Making Sense Through Knowing Grammar

Now we refer back to part of e.e. cummings' poem, `anyone lived in a pretty how town', which is reproduced below. A brief analysis, that makes use of the rules of grammar, is given for the first stanza to illustrate why a knowledge of grammar is needed to arrive at an understanding of the poem.

anyone lived in a pretty how town

(with up so floating many bells down)

spring summer autumn winter

he sang his didn't he danced his did.

We have a character named `anyone'. Usually names are capitalised but here, there is no capital letters and the fact that this person is called `anyone' gives us a clue as to why the proper name is not capitalised. This is a person who belongs to the undistinguished masses, one among many, a faceless person with a low social status. This person is one who lives in a town that is equally unworthy of a second look. `Pretty' is an adjective describing the town and `how' is an interrogative adverb used in an unusual way to describe the `pretty' since it is not used at the beginning as part of a question but instead, it is inserted in between the adjective `pretty' and the noun, `town'. In a sense, it is an ordinary town, which is not ugly but still ordinary in its prettiness, thus, like `anyone', it is an insignificant town that does not deserve a detailed description.

Bells were used, and in some parts of the world still are, to signal a particular time in the day for worshippers to gather for, or to recite, their prayers, so in a sense, they tell time. Along with the mention of the seasons in the next verse, we can assume that with the continuous passage of time and seasons, `anyone' was happy with what he had done and what was happening to him. However, `his', the person attached to him did not sing. There was nothing for this person to sing, or be happy, about. and later, we will find out that `anyone' would become attached to `no one'. Understandably, `no one', who is worse off than `anyone' in social standing, would have nothing to sing about. On the other hand, when `anyone' danced, `his' (the `no one') danced along, sharing in his joys because `no one' loved him.

Interesting, isn't it, how a knowledge of grammar can actually help one to make sense of a poem that seemingly ignores grammatical rules? Now, go over the next two stanzas and see if you can make sense of them using your knowledge of grammar.

Women and men (both little and small)

cared for anyone not at all

they sowed their isn't they reaped their same

sun moon stars rain

children guessed (but only a few

and down they forgot as up they grew

autumn winter spring summer)

that noone loved him more by more

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