Charles Bukowski

What a Writer

What a Writer - meaning Summary

Admiration for Singular Voice

Bukowski praises e.e. cummings for breaking with conventional poetic language and for boldly reshaping lines with charm and audacity. He argues that cummings provided a necessary renewal during a period of tired poetic habits. Bukowski notes the inevitable imitators but insists that imitation cannot duplicate originality. The poem ends by affirming cummings' singular status, likening him to celestial uniqueness with one sun and one moon.

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What I admired in e.e. cummings Was his departure from the sanctity of the word With charm and audacity, he crafted lines That cleaved through the muck. How desperately it was needed! How we languished in the antiquated, weary ways. Naturally, the imitators followed, Mimicking him as others had mimicked Keats, Shelley, Swinburne, Byron, and the like. Yet, there remained only One e.e. cummings. Of course. One sun. One moon.

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