Pretty How Town: Complete Annotation

“Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town” Complete Annotation
The poem “Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town” is about a character named anyone. Anyone lives in a pretty how town. He sings about his dreams that he wants to accomplish, but he never will accomplish. The town does not care about his dreams. They are too self centered, and they do not realize they are stuck in a repeating cycle. They know he will not accomplish his dreams because when he gets older reality will destroy his dreams. Time passes, and a new character named noone is introduced. Anyone and noone fall deeply in love. The other people in the town get married, have kids, and eventually died. Anyone finally died, and noone died shortly after him. In the meantime, the people of the

pretty how town continue their lives still stuck in the cycle. They grow up, get married, have kids, go through good times and bad times, and eventually die.
Out of all the many themes that “Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town”, there is one theme that really spoke to me. The people of the pretty how town do not realize that they are stuck in a repeated cycle. They have dreams and goals that they want to accomplish, but will not try to accomplish them because they cannot escape the cycle. They want to accomplish these dreams and goals, but they will not let go of their repeated cycle. It is sad because they do not realize that they are stuck, and if they do then it is too late.
There is a lot of figurative language in the poem “Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town”.

Rhyme is shown in the first, second, third, fourth, eighth, and ninth stanzas. In the first stanza, “...town…” and “...down…” is an example of rhyme. In the second stanza, “...small…” and “...all…” represents rhyme. In the third stanza, rhyme is shown when the speaker says, “...few…” and “...grew…”. More examples in the poem include, “...leaf…” and “...grief…”, “...deep…” and “...sleep…”, and “...ding…” and

“...spring…”.
There are many examples of repetition in this poem.

The speaker repeats, “...spring summer autumn winter…” three times throughout the poem. The speaker also repeats, “..sun moon stars rain…” three times.
The examples of repetition could also be examples of symbolism. When the speaker says, “...spring summer autumn winter…”, “...sun moon stars rain…”, or “...sleep wake hope and then…” it is symbolizing the time that is passing through anyone’s lifetime. Symbolism is also shown when the speaker says, “...up so floating many bells down…” and “...dong and ding…”. They are symbolizing that there are funeral bells ringing, and lives are always ending while others are beginning.
There is also personification examples in the poem. The speaker said, “...only the snow can begin to explain…” and shows personification because snow cannot explain anything.
Another example of figurative language in the poem is assonance. When the speaker says, “...side by side little by little and was by was all by all and deep by deep and more by more…” it shows assonance.
One more example of figurative language in “Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town” is paradox. At first the poem does not make much sense, but as I thought about it more and more I realized something. I realized that the speaker was trying to tell me that people are stuck in a cycle, and they do not see that they are

stuck.
The first time I read “Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town” I was very confused. I could not understand what the poem was about, or what the speaker was trying to tell me. When I read the poem a few more times, and thought more in depth about it, I finally realized what the poem was about. It told me that it is good to have dreams and goals, but I might have to get out of my cycle to achieve these dreams and goals. The people of the pretty little how town would never get out of their cycle, so they will forever be stuck in the boring cycle of life. I refuse to be stuck in the boring cycle of life. I will push myself, and step out of my comfort zone to achieve my dreams.