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Anyone Lived In A Pretty How Town Summary

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In the poem, “anyone lived in a pretty how town”, author, E. E. Cummings sometimes uses words in very unusual ways. Line 7, which says “they sowed their isn’t they reaped their same” is no exception (line 7). To start off we need to decipher who the “they” Cummings is talking about in this line. The “they” Cummings is talking about here is made known in line 5. Cummings points out that “Women and men (both little and small)” are the “they” who “sowed their isn’t” and the “they” that “reaped their same” (line 5 & 7). If you think about line 7 from the farming standpoint you can infer that “sow” could mean to plant something and “reap” could mean to harvest what was planted. Now, let’s talking about how “they sowed their isn’t” (line 7). To sow something, you have to have a …show more content…

A seed is something a farmer places in the ground in hope of it sprouting and becoming a plant. However, the seed “isn’t” a plant just yet. Thinking about what seed women and men “sow” this part of the line could possibly be actually talking about children and how the women and the men “sowed” what doesn’t exist quite yet-a child! Moving forward, to the next part (and back in the farming mindset), “they reaped their same” (line 7). If you planted 7 tomato seeds you would expect 7 tomato plants to grow, not 4 tomato plants and 3 cucumber plants. Here, the same logic can apply. When the women and men plant their seeds (future children) and they sprout(are born) they raise them and grow them together and they all grow up to be the same uniform product. So in line 7 Cummings may be describing how in this little town the women and the men have children who all grow up to be the exact same, just like tiny little rows of tomatoes. In lines 19-20, Cummings states, “they/said their nevers they slept their

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