anyone lived in a pretty how town
Individually, the words could not be simpler; Cummings' syntax does not stray into a more formal register. However, they display an unconventional grammatical form. This line, the first of the poem and also the poem's title, primes the reader to see indefinite pronouns used to refer to specific characters, as well as words like "how" used as adjectives.
"pretty how" is also an interesting construction, because it both describes the town as pretty and asks how that is so without answering its own question. "pretty how" reaches toward specificity but does not touch it.
children guessed…
that noone loved him more by more
It quickly becomes evident that “anyone” refers to a specific resident of the town while also symbolizing nonconformity; the same goes for "noone." After introducing anyone as an individual in the first stanza, the third stanza proceeds to transform the narrative into a romance of sorts with the introduction of another character, noone. While the poet retains the proper spelling of anyone, the spelling of noone's name is collapsed into one word. Why does the poet decide to do this? Perhaps he does it because the spelling makes it more clear that noone is a character, but in part it explores how one can create a character through indefinite language. This poem plays with the idea of identity, with how identity sets each person apart from others but does not make any one person more important than any others; noone and anyone marry and die like anyone else.
someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
Conformity is a theme of the poem, but the poem's exploration of this theme happens through the structural mechanics of its language. The decision to exchange definite individuals for pronouns appears to be a decision made at least partially on the basis of how indefinite language projects a perhaps-false conformity onto those to whom it refers.
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)
The first two lines of this quote are a little more lucid and straightforward than most of the poem. They include an example of personification, something often seen in poetry. However, that example of personification is a way of describing a negative; since only the snow can explain this, no one can explain this. All three of these lines are full of contradictions; the children forget to remember, the bells float both up and down. The narrative of this poem is characterized by a lack of specificity, so it makes sense that the poem is riddled with similar contradictions.
all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
These lines describe the deaths of noone and anyone, though, as usual. the language is topsy-turvy; death is described as a sleep that anyone and noone dream. This gives death the quality of a dream within a dream, and these layers signify that the sleep they've entered is deeper than a normal sleep. Despite their nonconformity, these two characters give in fully—"all by all"—to death.
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.
These lines describe how the substance of noone and anyone is changed by death. They become "earth by april," losing their physical form, and if we are to assume that grammatical construction is consistent in the following line, they become wish by spirit and if by yes. "wish by spirit" may refer to the way their spirits live on, perhaps in the form of their own wishes or perhaps by entering the world of wishes. "if by yes" may refer to how they accept their deaths and, by saying "yes" to death, become even more fluid in their identities.
Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain
This final stanza of the poem draws from themes, images, and phrases from the rest of the poem. We see the women and men, the seasons, the wheeling skies, and the bells; the world has not been changed by noone and anyone's existence or passing. By making this the final stanza, Cummings seems to indicate that it is not important for these characters to have changed their world; it is merely important for them to have existed.
