in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little lame baloonman
whistles far and wee
and eddyandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it’s
spring
when the world is puddle-wonderful
the queer
old baloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing
from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
it’s
spring
and
the
goat-footed
baloonMan whistles
far
and
wee
I agree. In “if i believe”, a work from his highly-proclaimed “The Enormous Room”,his title is derived from the first line in his poem. As well, let it be known that e e cummings is the shit. He’s the Jackson Pollack and Jimi Hendrix of the literary world!!! e e is my fav!
I disagree with the other ideas of what the title means.
Like many of Emily Dickenson’s poems, the title could simply be the first line of the poem. If you look back, the first line of the poem is indeed, “in Just-“… exactly the same way as the title is.
But that’s my opinion.
In my opinion, i think that cummings wrote this poem to retell the story of Adam and Eve, except through a child’s point of view. The balloon man is the snake because at first he seems harmless but later he says that he is whistling far and wee.
have you ever just stopped and realized that maybe there is no “deep meaning” that has to be interpreted?
maybe e.e. just wanted to write a poem about kids going to see the balloon man. And when he says goat footed balloon man, maybe the balloon man just has goat feet. Maybe not.
I think that this is the best poem that I have vere read in my whole entire really long life. I like it a lot. It is cool!!!!!!!!!
(I haven’t read through many of the interpretations so far, though I see some very interesting takes here. I see some people talking about what is ‘right’ or ‘correct’, and I just wanted to clarify that ‘correctness’ is not something I even give thought to in poetry, so what follows really is only an interpretation – one which someone else may have already put forward :> also, a lot of this is very ex tempore)
the first thing that is clear to me about the poem is that it is a very specific moment. time is not even a factor because the scene of the poem is so fixedly and blissfully in the “puddle-wonderful” present. I agree with most that this poem is about childhood and a type of loss thereof, but there is no ‘process’ here or arc of growth. it’s a single, simple moment in springtime which by all appearances is innocent and fresh; and indeed it’s only by looking more closely at the changes occurring that any depth is involved. but essentially I prefer to think that the focus is on the moment itself rather than on all that it connotes.
in any case, what does interest me and what I realise most vividly about “in Just-” is the variety of activity taking place, and the contrast between the children and the bal(l)oonman (mis-spelt I think to involve more closely the childhood perspective) and what these two parties actually do. there is an apparent joviality and ease about the baloonman as he is introduced to us, he is whistling and is presumably carrying balloons which are symbols of light-heartedness and simple joy (and of something else, which I’ll get to in a moment); also, because “wee” as a word referring to small size is an uncommon word outside of British dialects as far as I know, my intuition tells me upon reading the word in its free, unpunctuated context as an uplifting exclamation of glee, normally spelled “whee!”. the word “wee” in its adjective form and meaning is important to another aspect of my interpretation; but in terms of action which I want first to look at, the fact that “wee” as seen as an exclamation is not punctuated or emphasised (e.g. with an exclamation mark) makes the tone fun but not entirely passionate. now immediately following the baloonman’s introduction we are presented with a kind of exuberant onslaught of happening and imagery, associated with the rapid growth and noise of spring. but there is a contrast present already here, I feel, between the baloonman and “eddyandbill” in terms of action or role: all the baloonman does is whistle, and though I’ve not seen the poem in this way before, this whistle seems now to be a call almost like a ‘pied piper’ leading the children; at the baloonman’s whistle, “eddyandbill” leave their activities without hesitation, and there’s an irony to this that I think is significant. if the poem is seen to be about departing from childhood, and the “baloonMan” is the epitome of adulthood (as I’ll show in a moment), then it seems awfully strange that the children are so willing to leave their game and “piracies” behind. there’s a certain kind of naïvety going on here alongside the shift of maturing which makes the poem mildly ironic.
anyway, next in terms of action we have the baloonman (this time “queer / old”, certainly interpretable as adulthood which is understandably strange or ‘queer’ to children) whistling once again: his action remains the same. but there are new children (“bettyandisbel”) who come also to follow him, but from different activities; and here I think is the crux. all the baloonman does is ‘whistle far’, the same activity every time, but each time the children depart (“running” and “dancing”) from different and varied activities (“marbles and / piracies”, “hop-scotch and jump-rope”). what I see this all amounting to is that Cummings is suggesting that adulthood as opposed to childhood is far more limited and single-minded, but changing and new in other ways: though the actions taking place do not change, and actually appear somewhat monotonous and impersonal (no value judgement is made on ‘whistling far’), something else does change upon each ‘whistle’; instead of the activity changing, the _people_ themselves change: the baloonman is “little [&] lame”, “queer [&] old”, and finally “goat-footed” – the last morphosis crossing over into illogicality, showing that while in terms of activity and play adulthood is drab, the imagination becomes enhanced and enlarged.
tying into this view of the baloonman as a kind of “anti-Peter Pan” leading children into adulthood under the pretense of yet another fun game are the balloons themselves as symbols; while as children life offers no pressure in terms of goals to achieve and standards to set and meet, as an adult there are constantly dozens of “balloons” – targets of achievement set by society – to be grabbed at and hypothetically attained (also termed the rat race). as far as I can see, what this poem seems to be saying, in a slightly ironic sense, is that we as people living in society (comprised largely of tensions and expectations such as those of the sexes; Cf. “eddyandbill” vs. “bettyandisbel”) have a kind of inherent instinct for – to put it bluntly – money-grubbing and the furious hunt for ‘dreams’ which as young children we aren’t conscious of but which we become more and more aware of as these paradigms are pounding into our heads. the scenario of this poem is really a kind of ‘merry dance into doom’ in that the bliss of marbles and piracies and hop-scotch can never again be attained, because we forsake them for the mere pursuit of ‘balloons’. this makes us into small people, ‘little’ or ‘wee’ people, because we forsake a pure part of ourselves to achieve things in life we are told we want. that is why the baloonMan is called derogatory things like old, lame, little – in comparison to the free and blissfully ignorant children the baloonMan is haggard and unhappy. the fact that the baloonMan ‘whistles far’ indicates the facades and new roles we adopt to cope with what we lose from the transition out of childhood, which though far richer in some senses is a ‘far cry’ from the bliss of childhood. what we gain is understanding and consciousness, which ironically shows us what we had but didn’t realise we had.
the thing about literary analysis is that it all sounds so much more complicated written out and rationalised than what it actually reads as. all of these thoughts and theories are only connotations I see upon reading the poem and thinking about, and it’s the translating of that into language which makes it seem analytic and complex. anyway, if someone read my interpretation as far as this, I appreciate it. ;> if this interpretation adds to someone’s appreciation of the poem, even better. I tend to see a kind of sarcastic or ironic humour in a great deal of Cummings’ work; but then again at face value this poem is notably jolly, so it’s really a matter of what one feels like seeing, or letting oneself see.
While doing research on e. e. cummings (also presented as E. E. Cummings,) I stumbled upon this web page and was fascinated by the various interpretations and individual ideas that were expressed on the comments link. Gathering from the totality of my research, I would have to say that I have come to the conclusion that, overall, while the poem does convey the theme of childhood/sexually cognizant maturation, it also presents an intriguing sense of the concept of innocence, especially when juxtaposed with cummings’s other, commonly graphic and sexually explicit poetry. Although I have identified a sexual motif in the poem, I heartily disagree with the balloon man/pedophile idea, and I don’t believe that the poem is an attempt to showcase a perverted or disgusting sense of humor.
P.S. Andre – I think that if you want to correct the erratic internet grammar of others, you should look first to your own “typos.” (I.e. “i” should be ‘I,’ “english” should be ‘English,’ etcetera.) I am pointing this out not because I really wish to be picky about spelling on the internet, but rather because I think that it is rather rude and hypocritical of you to call people “stupid” and berate their spelling online. Thank you.
I LOVE HIM!!!!!! GIVE HIM TO ME!
I’m in my final year of school, and I’m doing my final setwork/poetry exam tomorrow/today(as it’s past midnight already). This poem is one of our set poems. And I love it! Here’s my interpretation, I sure as Hell hope what our teacher taught us is right.
Okay, I don’t think the words “in Just-” have anything to do with “injustice”. If you’re gonna argue that, you may as well argue that the poem was written for a friend called “Just- in” (Justin – haha, I’m not serious, just as “injustice” is not right either). Well, everyone gets the general idea of “mud-luscious” and “puddle-wonderful”. “Little lame balloonman” – when the kids are young, they have sympathy for the balloonman, they’re too innocent to know of any abnormalities or prejudices that grownups may have – ie. feeling wary towards a creepy looking guy. So to them, he’s just “lame” (not lame, as in corny or stupid, lame in a childlike way). Jumping ahead, he becomes the “queer old balloonman”, now the kids are growing up, and they’re beginning to notice he’s different and strange. In the last stanza, it’s the “goat-footed balloonMan”. I don’t think it’s Pan, I think it’s Satyr, the goat-man representation of adulthood and lust. He’s not a balloonman anymore to the kids, he’s now a Man (with a capital “M”), ie. adulthood, lust, no more innocence. They’re grown up, and he’s completely foreign to them, they’re wary and afraid of him.
“Whistles far and wee” in the 2nd stanza, there’s only spaces between the “far”, emphasizing how much distance his whistling is carrying (maybe), but the point is that there’s a normal space between the “and wee”. In the 3rd (?) stanza, it’s “far and wee” and the spaces are bigger – meaning, as the kids are growing up and seeing balloonman in a new light, they aren’t as quick and eager to come running to him. In the last stanza, there’re complete lines separating the “far and wee”, meaning now they’ve grown up, they don’t come to his call anymore. The spaces just go on forever, like his whistles reaching no ones ears.
Random stuff: Firstly, “Spring” meaning growth, vitality, the growth of children into adulthood. The “eddieandbill” and “bettyandisbel” is representing the closeness of the friends. But, in the 2nd stanza, when they’re still young, the boys coming “running” (fast, excited) from “marbles and piracies (Haha, – piracy is a crime *cough*) and those are imaginative games. In the next stanza, the girls coming dancing (slower than running, and they’re focusing on their dancing, sort of preoccupied, not fully interested on balloonman) and they come from “hop-scotch and jump-rope” and those are more practical games. When children grow up, they lose their innocence, and ability to dream – sort of. And in the last stanza, no kids are mentioned, ’cause they’ve grown up and no one comes anymore.
Hope this wasn’t too long, and I hope I’m right! I don’t think anyone will ever know. But I hope this maybe helped someone, but then again, this is just my interpretation! ^_^
The stupidity of some of you amazes me. While i think the poem is open to interpretations, maybe some of you should learn to use proper english (typing “you” instead of “u” isn’t that hard, and kids who don’t understand the poem don’t look here for help, didnt you read the rules before posting? no homework help). On the other hand, some of you have very interesting interpretations of the poem. here is mine:
“Goat-Footed” refers to the Greek god Pan, who is a man above the waist and has the form of a goat below the waist. He is the God of nature as well as herding. Traditionally, nature in poems has served as a symbol for purity and that which is untouched by the corruption of mankind. Wouldn’t this seem to make sense to go along with the theme of a child’s purity? Also, he is the god of herding and sheparding; in a way he shepards the children who have come out to play on a lovely spring day. The title, in Just refers to the injustice of growing old. While the children play and have fun, the man is still working, despite the happy atmosphere. This is my take on it, i’m not saying its right or wrong.
In the first line the words ‘in just’ make you think of injustice-this suggests that the little lame balloonman has suffered from the injustice of not being able to play and experience childhood like the children mentioned in the poem.
He therefore brings joy and happiness to them by travelling far distances(far and wee)
to bring them balloons- he brings them the joy and happiness that he couldnt experience as a child himself as he was crippled(lame-goat footed)
He also doesnt want ant sympathy for being ‘lame’ as it brings him joy by bringing joy to other small children.
In the first stanza he says “when the world is mudlicious” meaning that children can come out to enjoy the beginning of spring. The little lame balloon man can be described as a person that is handing out balloons of fun. Then the next stanza describes to very good friends playing and stopping what they are doing to go and receive their balloons. The last line of the second stanza says “and its spring” means that everything is just grateful in life when its spring. The line that separates the second stanza and the third stanza suggests that everything is just joyful for children. The second to last stanza describes the same thing of the first two stanzas of how spring is growing, new, and amazing for children. Finally the last stanza will start the whole process of children stopping what they are doing to acquire their balloon of fun.
I think that the poem refers to the transition of Spring in the perspective of the children. Like Christmas, when kids grow up, they see events such as Christmas or in this case, SPring, as something trivial. The magic or spirit of that season gets lost. That is why notice the spacing in “far and wee”. It gets farther and farther. This is the whistling made by Pan (who is the allusion for the balloonman) who has reeds. He is the GOd of Nature and also music, and he epitomizes spring since as mentioned, he is the GOd of Nature. In Just is a compact way of saying: “When spring is finally here.” Pan is represented as a balloonman probably because a balloonman is a figure that entices and excites the kid regardless of his sex. So as the children grows up they deem the balloonman to be a mythical figure, since like Spring, they see it to be a myth then, nothing real or special.
my teacher is asking me about the speaker,setting,purpose,stylistic and conflict.but the problem is that i have no idea about it.i need help anyone please,and thank u to anyone who helpa me.
The poem is about how innocence is fooled by flashyy happy figures.THe author tried to paint everything wth happiness to cover the bad motives of the ballonman. l8ter he revieled tht the ballonman is like pan lascivous and lustful though free spirited.. jomar
Notice that the word ‘spring’ always appears separate from the other words. It’s akin to a disconnect — as if the children (or something else) are cut off from the ‘mud-luscious’ and ‘puddle-wonderful’ nature of spring though they’d like to immerse their juvenile curiosity in it. Or ‘spring’ can refer to the walking motion a goat-footed old balloonman might make…i.e. ‘springing’ or lurching forward. Additionally, ‘far and wee’ morphs into ‘far and wee’ and finally so that ‘far’ is on top, ‘and’ is in the middle and ‘wee’ is below, which suggests capture or a change in the distance between what is far and what is wee. Also notice that ‘balloonman’ becomes ‘balloonMan’, which implies a change in the relative size of the satyr to the children. Methinks this poem is meant to be queer (i.e. odd) and in so doing, Cummings is teasing the innocence of childhood with suggested pedophilia…and he’s using this as a way to suggest the violation of nature (the children) by rationality (the misshapen goat-footed lecher).
i like to poop apples and bannanas, i ain’t no holla back girl
Ok everyone i have to write a essay on this poem and i have no idea how to start. My teacher asks us a whole bunch of questions and i have o idea how to answer them! questions like: whats going on? whats he writing about? How does the idea and format work to produce a masterful poem? What does the poet seam to be saying about spring? what images or impressions are created about spring? how does he manipulate language to creat his impressions? How are impressions about spring created?
And the he asks us to creat a theisis statement of the dominating impression of spring. I need help anyone please and thankyou to anyone who helps me!
the balloon man is a pedophile. goat-footed refers to a satyr which is a perverted mythological character. and all the wees and wees sound so queer and sick.
The title is In Just, however the poem is from a collection of poems, the book titled:Chanson innocente
If your teacher continues not to believe you, tell him/her that do to Modern American Poet and search E.E. Cummings there, you will find that you are correct.