John Duke (1899-1984), Lee Hoiby (1926-2011), Dominick Argento (1927-), Richard Hundley (1931-) and John Musto (1954-) are America’s most distinguished contemporary composers, who have varied text-setting techniques. I choose four e. e. cummings’ poems which come from different collections, including “in Just-”, “maggie and milly and molly and may”, “when faces called flowers float out of the ground”, “who knows if the moon’s”. Each poem was used by two composers as their song texts.

The study begins with a brief introduction to the biography and writing characteristics of cummings and the above five composers, followed by an in-depth study and analysis of eight American art songs. Based on the poems, the study also examines the relationships between the poetry and the music by the different composers. Hopefully, this study can provide suggestions for interpretation of the songs, as well as enable further understanding of American art songs.