Poetry Response #1 [in Just-] BY E. E. CUMMINGS

E. E. Cummings, “In Just—”

Poem-

in Just-

spring          when the world is mud-

luscious the little

lame balloonman

whistles          far          and wee

and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and

piracies and it's

spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer

old balloonman whistles

far          and             wee

and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's

spring

and

         the

                  goat-footed

balloonMan          whistles

far

and

wee

Response:

Before reading the poem I attempted to analyze the very brief but interesting title. The title of the story is only two words. However, the words end with a dash and are enclosed by square brackets. Square brackets clarify a situation and dashes are a kind of break in a sentence (according to the Oxford Dictionaries website). Why are these used as the title of the poem? What kind of meaning do they convey? In just could be defined as, or changed to “In reason..” but in reason to what? My first step towards analyzing the poem was to paraphrase it in my own words: The poem starts with the title of the poem. The season is spring, and the world is described as mud. There is a little lame balloonman who is “luscious”. He whistles far and close. Eddieandbill come, they are running from marbles and piracies. It is still spring. The world is “puddle-wonderful’. There is a queer, and the old balloonman whistles again. bettyandisbel come dancing. They hop-scotch and jump rope. Its still spring. The balloonman is described as goat-footed and he whistles again. There is a bit of ambiguity in the world being mud and puddle-wonder; there is one word associated with these two words. I also analyzed the diction and the choice the writer made to use the words eddieandbill and bettyandisbel instead of eddie and bill and betty and isbel, what was the purpose of this? Did the writer try to combine them in order to show that they are one unit, or character? There is repetition in the old balloonman’s whistling and the children coming. Another thing repeated is that the season is spring. The theme in this poem could be: Spring is a beacon for the youthful and innocent..