The Letter E

Cait O'Connor wrote a lovely post this week on the letter "p". And

Elizabeth posted a great photo shot post on the letter "a". She then,

in turn, gave me the letter "e", which I found to be much more

challenging than the friendly "a" or perky little "p".

.

E is the fifth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is

spelled e (pronounced /iː/), plural ees (pronounced /iːz/)(rare).

The letter "e" is the most commonly used letter in the Czech, Danish,

Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Latin, Norwegian,

Spanish, and Swedish languages.

.

E is derived from the Greek letter epsilon which is much the same in

appearance (Ε, ε) and function. In etymology, the Semitic hê first

represented a praying or calling human figure, hillul jubilation,

based on a similar Egyptian hieroglyph that was pronounced and

used quite differently. In Semitic, the letter represented h and

e in foreign words, in Greek hê became Εψιλον (Epsilon) with the

value e. Etruscans and Romans followed this usage.

.

The letter "e" is the most common or highest frequency letter in the

English language. This makes it a difficult and popular letter to use

when writing lipograms. Ernest Vincent Wright's Gadsby, 1939, is

considered a dreadful novel, and that at least part of Wright's
narrative difficulties were caused by language restrictions imposed

by the lack of E. Both Georges Perec's novel A Void, La Disparition,

1969, and its English translation by Gilbert Adair omit the letter "e"

and are considered better works.

.

I guess you could say this this little "e" poem is the opposite of a

lipogram.

Enchanted by eidolon

engines, I easily escape

on the evening express,

embarking Europe,

an ebullient excursion.

Estonia and east to Essen,

Epernay, eating elysian

eggplant and escargot.

Emerita or eluding empress

in ecru ermine and earrings,

I execute excellent,

elegant erg.

Entirely in element,

educing this ethereal emprise.

Eyre, by willow

favorite e's:
edelweiss, Edna St. Vincent Millay, ebullient, equality, ewes, exits,
eyes, Elspeth, evening, England, ebony, elevators, elegies, east,
eleven, Empire State Building, El Decor, eggs, Eiffel Tower, eight,
Elizabeth I, epiphanies, escutcheons, ephemera, emeralds, envelopes

not so great e's:
exile, envy, eels, evil, empty, embarrass, enrage, ether, excuses,
exploitation, earwax

(If you would like a letter, just ask for one in the comments.)

photos from Flickr, info from Wikipedia