La guerre II

e. e. cummings

E. E. Cummings’ poem “La Guerre II” (often referred to by its first line, “O sweet spontaneous”) was published in 1923 in his first collection, “Tulips and Chimneys”.

Edward Estlin Cummings was born on 14 October 1894 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, and he died on 3 September 1962 in Madison, New Hampshire, US, at the age of 67.

A poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright, Cummings is often regarded as one of the most important American poets of the 20th century and is associated with modernist free-form poetry. He wrote approximately 2,900 poems, two autobiographical novels, four plays, and several essays. Much of his work has idiosyncratic syntax and uses lowercase spellings for poetic expression.

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Posted: 15 August 2023
Word length: 62
Video length: 1:34

O sweet spontaneous earth how often have the doting   fingers of prurient philosphers pinched and poked

thee ,has the naughty thumb of science prodded thy   beauty .how often have religions taken thee upon their scraggy knees squeezing and

buffeting thee that thou mightest conceive gods (but true

to the incomparable couch of death thy rhythmic lover   thou answerest

them only with   spring)

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