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Analysis of Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town

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In the poem Anyone Lived in a Pretty how Town E. E. Cummings plays with jumbled syntax, a seemingly random rhyme scheme, and the paradox of non-identical repetition to convey his message about the ordinariness of daily life, the passing of time, and the inclusive anonymity of people we encounter in our lives. Anyone Lived in a Pretty how Town describes the daily lives of the people who live in a certain, nameless town. The town is not named and neither are any of the townspeople, other than to give titles such as “man,” “woman,” “child.” These anonymous people living in the anonymous town do nothing notable; in fact, they are all fairly unremarkable as they go about their daily lives. The poem addresses all the seasons of life that the …show more content…

In Anyone Lived in a Pretty how Town life is portrayed almost like a piece of music with a definite structure to it. The words “floating,” “dance,” and “sing” all appear in the poem and add to the idea of a piece of music. A piece of music has an introduction, verses, choruses and an ending, just as life has seasons that all last a certain amount of time and follow a particular sequence. Each step in life is not particularly

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