poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

Action and inaction – people choosing to act or not to act – guilt and lack of it.

Time passes and nobody cares that nobody cares – that anybody would care is not worth caring about.

A loss of compassion – is it tragic? Ponders whether it is tragic – asks whether it is tragic.

Loss of tradition –

There are relationships – there will be relationships – but are they gradually losing value, becoming less meaningful? Or is it his perception of relationships – as an aging man, sage, poet, person – seeing relationships lose value – relationships disappoint

He would even use his words in such a way that – on the surface – they seem to go in circles and mean nothing – to imply so much more, of course – but an effective portrayal of a lack of meaning (quite a meaningful one!)

The words we impose on language fall into nothingness or meaninglessness or impotence - - in the elapse of time – time doesn’t need words to elapse.

I don’t know if ‘anyone’ ‘someone’ or ‘everyone’ are specific embodiments – I think the ‘specific’ is in the elapse of time – the actions that take place over the course of time - the experience of emotion in particular

– I don’t see him specifying or contrasting characters or characterizing, am I with you, eccles?

AND – That’s the spirit, ‘no one’ from the tenth grade on 2003-11-08!!! You have the right attitude in my opinion!!

Rosie – I think you might be about right! But does he mean it to the absolute like that?

i absolutely love this poem! i think it's so beautiful, whether i read it as a love story between two individuals, or a rather bleak commentary on the state of a self-absorbed world.

the only line i absolutley do not understand, however, is "with up so floating many bells down".
to me it seems wonderfully evocative - i have a little picture in my mind of a view of a valley-town from above (something about the word 'bell' makes me think of lushness and delicate flowers?!). But somehow i don't think this was what eec intended.

could anybody enlighten me?

Linear motion of season in rhythm with the anonymity of personal will in cooperation with social systems. I love the dryness, and hope this poem conveys... against a stark background of continuity. Indeed, living, marriage, and death occur while seasons and social systems continue, endlessly.

To keep this a little simpler, think of why cummings uses pronouns, and nonspecific subjects and objects, and even adjectives, to make the point of linear social systems and motion. how does it make you feel when "anyone" can live in a pretty "how" town... do you crave more details? Do you feel a bit dry?

The poem is not particularly about two people or our self-absorbed natures. Do not focus on "he" or "she". These words only follow the same pattern as "summer autumn winter spring".

The poem describes all the basic features of everyones life experiences. "anybody" could literally be anybody you know. It could also be one self.

The line that tells the most is: "one day anyone died i guess". Why would anyone have to guess whether someone died or not. Perhaps there was no one to care about the welfare of "anyone".

Love between two people involves reaching out to one another. This poem simply says if nobody reaches out to anybody, who will know if anybody dies.

ok this poem is about society. the big picture.the ambiguaty of anyone and no one do provide a sense of alienation. I fone reads the poem and translates it into the past perfect tense, play with the direct objects, etc... The poem is quite obvious. like the title... In a pretty how town anyone lived. the character is anyone. he dies, ane leaves his wife no one. She weeps for his loss, and the children don't pay attention ( other people are oblivious). Then when fall comes around she dies. They are buried next to each other as seen in line 27, " busy folk buried then side by side" Busy folk and the children that don't even notice there gone. Wow that sends a vivid message about our isolationistic culture, and the impossibilities that we face. there is no possible way for all of us to communicate and personally know everyone, but we have a moral obligation to still love and care about anotrher person, and be understanding towards those who greive their loss. Much like the bible teaches about taking care of the widowed, etc.. Those are just a few thought from a Senior in High School.

e.e. Cummings probably wrote this poem when he was drunk. I would not exactly rank it up there with his other works. As you can see i am skeptical as to weather te poem has a point at all. "Anyone" and "noone" loved each other despite the rest of the town. my point is "Everyone" really doesn't care who loves anybody at all. it just simply does not matter.The poem is useless and is not written in proper english, to the ppoint that it makes no sense to the common reader. Clearly this poem is nothing but a peice of crap as far s "Anyone" is concerned.

to understand the love two share takes an empirical state of mind. One must leave behind the realistic aspects of a lifestyle and tape into a spiritual intuition. unlike any other poem this one takes a reader and challenges them to a new level of interpretation. All of which are wrong, yet implied onto the masses likewise. "Everyone" cannot understand the intimacy of the two who are ignored simply because they are ignored. How can you expect to understand a love that is not yours. The things they feel for each other are between them only meant for you to hear about, but never meant for you to analize. it is what it is and written in an odd rather unappreciative manner. i must say that Emerson has reached a new low with this one. Relating to the reder is key, and how can one expect to relate the reader with such complex language skills.

I agree with the elitist vibe, I guess that's what happens when we are inducted into acadamia, we all think oursleves better than those who do not comprehend certain concepts as well as us. I do not agree with it...bavk to the poem...I think that this poem has a profound message, once you get past the interesting grammer. isn't is funny how if the regualr person wrote like this, acadamia would lable them illiterate and go on their merry way...but since it is e.e. cummings it's brilliant! I like his poetry..he breaks the rules, like phillip glass does to music composition.

Anyone Lives in a Pretty How Town is an excellent poem. In the first line, the poem introduces anyone, and in the 12th line, you are introduced to no one. Think of them as a man and a woman, respectively who are not in the “popular crowd”, but socially rejected. Noone and anyone are in love – “noone loved him more by more”. Also lines 14 and 16 their love is expressed. Now the “someones” and “everyones” are regular people. They are contrasted with noone and anyone because they don’t have as deep of a love, they just go through their ordinary routine, and don’t care for anyone (line 6, line20). The repetition of the phrases “spring summer autumn winter”, “stars rain sun moon” point out the monotonous and boring lives the someones and everyones lead.

i am in 9th grade and i will admit i did not understand this poem at first. My friend explained it to me before i happened upon this website. his explanation was pretty much the same as what everyone here is saying. i would just like to say that i really like this poem even when i look at it as the 'bleaker version'. it is a very good poem.