Cummings, A Place of Homage

June 2024

Introduction

E. E. Cummings' famous poem, "[anyone lived in a pretty how town]," was first published in 1940 as part of his collection "50 Poems." The poem tells the story of "anyone," an ordinary man living in a small town, and his relationship with "noone," his lover.

Through the use of indefinite pronouns as characters and the manipulation of language and structure, Cummings creates a unique and memorable exploration of life, love, and the passage of time. The poem's style is characterized by its unusual grammar, lack of capitalization, and the juxtaposition of words and phrases to create new meanings. This distinctive approach has made "[anyone lived in a pretty how town]" one of Cummings' most enduring and influential works.

I have written the following poem, "[everywhere isn’t where somewhere is found]," to pay homage to Cummings' style and techniques while crafting a unique story about the relationship between the concepts of "everywhere" and "somewhere."

Normally, these words are considered "adverbs of place" indicating an indefinite location, but using them as pronouns as I do here creates an interesting grammatical construction that one might arguably call the "nominal adverb." This term captures the idea that an adverb is being used in a nominal (noun-like) role. While not a nominative case in the strict sense, this grammatical function allows these various adverbs to each act as the subject of a sentence.

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[everywhere isn’t where somewhere is found]

(channeling e e cummings)

everywhere isn’t where somewhere is found
(so full with rolling hills round)
past present future always
she hid her wasn't she wished her was

after and over(both more and where)
went to everywhere then and there
they made their mustn't they took their none
sky clouds sea stone

hours she wished(not old but new
and never they last as pass they do
future always past present)
that somewhere never she was but there

then by later and given by take
he found her lost he loved her break
night by winter and future by spring
everywhere's where was all to him

nowheres looked for their anywheres
kept their losses and took their chance
(give keep wish and most)they
vowed their evers they wept their joy

sea stone sky clouds
(only the hours remember to tell
how everywhere's else to somewhere led
so full with rolling hills round)

one day everywhere lost her found
(her somewhere lost in rolling hills round)
there and after will everywhere bide
soon by near and wide by where

outer by inner and leaf by leaf
and far by far she cries her grief
somewhere is everywhere autumn by sky
wind by weeping and rain by why

after and over(both here and last)
present future always past
they made their taking and lost their known
sky clouds sea stone

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Notes and analysis

This poem is a "model" of E. E. Cummings' famous work "[anyone lived in a pretty how town]." As a model, the poem's creation serves as an educational exercise for one poet to learn the style and techniques of another. Nonetheless, my aim here was to write a poem with genuine artistic value in its own right. While emulating Cummings' poem's form and highly innovative grammatical structures, I have tried to use original ideas in telling a story that is both similar and dissimilar to its inspiration.

The following is a stanza-by-stanza breakdown of the poem, discussing my imagery and highlighting similarities between this model poem and its source.

"everywhere isn’t where somewhere is found
(so full with rolling hills round)
now later future always
she hid her wasn't she wished her was"

Referring to "everywhere" as if she were a woman, similar to Cummings' "anyone," situates her as a character with a story to tell. One objective was to take an adverb, as Cummings did with the indefinite pronoun "anyone," and use it in ways that work equally well with an abstract or concrete meaning, as he does in the line: "cared for anyone not at all."

I found it much more challenging to realistically and coherently personify adverbs of place (everywhere, somewhere, nowhere, anywhere) than if I had chosen pronouns like Cummings did with "anyone" and "no-one." This difficulty influenced the story's development compared to the source poem, as some ideas I wanted to express did not make enough sense with the subject being abstract rather than concrete. For example, "everywhere loves somewhere" does not work as well as "everyone loves someone" if the subjects must function equally well as abstractions or concrete characters. Using adverbs of place nominatively as characters limits the writer to constructions like "everywhere leads somewhere."

Cummings chose seasonal and sky-based motifs to ground his imagery. To provide a contrast, I selected motifs descriptive of time and place: "past present future always," "sky clouds sea stone."

Cummings was well-known for juxtapositions like the line "he sang his didn't he danced his did." For my poem, I've tried to create similarly thought-provoking phrases. These techniques are usually designed, at least in part, to slow down the reading and encourage a deeper engagement with the poet's meaning.

"after and over(both more and where)
went to everywhere then and there
they made their mustn't they took their none
sky clouds sea stone"

This mysterious stanza could be personifying "after" and "over," or they could be more references to abstract concepts of time and place, which permeate this poem. The reader may supply their own interpretation here.

"hours she wished(not old but new
and never they last as pass they do
future always past present)
that somewhere never she was but there"

In this introduction of the "everywhere" counterpart, "somewhere," the poem suggests that time will eventually bring the two together, whether you assign abstract or concrete meanings to them. The unusual grammar acts as a speed bump, forcing the reader to contemplate the words' potential meanings.

"then by later and given by take
he found her lost he loved her break
night by winter and future by spring
everywhere's where was all to him"

The verse advances the story and relationship between "everywhere" and "somewhere." The juxtapositional language suggests the depth of the relationship should be noted.

"nowheres looked for their anywheres
kept their losses and took their chance
(give keep wish and most)they
vowed their evers they wept their joy"

Here, I explore the idea of a community of potentially abstract/concrete dichotomies that background the stories of "everywhere" and "somewhere."

"sea stone sky clouds
(only the hours remember to tell
how everywhere's else to somewhere led
so full with rolling hills round)"

As the story continues to unfold, I present the idea that, over time, somewhere may have been lost within the expanse of everywhere's boundless existence.

"one day everywhere lost her found
(her somewhere lost in rolling hills round)
there and after will everywhere bide
soon by near and wide by where"

"outer by inner and leaf by leaf
and far by far she cries her grief
somewhere is everywhere autumn by sky
wind by weeping and rain by why"

Here, the story builds to its peak, and "everywhere" is no longer the same after losing "somewhere." The stanzas function as her lament for her loss. Note the multiple homages to Cummings' source poem's words and imagery: "leaf/grief," "cries her (his) grief," and the use of words from his grounding lists, "autumn" and "rain."

"after and over(both here and last)
present future always past
they made their taking and lost their known
sky clouds sea stone"

As the story concludes ("after and over," "here and last"), the grounding lists are repeated in refrain, and the final observation of the bittersweet making and losing.

Cummings, A Place of Homage