Respond to ee cummings' "in Just."
What is your initial emotional response to the poem?
Discuss cummings' emphasis on setting in this poem.
What is captured in this scene, and how does it establish both tone and theme?
Please post by Oct. 1.
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14 comments:
Since I am the first comment, I will focus on one aspect of the response question. After reading "in Just" for the first time, I was confused. But after reading it numerous times, I began to formulate a plot line in my head. I still am not able to formulate an emotional response to the poem, but I am at least able to comprehend some things it is saying. The balloon man represents springtime. The children respond to the man in different ways, which are their emotional responses to the changing of seasons.
Like Kerry, I felt confused after reading "in Just" for the first time but understood it more after a few more read-throughs. I took the baloonman to represent not only springtime, but the convergence that occurs at springtime between old and new, ugliness and beauty. The baloonman is "lame" and "old" but calling all the children to play. Similarly, the image of the world as "mud-luscious" and "puddle-wonderful" combines unappealing things like mud and puddles with appealing adjectives.
Like the others, I had no idea what the poem meant at first.
I couldn't find it in the book, so I read it online. the styling was very confusing.
From what I read, there is a subtle emphasis on the setting. He doesn't mention the setting at all, but his words create an image in the heads of the readers.
The joy of springtime is captured from the poem. His use of adjectives describing otherwise unpleasant things such as mud and puddles creates this sense of longing for spring to come. It is seen by the children all running to play.(Michaela mentioned this before)
Through the use of adjectives and repetition, Cummings acheives the theme and tone. Also, the syntax of the poem creates this playful mood. His one syllable lines and one long sentence give this feeling of something close, but moving farther away. I JUST understood this from rereading the poem.
The baloonman represents the child inside everyone, and him whistling "far" and wee is our childhood leaving us behind. Cummings' use of words helps the reader feel the longing for spring to come, but the baloonman moving further and further away.
My first response to the poem was utter confusion. Combining names, making up things (baloonman, though I suppose it represents something. Whatever it is, it's queer, little, lame and goat-footed), and odd structure certainly makes the poem difficult to read.
Then something hit me, the baloonman is Pan from Greek Mythology. Pan, the god of spring with goat legs. Pan’s pipes and whistling could be a connection as well not to mention Pan’s tendency for mischief.
So if Pan is the baloonman, how does it affect the rest of the poem. For one thing, If you look deeply, you can see that Eddy and Betty rhyme as does bill and Isbel. Perhaps this is symbolizing togetherness? A pair of couples maybe? Spring is a time for growth so this could play into a loss of innocence type deal. Pan was also know for his sexual prowess, maybe this ties into that as well or maybe I’m just overanalyzing at this point.
When I first read this poem, I had no idea what the author was trying to get across. Upon reading it another time I’m still not sure, but I was able to narrow my thoughts into a general direction. I believe that the author is comparing the beautiful spring time, with an old man who is seemingly indifferent to the nature, and blossoming spring that is developing around him. The author states that when the spring time is “mud luscious”, describing its scent and making it seem like an important thing, he describes the man as “little” and “lame”, which made me think that this old man has no type of competition in status to the spring time nature. Also the author states that when it is spring time and the world is “puddle wonderful”, the little lame man only whistles, showing no type of reverence to the spring.
Similar to charlie I saw the connection between the balloonman and Pan. This is strongly supported by the balloonman's goat feet as well as his whistling. This, of course, is reference to Pan's characteristic lyre.
The contrast of the world as muddy and wet with the adjectives luscious and wonderful constructed a setting in which the repulsive is attractive. I find this concept makes sense as the characters are described as children and children are known for loving those ideas. While making mudpies seems like a disgusting thing to some, it is delightful to a child.
I, however, do not agree with the above possibility that the balloonman represents change. There is no evidence of two states, one to change from and one to change to. Also, I couldn't see any lines or even words creating a transition. I found that the poem was constantly set in spring. It began in spring and ended as such.
To me, this witty poem conveyed a message of the "loss of innocence". I agree with the way Nabeel interprets the initial scene of the carefree joy exemplified by the children. However, despite the happiness, the poem shifts when the "baloonman" is described as "goat-footed". Although it could be a reference to Pan, it can also be a reference to a horned goat. Through other literary works(ancient greek), I have realized that the horns on a goat are symbolic for sexual lust and desire. Therefore, the poem as a whole is a coming of a age story where the children mature and their innocence is exchanged for adulthood.
Like everyone else who has already posted, I had no idea what the poem was trying to convey either.
This poem reminded me of the Narnia goat man, though his name escapes me right now. On the side of the wardrobe where the children play it is indeed springtime, and the all is well. the mention of eddyandbill pertain to the two sons, as bettyandisbel pertain to the two daughters of Narnia.
I believe that the grouping of names shows that the figures are less important alone than together, as was the case in Narnia where the land needed all four of the children to set it free.
Let me just hit this dead horse one more time and say that I had absolutely no idea what e.e. cummings was trying to say in this poem. Like a lot of other works, it requires atleast one more look, if not five because he is just so different, and I like that about him. I at first thought this poem was just about fun and games and children playin in the spring time, but now I look at it and see this old balloonman as kind of a pied piper of Hamelin, but I wouldn't say that he is abducting these children. Maybe he is abducting their childhood because like Lauren said, they are running FROM their marbles and their hop-scotch. So it is almost like he is taking away their childhood by making them come away from all that is child-like. But that is not to say it is a bad thing, I see this as a growing up poem, coming of age, or loss of innocense.
Okay so I deleted by last post because I realized I hadn't answered the question :-)
I think the setting is significant in giving the poem an airy and light feeling. As you read it you feel like a child bouncing around, playing hopscotch. However, it is ironic because the whole idea behind the poem is loss of innocence. So, I think that Cummings is taking advantage of this and providing that childish tone while is really wants the reader to acknowledge what is truly going on within the poem. (Which everyone else discusses so I figure I don't need to do it too!)
well, the first thing that strikes me is that i have no idea why it's called in Just, and what the first line means. unless "Just" is the name of the place in which the story takes place. in which case it must have significance. but i don't know what it is
well i can see that it's talking about spring from beginning to end, starting out with the slushy muddiness of leftover winter and ending with full on dancing musical, joyous spring.
i liked (and by like i mean noticed) the development of the balloonman from little and lame, a step up to just queer and old, even further up to pan, the god of spring, who pipes and dances and is young and frivolous.
the references to common games of the time such as marbles, playing pirates, hopscotch, and jumprope gives the poem a quaint feeling of older days, when technology didn't make things so fast and instantaneous, but rather things took time and moved at their own pace, and the moments were savored. in the same way the description of the moments in the beginning of spring that are "mud liscious" and then what comes later which is "puddle wonderful" until spring has fully arrived. each moment and stage cherished and not rushed or altered.
Wow, I am most definitely confused by this poem. First off, the title just doesn't make sense to me. The tone seems to be a very light sort of happiness, there is a lot of game playing and people are happy. Words such as luscious and wonderful are used to describe the setting, giving it a pleasant feel. After thinking about it maybe the title is speaking about this particular feeling or moment. "In Just" the spring, or just this moment. Just seems to be limiting the poem. Perhaps the tone and mood are confined to this one time of year.
So my initial emotional response was annoyance for the lack of understanding of the poem but, eventually I gathered some meaning behind the heavy emphasis on the spring setting.
Throughout the poem, the setting is essentially only spring time. But, Cummings develops the setting and tone throughout each part of the poem with descriptive observations of the spring time. In the beginning, spring is "...when the world is mud", which I understood as being a sad or miserable tone. Then it changes and progresses to "spring when the world is a puddle", possibly meaning that the mud is just a puddle now, seperating the sadness and becoming happier. When eventually spring is just described as, "it's spring", which is ending the story on a positive and happy kind of tone.
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