Anyone lived in a pretty how town

E E Cummings
“anyone lived in a pretty how town” originally appeared as “No. 29” in E. E. Cummings’s 1940
collection 50 poems. The poem describes a community in which everyone generally keeps to
themselves. The townspeople progress through life in a familiar, socially-expected
pattern—growing up, getting married, raising a family—in hopes of finding success. Amidst
such monotony, a man named anyone finds true love and companionship with a woman named
noone. Through their story, the speaker explores such subjects as the pressure to conform and the
power of meaningful relationships. Repeating phrases appear throughout the poem, highlighting
both the indifference of the natural world and the unchanging routines that the townspeople cycle
through generation after generation.

Summary
A man named anyone lived in a quaint, ordinary town where bells frequently chimed. Season
after season, he was open about all the things he hadn’t done but celebrated all that he was able
to accomplish.None of the men or women in the town cared about anyone. Instead, they focused
on their own achievements. The townspeople planted the things they never did in the ground and
then harvested more of the same. Time continued on: day turned to night, the stars appeared in
the sky, and rain fell. Some children picked up on the fact that a woman named noone loved
anyone. But as the seasons passed and the children grew up, they lost interest in the
relationship, even as noone herself loved anyone more and more. The bond between anyone and
noone gradually blossomed, bit by bit. noone felt both his joy and his sadness, laughing and
crying along with him. Little by little, as time continued to pass, they grew so close that anything
that mattered to anyone was everything noone. The other townspeople married their own
partners. These couples also experienced their own joys and sorrows. Their lives followed an
established pattern, as if the townspeople were performing the motions of a dance. They would
sleep, wake, look towards the future, and repeat. They discussed everything they hadn’t done and
ultimately, they died.Time continued on: the stars appeared in the night sky, rain fell, the sun and
moon rose and set. It's a part of life that, as they get older, children tend to grow less interested in
the lives of other people. All the while, the bells chime again and again.

Of course, at some point, anyone passed away. noone bent over to kiss him and eventually, she
died too. Townspeople who were wrapped up in their own lives briefly paused to bury them next
to each other.Gradually, bit by bit, their spirits settled into the dreamlike slumber that is
death. Meanwhile, their bodies decomposed, becoming one with the earth and nurturing a new
spring.The bells kept chiming as the next generation of townspeople grew up and the seasons
continued to cycle on and on. These townspeople had children of their own, but then this
generation died too. Day turned to night, the stars appeared in the sky, and rain fell.

Themes

Community, Conformity, and Isolation

The poem critiques the conformity it sees as inherent to modern life, in which, the poem implies,
people are all driven to want the same things and seek the same conventional markers of success.
Rather than nurturing a sense of kinship and connection based on these shared desires, however,
the poem suggests that this conformity actually drives people apart: people are so preoccupied
with reaching personal milestones—so wrapped up in their own lives—that they become
indifferent to others' experiences. As such, the poem suggests that conformity often discourages
people from empathy and introspection, instead breeding indifference and isolation within
communities.

The townspeople are hyper-focused on reaching milestones that fulfill certain social
expectations. For instance, the poem’s fourth stanza begins “someones married their everyones /
laughed their cryings and did their dance.” Essentially, every member of this society follows the
same framework, mechanically approaching life is as if going through the motions of a "dance."

The poem itself is also highly repetitive, reinforcing the idea that the townspeople partake in the
same routines that are carried out over and over indefinitely. The speaker also regularly lists the
seasons as well as various phases of the sky, rotating through list items (e.g., “sun moon stars
rain … stars rain sun moon”) to emphasize that these cycles never change and create a sense that
the townspeople are trapped by their routine and conformity.

What’s more, throughout the poem, community members reap “their same," suggesting that they
all work towards the same rewards. This line can also be interpreted to mean that the
townspeople give birth to children who follow the exact same path as their parents, or that
because people never step out of their expected routines, their lives will never change; they will
"reap," or harvest, more of the same. The townspeople industriously reproduce the "same" result
again and again, seemingly committed to perpetuating existing routines without question or
deviation.

And because they fixate on a blueprint for individual success, the townspeople are disconnected
from one another’s unique personal experiences. The speaker introduces the townspeople by
pointing out that they “care for anyone not at all.” Thus, they find no inherent value in their
fellow community members, despite the fact that they all want the same things out of life. Even
when noone sees something in anyone, the townspeople pay him no mind.

The few children who do pick up on their bond gradually lose interest, suggesting that the
townspeople are not born indifferent to the experiences of others, but rather adopt such attitudes
over time when growing up in such a conformist world. The desire to conform, to follow in the
footsteps of those before them, creates this communal indifference.

The couple eventually passes away, and even then, the townspeople show little concern. Those
who bury anyone and noone are “busy,” indicating that they are again preoccupied with their
own affairs. And after these deaths, the community members simply proceed with their lives,
going about their normal activities. The speaker again lists the seasons, phases of the sky, and
reaping crops to illustrate their seamless, instinctive return to the same habits, utterly unaffected
by the loss of two of their own.The town’s culture champions regularity, encouraging its people
to dedicate themselves to established routines. But the townspeople become so swept up in these
formulas that they disregard all else—including one another. The poem suggests that this
behavior is learned, spread, and reinforced over time, creating a perpetual loop of isolation
within their community.

Love and Anonymity

The figures in the poem all live in relative anonymity, caught up in their own lives and
relationships. The townspeople are unconcerned with the experiences of others and emotionally
disconnected as a society. Still, the love between anyone and noone allows them to live full,
meaningful lives—regardless of external acknowledgment. The lasting power of their bond
indicates that it is possible to find true fulfillment through love, even in a society that promotes
self-interest.

The main characters find true, enduring love despite their community member’s indifference.
None of the townspeople pay anyone any mind, but noone takes interest in him. Few people
recognize their connection, but she is not discouraged by this. Instead, noone’s love for anyone
grows—she cares for him “more by more,” even as their relationship receives diminished
acknowledgment from everyone else.

While their fellow townsfolk carry on with their own affairs season after season, anyone and
noone invest in their relationship. Gradually, their connection blossoms into something very
meaningful, like a tree growing one leaf at a time. At a certain point, their emotions are so in
sync that noone “laughed his joy she cried his grief.” In other words, she experiences true
empathy and shares in his experiences. In fact, anything that is important to him becomes “all to
her.” It doesn’t matter that the townspeople don’t care about their relationship; what matters to
them is that relationship itself.

Even after noone dies as well and is buried alongside anyone, the townspeople remain indifferent
toward their relationship. The figures who bury them are “busy” and concerned with their own
matters. But this does not invalidate the bond between anyone and noone. Together, they become
one with the earth, nurturing new life in which their love lives on. The speaker comments,
“noone and anyone earth by april / wish by spirit and if by yes.” Their deep connection is the
only trace of them that remains.

Finally, note the speaker's highly universalized language—the characters do not receive
traditional names, instead becoming “anyone,” “noone,” “someones,” and “everyones.” These
naming conventions signal that the characters really could be anyone. The speaker seems to say
that your identity is only understood by those with whom you have a true, personal connection.
To everyone else, you might as well be anyone (or no one at all).

Anyone and noone’s relationship demonstrates that in a callous, anonymous world, true human
connection has lasting personal significance, even when no one else sees it. As such, the speaker
implies that social isolation is simply a fact of modern life—but one that can be overcome
through love.

What remains ambiguous, however, is the ease with which such a connection can be achieved.
Indeed, it's possible to read the poem less romantically, as a sad tale about a place where no
one—as in nobody, rather than a character named "noone"—ever loved anyone else, as in any
other person; a place where people never were able to form the kind of connection that the poem
insists is what makes all the monotonous steps of life meaningful.

The Power and Indifference of Nature

Throughout the poem, nature is shown regularly cycling through various patterns without regard
for the actions and experiences of human characters. Instead, people die and are replaced by
others over and over again. In this way, the speaker suggests that the natural world has a kind of
dominion over humankind, or at least that individual human lives are inconsequential in the
grand scheme of things. In other words, nature's workings are indifferent to human life, moving
along despite human happiness and despair.

As the characters within the poem experience profound changes, the natural world progresses
through its regular cycles. Throughout the poem, the speaker lists the seasons, cycling through
them—"spring summer autumn winter … autumn winter spring summer” and so on. Similarly,
variations on the sequence “sun moon stars rain” also appear several times, contributing to this
feeling of time passing relentlessly: sun corresponds with summer, the (harvest) moon with
autumn, starry nights with winter, and rain with spring.

The speaker intersperses these sequences with significant events in the lives of the characters
such as love, death, and birth. While momentous to the people involved, such events don't affect
the natural cycles at all—which keep moving on, regardless of what happens to the people in the
poem.

While human experiences have no impact on the natural world, the figures in the poem are at
nature’s mercy. The speaker states “one day anyone died i guess.” The nonchalant language that
the speaker uses to report the death of the poem’s leading character shows the ordinariness and
inevitability of death. It could happen to anyone on any day and that it will occur can safely be
assumed as fact.

Moreover, the figures in the poem are highly depersonalized and interchangeable—suggesting
they are all the same in the eyes of nature. The difference between one person and another is the
same between “little and small” or “dong and ding.” New generations also simply take over the
roles of their parents. The children adopt their parents' indifference towards others, and
eventually grow up to be the “women and men” in the final stanza who then have their own
children (i.e., "[reap] their sowing") and ultimately die.

Plus, natural imagery suggests that the preservation of one’s legacy and important interpersonal
relationships is contingent on the earth. In particular, townspeople plant and sow crops—a
reference to reproduction—in order to find success. The growth of the couple’s love is also
expressed using natural imagery (“tree by leaf … bird by snow”) and is preserved in the earth. In
this way, nature controls the fate of the lives and legacies of the poem’s characters.

The speaker’s descriptions of nature emphasize its disregard for the events of individual human
lives. Further, the speaker suggests that deep, invested connections are all that survive natural
cycles and people should therefore focus on maintaining meaningful relationships. At the same
time, the natural imagery displays the power of those cycles themselves—all life within the
poem is broken down to create new life, and, if you play your cards right, preserved within it.

Parents and Children

Some children who observe anyone and noone perceive the strength of their bond. However, as
the children grow older, they adopt the habits of their parents and community members,
becoming too wrapped up in their own lives to recognize and appreciate the couple’s love. The
poem therefore suggests that when a society champions individualism, its children become
desensitized to the concerns of others.

While some children initially pick up on the connection between anyone and noone, their learned
self-interest gradually eclipses their concern for others. None of the adults within the town care
about anyone or his relationship with noone. In fact, each member of the older generation shares
many of the same attributes, including their aims and approach to life.

Still, “a few” of the children take interest in anyone and no one This fades as they grow up,
implying that their apathy is learned rather than innate. As the speaker puts it, “down they forgot
as up they grew.” Their growth into adults corresponds with a lack of compassion.

It is also coupled with the passing of the seasons, showing a progression through various stages
of life. The second mention of the children “forgetting” anyone and noone occurs alongside the
reappearance of chiming bells. As such, the speaker suggests that their loss of compassion
coincides with marriage, a religious ceremony, or some other ritual that is a part of their parents’
and community’s accepted guidelines.
Moreover, in this instance, the children are said to be “apt” or prone to forgetting—rather than
this behavior being intrinsic or inevitable. As such, the speaker emphasizes that social influences
trigger their increased self-interest.

Plus, the speaker says that “only the snow can begin to explain” why they lose sensitivity
towards the experiences of others. Recalling winter, snow is also one aspect of the many cycles
that repeat throughout the poem to show both the standardized routines of the townspeople and
indifference towards individual human experience. As such, this image subtly indicates that the
“winter” or bleak aspects of this lifestyle occasion their loss of compassion.

Indeed, the children can be seen as what their parents “reap”—they are viewed as the key to their
parents’ self-fulfillment as well as the preservation of their society’s norms. As the poem draws
to a close, the children become the new “women and men,” replacing their parents, who were
first introduced as “Women and men(both little and small) / cared for anyone not at all.”

Therefore, as the children within the town grow older, they are repeatedly exposed to the same
rituals and worldviews and expected to uphold them. As such, these young people become so
caught up in fulfilling their community's ideals that their concern for others diminishes as they
age.

Time and Life Cycles

Because the poem is so ambiguous, it's possible to read it in many ways. What is clear
though—and comes to bear on the other themes we've discussed in this guide—is that the poem
is very focused on the relentless passage of time and the various cycles that characterize both the
natural world and human life.

The poem repeatedly interjects lines about the changing of the seasons, as well as more
immediate transitions from day to night and rain to sunny skies. The message is clear: no season,
no day, lasts forever, and time marches forward relentlessly. There is comfort in this as well, as
the poem implies that rain will once again give way to sun just as winter always gives way to
spring.

This circular sense of time is reflected on a human level too. The townspeople grow up and have
children who follow in their parents' footsteps, who grow up and raise children who follow in
their parents' footsteps, and so forth. People have things they accomplish and things they don't,
and all end up in the same place regardless (i.e., dead).

Whether the poem is romantic and cheerful or pessimistic and depressing really depends on the
reader. The poem does suggest that everyone gets married and dies, and then their kids get
married and die, and on and on and a never-ending repetitive dance. At the same time, as noted
in our previous theme discussions, it suggests that finding genuine connection within your own
personal dance is itself meaningful and brings a great deal of joy.
Even death is cyclical, the poem subtly implies, as the bodies of anyone and noone eventually
become part of the earth. The following lines can be read a number of ways, but one
interpretation is that their nourish the earth that in turn creates new life in april, in the spring:

... they dream their sleep

noone and anyone earth by april

Even if humanity is ultimately a blip on nature's radar, the poem ultimately argues that with
death people return to earth and are thus able to begin the cycle of life anew. Time marches on
relentlessly, but that means that there is always the promise of new life on the horizon.