Cummings Named Norton Professor

E. E. Cummings '15, noted American poet and painter, has been appointed Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry for next year, the University announced recently.

Cummings, famed for his unique of punctuation and capitalization, succeeds composer Aaron Copland in post. His appointment in for one year, effective July 1.

It is not known what course Cummings will teach. The main function the Norton Professor is to deliver eight Charles Eliot Norton Lectures. He is also required to give a spring half term course.

Wrote War Book

Born in Cambridge in 1894, Cummings received his A.B. here in 1915 and Masters degree in 1916. During World War I, while serving with the Nor Harjes Ambulance Corp, he was detained for three months in a French prison camp. Out of this experience came first book, "The Enormous Room," published in 1922 and regarded as a classic among war books. More famous for poetry, he has published nine volumes since 1923.

Throughout his life, Cummings has been interested in a variety of literary and art forms, Examples extend to plays--"Him," first performed in 1928, and "Santa Claus: A Morality," written 1946; a ballet, "Tom," written in 19 and based on "Uncle Tom's Cabin"; and a collection of pictures, done in charcoal, ink, oils, and water colors.

Other books include "Eimi," a journal of a 1932 trip to Russia, and "Anthrops--the Future of Art," published in 1933.

In the years since 1920, Cummings has lived in New York, writing and painting.