[Spring 6 (1997): 6-7]
We are proud to lead off our sixth issue by featuring Silver Lake, New Hampshire, the region of the Cummingses’ summer residence, as it played such an important role not only in the lives of the family but also in Cummings’ and Marion’s work as well. We recall, for example, that Cummings stipulated, before he could accept the Norton Lectureship at Harvard for 1952–53, that he be allowed to remain at Silver Lake until after the turning of the leaves in the fall. We might also note that rural nature, most obviously of the sort experienced in New Hampshire, played an increasingly important role in his poems as he aged. We recall further that many of Marion’s photos in Adventures in Value are of that region. We see, finally, how the Cummings presence affected others who either live in the area or also spend their summers there.
Thus we tell of our journey there during August 1996 and of our various encounters and experiences during our stay; we show some of the letters from Cummings and Marion to Ruth Shackford, a resident who served as their helper and contact person while they were away; we include a memoir by Peg Foerster, whose family knew the Cummingses and also have a home at Silver Lake; a talk by Carol Batchelder, another resident, delivered for the occasion at the town library; and photos by Dave Forrest and Bernard Stehle.
Following this featured section we have a group of three essays on particular poems, followed by another section of three on Cummings in larger contexts.
Around the middle of the Journal we place, “as much for pleasure as necessity” (with apologies to Lionel Trilling and Winfield Townley Scott), a selection of poems by subscribers and members of our Society.
Then we have two pairs of essays: the first treats of Cummings’ contemporaries—Jean Starr Untermeyer and William Slater Brown—while the second addresses various technical aspects of Cummings’ poetry.
We then offer a new bibliography designed to supplement Guy Rotella’s excellent work in our first two issues, in 1992 and 1993. Finally, we conclude with our customary “For the Record” section.
We acknowledge here the generosity of the following Society members who answered the call for help in financing the Cummings plaque we had installed at 4 Patchin Place in New York City (see previous issue), and also help in financing the Journal: Larry Chott; Barry Dordick; George Firmage; David V. Forrest, M.D.; John Gill; George Held; Arthur Lerner; Bernard [end page 6] MacDonald; Bill Mooney; Leonard Oakland; Michael O’Neill; Guy Rotella; Frank Ryan; Victor Schmalzer; Tom Smith; Gayl Teller; Michael Webster; and Robert Wegner.
A correction to note regarding our previous issue: Dick Kennedy informs us that the proper attribution of the person who took the photograph of the painting of Marion Morehouse on the cover of issue #5 is Chuck Rice rather than Roger Kennedy.
We cannot mention often enough that Spring is not supported by any other funding than that provided by ourselves, and any shortfall must be made up out of your editor’s own pocket. Thus it seems only reasonable that those who wish to appear in these pages be asked to subscribe, if they haven’t already done so. On the other hand, we invite all and sundry to submit material for possible inclusion, having to do with the life and works of E. E. Cummings, as well as with his times and his contemporaries.
—The Editor, Norman Friedman
[end page 6]