"anyone lived in a pretty how town" is one of E.E. Cummings's most famous poems. Using the experimental language that is characteristic of his work, Cummings tells the story of anyone going against the grain of the "pretty how town" in which he lives, how noone falls in love with him, and how the two live in love and die as women and men of the town "reaped their sowing and went their came." The poem is both a paean to nonconformity and an exploration of the anonymity in which our lives and deaths take place.
Key Aspects of anyone lived in a pretty how town
Tone
The poem's tone is light and playful, belying the more substantive ideas that drive it.
Setting
The poem is set in a "pretty...
