[1260] Anyone lived in a pretty how town

Guest poem sent in by <dariaff063@>

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn’t he danced his did.

Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn’t they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone’s any was all to her

someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hoe and then)they
said their nevers and they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt for forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)

one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain

 	-- E. E. Cummings

I love this poem so much. At first glance it appears to be a description of a
town, but if you notice, "anyone" and "noone" are lovers who are ignored by
the same townspeople described and at first, the reader. The reversed word
order and repetition also adds to the "Cummings style." I also enjoyed the
use of the cosmos and seasons to show the passing of time.

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From: "Ian Baillieu" <ianbaill@>



Cummings uses language in such unexpected ways to charge it
with meaning and open it to imagination, that the typo
gremlin can easily infiltrate undetected.  Here, he did
write 'noone' (not 'no one'), and did join the parentheses
to adjacent words, but the gremlin has sneaked into the
fifth stanza, where 'hoe' should be 'hope' in the 3rd line,
and 'and' should be deleted from the 4th line.

A lovely poem, which gains meaning on each re-reading.

From: "John K. Taber" <jktaber@>

anyone live in a pretty how town plays on ee cummings's
distaste for the general, and his preference for the
specific.

There is a word game with "anyone" and "noone". Basically
"anyone" is not specific, and in cumming's view is "noone."
You have to be "someone", quite specific, to not be
"noone."

In the thirties, cummings visited Soviet Russia. The
Revolution was still popular. But cummings didn't like
the emphasis on the collective, and de-emphasis on the
individual. He gives this account of his conversation
with a Russian dramatist:
   "tell him I drink . . . to the individual"
   A pause "he says that's nonsense."
   "tell him I love nonsense and I drink to nonsense." Pause
   "he's very angry. He says you are afraid"
   "tell him I am afraid to be afraid"
   noisemusic,a waiter's glaring. "He believes you are mad."
   "Tell him a madman named noone says,that someone is and
anyone isn't,and all the believing universe cannot transform
anyone who isn't into someone who is.

This is from his Introduction to his Collected Poems of 1938,
quoted in the Norton Anthology.

I forget who it was, I think Mayakovsky, who condemned
individualism as a "clutching of one's petty ego."
cummings is quite of the other opinion.

So, anyone lives in a pretty how town takes on quite
ironic meaning.

John K. Taber

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From: "Grafe Bob" <bgrafe@>

Hi:

This is a blind comment.  You may or may not be able to answer this
question.  Do you have any research on "interpretations" of this
particular work?  Any referrals?

Thanks.

Bob Grafe 

From: "Mullens60" <mullens60@>

"how children are apt for forget to remember"

should be

"how children are apt to forget to remember"

according to Dover Thrift Editions' '100 Best-Loved Poems' (ed. Philip
Smith).