Blog #9 Erin Holbrook

anyone lived in a pretty how town

By E. E. Cummings 1894–1962

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 hope and then)they

said their nevers they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon

(and only the snow can begin to explain

how children are apt to 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, “[anyone lived in a pretty how town]” from Complete Poems 1904-1962, edited by George J. Firmage. Copyright 1926, 1954, 1991 by the Trustees for the E.E. Cummings Trust. Copyright © 1985 by George James Firmage. Reprinted with the permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation.


E.E. Cummings is highly critical of the apparent desensitization that came with urbanization. This is most obviously reflected by his repetition of the seasons and related phrases: Spring Summer Autumn Winter and rain sun moon stars.  The regular cycle of the seasons becomes distorted by man's lack of proper emotional response to the seasons. Winter, synonymous with death,  is disrupted when "busy folk buried them side by side" the deaths being forgotten quickly "was by was." Seasons are disrupted still further with phrases such as "bird by snow", representing Spring and Winter, and "earth by April, which combines Winter and death with Spring once again. The modern world's distortion of what Cummings believed to be the ultimate reality, nature, is further represented by frequent paradoxical sentences given a perception of order only through rhyme. Examples of this include "he sang his didn't he danced his did," and "anyone's any was all to her." Cummings poem is meant to satirize urban life in its lack of connection to nature and legitimate human emotion. The idea of "A man's rebellion against what he is" is apt here as it is man who decided to live "in a pretty how town" even though it is man who, in Cummings opinion, is suffering from the consequences and would benefit from a different environment free from the trappings of political ineffectiveness and the status quo.