A Poet's LifeE.

If you like the lyrical, visual poetry of e e cummings, this biography of his life will appeal to you.  Even if you are not a poetry fan, but you enjoy reading about Greenwich Village and Paris during their artistic heydays, you will enjoy Susan Cheever’s carefully researched biography.

e e cummings was born into privilege in Cambridge, Mass.  His father a professor and minister at Harvard.   He loved technology and was always buying the next new thing, whether that was an early automobile or a collapsible canoe with folding seats.

The latter purchase caused one of the most horrifying incidents of e e’s teenage years. He and his sister took the canoe out on a lake at their summer place in New Hampshire. Their favorite dog, Rex, accompanied them, but unfortunately, turned suddenly to see something. The boat capsized. And as Elizabeth, e e’s sister, clung to it, the canoe sank.  Meanwhile Rex had swum almost the whole way back to shore, but then heard the children and hurried back.  Exhausted by this time, the dog pushed Elizabeth down.  Elizabeth came up sputtering for air and Rex shoved her down again.  As the dog circled close for his third attempt to rescue himself, e e swam over and held Rex down until he stopped breathing.