EE Cummings Poem Anyone Lived In A

Pretty How Town Essay, Research Paper

E.E. Cummings

“anyone lived in a pretty how town”

I first read this poem and I thought of love, two people in love. Anyone and noone are in love and that is what matters to them, to be in love with each other and with life. It involves the day, the night, and how the weather changes. The seasons revolve and the children grow up to become adults. As I read the poem I realized there were three sections to it. Which consist of anyone and noone, “women and men” in line four, and the children. The first stanza is strange the first time you read it. You do not understand “anyone” is a person and not just anyone. I believe that line six is referring to all of the adults in the town, Cummings does not want us to think of the town people as separate people but as a whole group undistinguishable from on another. This is told in line five where it states “little and small”, he is grouping them in very close together. The children are separated into there own group. As they grow through the seasons in lines nine, ten, and eleven, they pass on into adulthood. They in essence no longer exist in the poem. The bells ringing might have something to do with them becoming adults, since I do not see them relating to any other parts of the poem. The bells seem to be an important part of the town since they are mentioned in the second line of the poem and those exact lines are repeated in line twenty-four, sixth stanza of the poem. The bells are related to the children and their death, because they only ring when the children are mentioned. The portion of line two which states “many bells down”, is possibly referring to the death of the children and somewhat the death of anyone and noone. The reference to death in lines twenty-nine and thirty by stating “deep by deep” and “more by more they dream their sleep” shows how they surcome to death. In line thirty-three “ding and dong” I think could be anyone and noone.

Death is a part of the poem but the turning point lies in line twenty-five, which states: “one day anyone died i guess”. The main focal point is the uncapitalized “i”, in analyzing poems I have begun to look at punctuation to tell me something about the author and look more deeply into the poem and it s meaning. The uncapatilized “i” gives a detached feeling when you look at the line closely. It seems as though he could be detached because of the death that surrounds this poem, has if does not want to involve himself as much in it. The “i” could also represent the importance of something, probably love which one of the underlying themes of the poem. The children are still alive until line twenty-five. As in lines twenty-two and twenty-three they are thought to be just playing, not being an important part, but Cummings is quite possibly showing their lack of maturation. They do not seem as though they are too old to be just playing around, but as it says in line ten “they grew and grew” it is possible they are older that we might be led to believe. This is on e of the many uncertainties I still have after reading this poem.

I really liked this poem from the beginning the title captured my attention and led me to read more. The title “anyone lived in a pretty hoe town” seemed to be simple, but the way he worded it seemed to make me want to know more. So I decided on this poem. It is not extremely long, but involves many different people and aspects. Some of these which are the children, the town people, anyone, and noone. I liked the way anyone and noone were used, you were confused but then soon figured out what was going on. It was confusing then suddenly it just clicked. I learned lots from this poem, I learned no matter how much loving life and the person you are with is the most important thing. You can love other things, but you should love life and each other the most. Material items and things like that make you happy to a point, but if you do not love yourself and you have no one to share it with what is the point of having it. I really think this is true, and I feel sorry for people who have lots of money and can not find love in themselves and in someone who loves them for who they are.

E.E. Cummings is wonderful poet, whose work I regret, have not read more of. I feel as though he has good ideas and values from only reading a select few of his poems. I get a sense that he has had lots of things happen to him that he shows very well in his poems so that others can learn from him. I especially liked because of the complicated yet simple style in which he writes it. The first time I read it through it seemed to be simple and I would have a hard time analyzing it, but as I “ate” it, it became clear that there was more there that I was seeing. After reading the poem many time to myself and out loud I started to understand the underlying theme of the poem. Which I believe to be growing up, living, dyeing, and the immense importance of love in a person s life.