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anyone lived in a pretty how town

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"anyone lived in a pretty how town" is a poem written by E. E. Cummings. First published in 1940, the poem details the lives of residents in a nameless town.[1] Like much of Cummings's work, the poem is actually untitled, so critics use the first line to refer to the poem. Cummings often wrote in a manner that did not follow standard English syntax and punctuation. This style is evident in the poem's first line, which is written in all lowercase letters and contains the unlikely phrase "pretty how town".

The poem inspired a short film of the same name by George Lucas.

Style

In the poem, Cummings states the lines, "spring summer autumn winter", (3) and "sun moon stars rain", (8) multiple times. In reiterating these lines he changes the order of the seasons, "autumn winter spring summer", (11) and "stars rain sun moon", (21).

References

  1. ^ "anyone lived in a pretty how town at NYU's Literature, Arts and Medicine Database". New York University. Archived from the original on September 7, 2006. Retrieved September 20, 2006.