Source: Little Town in the spotlight - geograph.org.uk - 761517.jpg, Ian Capper, Wikimedia Commons

Click on the following link that takes you to the poetry foundation website: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/audioitem/2144

When you get there, click on the title of the poem anyone lived in a pretty how town. Read it to yourself, and then click on the audio. You will hear a short history of E.E. Cummings’ life, then you will listen to him read the poem. As you listen, follow along and reread the poem. When he finishes the poem, you may close the audio but keep the text of the poem open as we discuss it a little more.

As you can see and hear, the arrangement of words make a great deal of difference in how we understand a poem or any text. This particular poet is known for his creative use or nonuse of capitalization and punctuation as well as word order. Read the poem again this time paying close attention to the order of the words, the letters that are capitalized and not capitalized and Cummings’ use of indefinite pronouns.

• When you look at the poem, you notice that the only capitalized word is “Women”, which is used twice in the poem. You could say that both times it’s used as the first word in a line of poetry, so it probably should be capitalized. You look further and notice that there are no other first words capitalized, so you might think about why Cummings would only capitalize the word “Women.”


• Close reading shows you that he chooses not to capitalize “I” in the seventh stanza. You know that typically it’s always capitalized, so again, you have to ask yourself why Cummings would choose not to capitalize it. You could infer that he does this to suggest that the “I” in the poem is not very important and doesn’t deserve a capital letter.


• That thought might be supported by all of the indefinite articles in the poem-someone, anyone, everyone, and no one again suggesting that the people in the poem might not be important.


• In the entire poem, there are only two periods. What does punctuation or lack of it contribute to the meaning of the poem?

These are only a few ways that Cummings uses syntax to get our attention. At first glance, this poem may seem out of whack, but it’s actually very effective.

Now, using your notes, write a few stanzas in a way that makes sense to you. Then write how the poem makes you feel. When you are finished, check your understanding to see a possible response.

By rewriting just a few stanzas, you may be getting the idea that the “he” or the “anyone” is just that—anyone who lives an ordinary life in an ordinary town surrounded by ordinary people. The poem might make you feel a little sad at the ordinariness of life, or you might just shrug your shoulders and agree with Cummings.