By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The poem with the opening line ‘anyone lived in a pretty how town’ is one of E. E. Cummings’ (or perhaps that should be, following the poet’s own self-styling, e. e. cummings’) best-known poems. But like much of his poetry, ‘anyone lived in a pretty how town’ presents a number of challenges to comprehension and analysis, so a few words of literary-critical commentary may be useful. You can read Cummings’ poem here.