UNIVERSITY D-OTTAWA ~ ECOLE DES GRADUES A CATHOLIC CRITICISM OF E. E. CUMMINGS c ', i- •J. f » ifX. • A Study of Form, Technique and Content in one of the Controversial Poets of Our Time from the Traditional Christian Viewpoint* By Stephen Breen Thesis presented to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ottawa through the Department of English as partial fulfill­ ment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 6. fWf Ottawa, Canada, 1958 AjU*A^&->w( \J \ 5 «• Q~\^- UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA - SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UMI Number: DC53307 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI® UMI Microform DC53307 Copyright 2011 by ProQuest LLC All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 UNIVERSITE D-OTTAWA ~ ECOLE DES GRADUES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis topic was selected under the guidance of the Chairman of the English Department, Professor Emmett 0'Grady, and executed under the guidance of Dr. Paul Marcotte in its initial stages, with Dr. Brian Robinson directing its organization and conclusion. Mr. E. E. Cummings, the sub­ ject of the dissertation, kindly consented to a visit at his home where some obscure points of background and principle were cleared up, and these are noted in the thesis where they have been used to chart the course of study and analysis. The Librarian's office of the New York Public Library in New York City helped in providing through the Rare Book Depart­ ment original editions, manuscripts and other material of great value. Finally, the Institute for Philosophical Research at 1998 Pacific Avenue, San Francisco, California, furnished a report on Liberalism which helped in preparing the section on that subject. The University of Wisconsin furnished on loan an original manuscript of Maurer's critical study of S. E. Cummings; the other two structural and prosodic studies were obtained on microfilm from University Microfilms in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The same agency furnished UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA -- SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA - ECOLE DES GRADUES III. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS several other miorofilmed dissertations of use and these along with other original manuscripts from university libraries were studied, which, though they did not bear directly on the topic, nevertheless did serve to gain more exact insight into the cross currents of general poetic influences of the period and the dominant philosophic ideas which determine its main outlook. The annotated bibliography, though it necessarily reflects only a small part of what went into the present study, will serve to implement and detail these remarks. Perhaps the greatest asset to a real understanding of the essay which follows and its particular orientation is the assimilation and foundation of the regular six-year seminary course in philosophy, theology, Scripture, exegesis and allied courses which are a prerequisite to ordination to the priesthood. They compose the light to which the work of i. E, Cummings is held up, to form this Catholic criticism of his art. Without this training or its equivalent such a presentation could not at once be comprehensive and authoritative• The Gotham Book Mart in New York City, well known to bibliophiles and researchers, provided its usual tireless energies in tracking rare and out-of-print volumes. UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA - SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UN1VERSITE D-OTTAWA ~ ECOLE DES GRADUES IT. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Gratitude is here expressed to the above mentioned persons, institutions, and all who helped in preparing the present work. UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA ~ SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA - ECOLE DES GRADUES CURRICULUM STUDIORUM NAME: Stephen Breen Born: July 3, 1916, New York City, N. Y., Borough of Queens B.S.: St. John's University, College of Arts and Sciences 75 Lewis Avenue Brooklyn, N. Y. June, 1938 M.A.: Columbia University, Teachers College 525 W. 120 Street New York, N. Y. June, 1940 UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA ~ SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA ~ ECOLE DES GRADUES TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter page INTRODUCTION IX Part One A General View I. - THE NEW PERSPECTIVE 1 Part Two A Study of Form, Structure, Technique and Craftsmanship II. - TYPOGRAPHICAL ONOMATOPOEIA: STRUCTURAL INNOVATION. NEW VERSE FORMS AND THEIR USES, DEFINITION OF TERMS 44 III. - FURTHER ANALYSIS OF FORM: EXPERIMENTS IN DICTION AND SYNTAX 88 IV. - THE ABSTRACT IMAGE, ITS TECHNIQUE AND USE.... 108 V. - INFLUENCES OF SURREALISM: CUBISM, FUTURISM AND THEIR NIHILISTIC BACKGROUND 130 VI. - THE PERSONAL CONVENTION 161 Part Three Social Satire VII. - THE WAR BETWEEN US AND MOSTPEOPLE 174 VIII. - THE WASTELAND: DELUGE OF MATERIALISM 198 IX. - THE GENUS OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC SATIRE: CUE/MINGS' MAN IN THE EARL AND WILSON COLLAR 219 X. - CHARACTERIZATION: THE NAME TAG AND ITS CONTRADICTIONS 230 UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA ~ SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERS1TE D'OTTAWA - ECOLE DES GRADUES VII. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter page Part Four The Themes of Love and Sex as Ends of Human Activity XI. - THE LOVE LYRIC AND ITS DOCTRINE 244 XII. - THE PERSONAL CONVENTION IN SEXUAL THEMES AND IMAGERY 267 Part Five An Analysis of Content with an Eye to Philosophic Content and Moral Values XIII. - NATURE AND THE MODERNS 294 XIV. - THE LIBERAL BACKGROUND OF THE SUBJECT 327 Part Six The Great Unsolved Problems XV. - THE PROBLEM OF GOD IN CUMMINGS 344 XVI. - THE PROBLEM OF DEATH AND IMMORTALITY IN CUMMINGS 358 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 380 UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA ~ SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA - ECOLE DES GRADUES LIST OF TABLES Table page I. - Beloof's Classification 57 II. - Detail of Beloof's Classification 58 UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA ~ SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA ~ ECOLE DES GRADUES INTRODUCTION Our problem In the present investigation is to under­ stand the poet and his work against the background of the modern, mid-century literary and cultural scene; and after this primary orientation to consider the man and his message with regard to Christian thought and tradition. It involves a literary and cultural evaluation of the poet as an artist contributing to the enrichment of the Christian life with a supporting exposition of his doctrine in relation to traditional Catholic thought. Although Cummings is becoming more and more a topic of dissertation and report, no attempt has been made as yet to evaluate his work in the light of traditional Christian principles. In 1955 there appeared the first three dootoral dissertations on Cummings. At the University of "Wisconsin Robert E. Maurer was the author of E. E. Cummings: A Critical Study. Mr. Maurer's work is a purely literary oritique and attempts quite successfully to defend Mr. Cummings against the attacks of his enemies. In its literary criticism, this study coincides with the present work in a few places, and wherever a parallel treatment occurs it is noted by means of footnotes or in the body of the thesis. Maurer's conclusions UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA ~ SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UN1VERSITE D'OTTAWA ~ ECOLE DES GRADUES X INTRODUCTION are used to buttress statements in the present work at a few points and have served to make more detailed support of these points unnecessary. The other two studies, Structural Ambiguity in the Poetry of E. E. Cummings. by Louis C. Rus, at the University of Michigan, and E. E. Cummings: the Prosodic Shape of His Poems, by Robert L. Beloof, at Northwestern University, are both technical in nature and concern themselves solely with the intricacies of form, idiom, diction, technical devices and elements of structure. Therpresent study makes use in Part II of their analyses, lists and tables to aid in an understanding of Cummings* technique and its development. Once again, credit is given by way of footnote wherever their investigations are employed to sustain the present argument. Their work aids immeasurably in coming to a thorough understanding of the style and craftsmanship of the subjeot. The present study endeavours to look at the subject from more than a mechanical, literary or even an artistic point of view. Important as literature, poetry and art are in their own right, it is nonetheless essential to understand their philosophical and theological implications if they are to be truly evaluated. This is not to say that such an estimate is to take the form of narrow sectarian criticism or UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA ~ SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UN1VERSITE D'OTTAWA ~ ECOLE DES GRADUES XI. INTRODUCTION to require that poetry has to be didactic, "conformist", or "dedicated" before it can merit Catholic acceptance and praise. On the oontrary, the position taken in this present work is that art is universal in its approach to life and has its roots in Truth itself; and that "bad" art fails either because of imperfection by its own standards or be­ cause its formal element is in conflict with some more basic principle. This is entirely in accord with the teaching of St. Thomas, as will be shown. As Newman applies it to the field of letters: ...by "Catholic Literature" is not to be understood a literature which treats exclusively or primarily of Catholic matters, of Catholic doctrine, controversy, history, persons, or politics; but it includes all subjects of literature whatever, treated as a Catholic would treat them, and as he only can treat them.1 To analyze a poet's art in such fasion will be a difficult task.