anyone lived in a pretty how town Essay Questions

Why might the poet have made the decision to spell “noone” as one word instead of two?

"No one" is the only indefinite pronoun that is traditionally spelled with two words (as opposed to somebody, anyone, nobody, etc.). Of course, to get around this, cummings could have changed the names of his characters to "anybody" and "nobody," but instead he chose to use "anyone" and "noone." One explanation that fits with the poem’s theme is that noone is one of the town’s few rebellious non-conformists. Therefore, the incorrect spelling could signal the character's rebellious nature.

How does this poem subvert conventional language to portray the character of "anyone"?

The poem constantly challenges the reader to interpret meaning from the language of this poem, which subverts conventional expectations. The final line of the opening stanza, which introduces anyone and situates him as a specific individual in the town, is of the best examples. At first glance, the word order defies logic:

“he sang his didn't he danced his did.”

Even trying to rearrange these words into a conventional sentence is impossible. And, of course, standard interpretation is not helped by the lack of punctuation. It is only through connotation placed within context that the meaning of what appears to be complete gibberish finally comes together. When separated into two complete separate thoughts, “he sang his didn’t” and “he danced his did” becomes a beautiful symbol of rebellion against conformist expectations. Anyone is not just a rebel, he’s a person who makes an art out of singing that he didn’t do what everyone else did, and by dancing what he did while everyone sits there as a crowd, not having done it.

How can this poem be interpreted as a late-stage entry into the “revolt from the village” literary movement of the early decades of the 20th century?

The poem was first published in 1940, by which time the “revolt from the village” movement had already peaked. This literary movement, typified by the novels of Sinclair Lewis and the poetry of Edgar Lee Masters, caustically punctured the pervasive mythology that small-town life was free from the criminality and corruption which characterized large urban population centers. It is a myth that continues to persist to this day under the guise of such familiar terminology as “traditional values” and the demonization of “intellectual elites.” The conformity expressed by the bulk of those living in the "pretty how town" of Cummings' poem is a direct link to the “revolt from the village” movement, but ultimately the poem digs much deeper in its castigation of the residents. It is not just that the "someones" marrying the "everyones are all of a type, they also lack one of the defining characteristics which is said to separate them from their urban cousins: in their self-centered concern not to appear different from everybody, they lack real empathy for anyone.