E.E. Cummings is without question one of the major poets of this
century, and this volume, first published in 1959, is indispensable for
every lover of modern lyrical verse. It contains one hundred of
Cummings's wittiest and most profound poems, harvested from thirty-five
of the most radically creative years in contemporary American poetry.
These poems exhibit all the extraordinary lyricism, playfulness,
technical ingenuity, and compassion for which Cummings is famous. They
demonstrate beautifully his extrapolations from traditional poetic
structures and his departures from them, as well as the unique synthesis
of lavish imagery and acute artistic precision that has won him the
adulation and respect of critics and poetry lovers everywhere.