The "small eye poet" from Imagism to "not numerable whom"

Authors

Michael Webster, Grand Valley State UniversityFollow

Department

English Department

College

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Date Range

2012-2013

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities

Abstract

E. E. Cummings' poems work to erase the space between the Eye of perception and the lower-case "i" persona of the poet. Since feeling is first, the Eye of perception is primary, but it is also coterminous with the lower-case I of the poet. As Cummings wrote to his mother in 1922: in the beginning was the Eye(not the mind).Cummings' approach to the visual and verbal focuses on mergence and transformation of a multiple self into the natural and actual world, whether ambient air, sun, the eye of a bird, or the self of a lover.

Conference Name

Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture since 1900

Conference Location

Louisville, KY

ScholarWorks Citation

Webster, Michael, "The "small eye poet" from Imagism to "not numerable whom"" (2013). Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants. 1012.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/fsdg/1012