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by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962)

the Cambridge ladies who live in...
Language: English 
the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls
are unbeautiful and have comfortable minds
(also,with the church's protestant blessings
daughters,unscented shapeless spirited)
they believe in Christ and Longfellow,both dead,
are invariably interested in so many things--
at the present writing one still finds
delighted fingers knitting for the is it Poles?
perhaps.  While permanent faces coyly bandy
scandal of Mrs. N and Professor D
....the Cambridge ladies do not care,above
Cambridge if sometimes in its box of
sky lavender and cornerless,the
moon rattles like a fragment of angry candy

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with E. E. Cummings, Tulips and Chimneys, New York: Liveright, 1976, page 109.

First published in Broom, May 1922

Text Authorship:

  • by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962), no title, appears in Tulips and Chimneys, in 2. Chimneys, in 1. Sonnets - Realities, no. 1, first published 1922 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "the Cambridge ladies", 1983 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2007-05-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 89

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