HistoricSiteMarkers
Progressive & Modern Era

E. E. Cummings

New York, New York, New York

Marker Inscription

E. E. Cummings 1894-1962 The poet and painter, who made art of commas and parentheses, lived here for the last forty years of his life. He characterized himself as "an author of pictures, a draughtsman of words."

Erected by Historic Landmarks Preservation Center

The Story

E. E. Cummings (1894–1962), the poet and painter who made expressive art out of commas, parentheses, and lower-case letters, spent the last forty years of his life at this address. He once described himself as 'an author of pictures, a draughtsman of words,' capturing the way his verse and his visual art fed one another.

Why it matters

Cummings reshaped what a poem could look like on the page, making him one of the most recognizable innovators of American modernist literature.

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