year. The couple eventually married in 1924, but the marriage collapsed after only a few months when she left him and moved to Ireland with a wealthy banker. Cummings did not see his daughter again until 1946. A second marriage in 1929 lasted only three years. From 1932 until his death, however, he shared his life with Marion Morehouse, who became his lifelong companion and the most important woman in his life.
E. E. Cummings died in North Conway, New Hampshire, on September 3, 1962.
