in Just-

Okay, for starters the balloonMan can be representitive of Satan or Pan, he can also be a Pied Piper figure. The whistling "far and wee" reminds us of the Pied Piper calling out to the children and leading them away. Pan also plays a pipe, more well known as Panpipes and he is also goatfooted. The poem also shows us that the balloonMan has horns. Look at how ee cummings spells his name, balloonMan, the 'M' gives the horn image. It is clear that at first the children don't know that he is leading them out of innocence, by the time they see his true nature it is too late. The main reason why the balloonMan is so sinister is because he is taking the children away in the spring of thier lives, naturally thier innocence is lost later on in the metapharical 'autumn'. I love this poem and the chills it sends up my spine.

Seeing an image of Satan in Cummings' poem astonishes me. I've been reading and teaching "in Just-" since the early 1960's. I think that the image of the lame balloonman suggests the same sort of thing to everyone -- a figure who draws children out a world where children's games such as marbles, playing pirates, hopscotch, and jumprope. I also think most of my students over the years have identified the "balloonMan" with the half-goat, half-man satyrs of classical mythology. The satyrs (and their female equivalents, the nymphs) are emblematic in mythology of human sexuality, so most readers in the past would have seen a satyr figure and would have interpeted the lure of the "balloonMan" as the inevitable awakening of sexuality in young people. After all, isn't spring almost always associated with love, birth, new life, and so forth. Perhaps we have heard too many fundamentalists talking about images of Satan with cloven feet, or perhaps we have heard too many stories on the news about sexual predators and child pornographers. Perhaps, from the point of view of an adult, seeing children come of age is something common which happens everywhere ("far and wee") and which is a little scary and uncontrollable. I fear that readers of Cummings' poem who see Satan or a sex predator trying to lead children astray are pushing today's fears into a poem which really is saying something rather innocent, that is, that every season a whole new generation of children grow up and leave lucious mud and wonderful puddles behind.

First off, remember that this poem was published in 1923. The word queer does not mean gay but happy. Anyways, I'm not an expert on poems, but I think the poem relays a simple idea; growin up from the point of a view of one who has. To me understanding the poem was easiest and what I think cummings wants his reader to do is look at it from our perpective, an adult. 1st group of word, a person looking back when he is struggling in life or having difficulties. We all been there when we wish we were young again, life was simpiliar back then. 2nd group, like our memory of the past, especially our childhood, the memory or short and vague. Therefore cummings groups the word so closely together. Last the as we realize that its only a memory, we are an adult now (balloonMan); time of innocence and youth are "far and wee".

It is possible that this poem is not creepy, but in a way showing how the maturity of children happens. It is only the parents that are fearful of their child be led astray by some Pied Piper or Mythological god, Pan. But how I see it, is that Pan, being a god of fertility, and as E. E. Cummings quite often wrote about sex, that this poem is the coming of age where in children are no longer playing their games, but rather are swept away into adult hood. It could be said that the beginning of the poem "in Just-spring" maybe alluding to the beginning of a child's life (as in the spring of their exsistence), but if looked at how short our child hood is, the "in Just-spring" can be viewed as the spring of life, and that then falls into the loss of innocence.

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

---------------------
when the world is mud-
-its separated for a reason mud is like when the world sucks or life sucks thats that line
the little lame baloonman
-little means ignorant
-lame means like corrupt
baloonman is significant to desires
-like things you
-want like when you are a little kid you want a ballon
-you want it you need it
whistles far and wee
-he gets everyones attention
-and notice the spacing that shows the time over time he gets everyone to change
eddyandbill come running from marbles and piracies and its spring...spring is always at the margin in the peom its the beginning like birth or new life like someone explained up there...
and the games all inocent fun
when the world is puddle-wonderful
puddles are usually fun like when your young you splash in puddles..and they are like filled with so much life and the all the microcosms in it and there is something to explore and so much so when the world has something to explore and is fun.
the queer old baloonman whistles
far and wee...notice he breaks so many rules in grammar thats what this poem is about breaking the rules set up for you as a kid and having to grow up to break out of the rules but this poem shows thats not always good.
and bettyandisbel come dancing
come dancing dancing you are close to another its sexual it shows how they too break out of they're inocense as the boys did and went running to desires (the baloonman and his baloons)
game you play when you are young from -hop-scotch and jump-rope and -the inocese being showed
it's
spring
and
the
goat-footed
as it is originally showed its a hill going down to the devil or pan going down to hell falling from inocense to sin
spring again coming out to the margin being showed for the third time these are like the three stages in life
young mature and old or also three seasons summer spring (the beginning) and fall no winter that represents death he doesnt show the stage of death
goat-footed
again the devil or pan being what brings and breaks down inocense with desire like they do in life they have so many rules and things that you should have or you should be and it forces you to conform and change and do anything to be the prettiest girl or the most popular guy and that takes away your inocese once your making sins to get your status and rank in this society
baloonMan whistles
far
and
wee
baloonMan Man capitalized can show change from the first time to the last and final or can show the horns never thought of that...
far
and
wee
^this being the going down to hell after that change because you have no inocense but sin and are now condemed...
the title can it could be for "unjust" or also connect spring to just with the dash after just so its JUST-in spring just in the beggining when you reseve life are you really and truely free and happy and inocent.

I really don't believe that this poem is about Satan, and I don't see it as that evil, either. I can see how some would see the image of a grown man with "goat feet" among children and associate it with a pedophile, but I don't think that's what was intended.
The image of a queer (*happy*) old man with baloons does not seem as threatening to me as others seem to have found it - he seems to be a friendly grandfather-figure in the first 2/3 of the poem.
When I read the last 3rd of the poem, I see the baloonman as a satyr or a kind of pied-piper. He is a mythic figure drawing children out of innocence and into adulthood, but as sad as it is to see the children grow up and distance themselves from their purity (the "far and wee" phrase has more space between words each time), growing up doesn't have to be "evil."
Just because you lose innocence does not mean you descend into hell - even though adults are more exposed to sin does not make them evil. I thought this poem shows the beginning of the transition into maturity wistfully.

I thought it was interesting that the boys were the first to reach adulthood because in that time the men had to work at a young age to provide for the family. Then the girls came dancing, much more elegant than jumping rope as they were looking to get married. It's also interesting to note that the original title for this poem was "Chansons Innocentes". Like William Blakes, "Songs of Innocence". I also like how the adjective in front of the balloonman change as the children grow older. At first he is "lame" and they don't pay attention because they are busy playing. Once they reach adolescence he is "queer" and "old" just like all teenagers have the attitude that adults are old and dont know what they are talking about. Then once he becomes the balloonMan he no longer has an adjective but is merely another Man. Maybe treated as an associate or just something that the children have accepted as a fact of life.

I love Cummings, especially this poem. Mistero, I thank you for your insightful comments on "in Just", which has always stirred a youthful excitement in me. The images here are childish and powerful descriptives that celebrate aspects of the spring season in stark juxtaposition to adult values and responsibilities. The title/beginning expresses this contrast with the capitalization and resulting emphasis on "Just", which devalues the mud and puddles from the adult perspective while connoting the authority in this point of view. I agree that the creepy feeling that some readers are experiencing likely finds root in the mistreatment of children and the responsibilities of adulthood perceived all too frequently in the current age. This doesn't make the feeling any less real, because good poetry entertains subjective interpretation, but there is strong evidence in the text that the writer's emphasis is on a celebration of youth and an appreciation of change. Let's not forget that our little baloonman is "lame" in direct contrast to this "mud-lucious" season.

"and eddyandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring "

"the queer
old baloonman whistles
far and wee"

the words queer and gay over the years has come to what we think of as being one with the same s**. As for when this poem was made.... who knows if those words were meaning back then the same as now. Queer means odd way back... gay means happy way back when.... now adays it seems to both mean the same thing gay=gay queer=gay.... back then when the poem was made it might of meant the old belief gay=happy queer=odd.
I think someone here just thought it would be funny to bring it up being as a gay poem.... in the new sense of gay. When I looked at it I thought hmm sounds weird I never thought of it as a s**ual nature

This particular poem is very open to interpretation, but the trick i think is to figure out the intent of the author. This can be done by considering tone, mood , and usage. In the case of Cummings one must also consider word placement. For example the pairing of the children's names (eddieandbill) could represent the inseperableness of childhood friends and give a clue as to the point-of-view this poem is meant to be looked at i.e. a child's perspective. As for the balloonman I think his only relevance is that he is obviously deformed in some way ("the little lame ballonman","the goat-footed ballonman", the queer ballonman")and this is only important because while adults grow to be wary of those that are different the children still run to the unique balloonman. They dont care about his deformities they are only interested in his wonderful,fun ballons. This leads us to the theme of the poem. Youth as a innocent, playful and wonderful thing that can see only fun and the prospect of adventure is the theme to which i refer. Some may not be able to see this as the case but i think that with the proper perspective this becomes obvious. For instance the "mud-luscious", and "puddle-wonderful" are oxymorons are they not. But yet to a child mud offers the prospect of an adventure,perhaps a mud-pie being baked, or a nice sliding dive into the mud pit. im sure as a child many of the readers took part in a little mud-slinging. The implications of puddle-wonderful can easily be understood when one thinks back to childhood and all the times one went puddle-jumping. As for the poems title "IN Just-" it is not reference to injustice as I see it. The first line of the poem "In just-/spring" reveals the meaning as the beggining, as in it's 'just' begun or 'just' now, it's 'just' spring its the beginning of our journey through life,and oh how easy it was when u couldn't see the ugly of life and only the beautiful things(such as spring when evrythings in bloom.

The second line refering to "spring" and "mudlusious" seems to indicate that it has been raining and that the rain has stopped. Water is often associated with sexuality...I don't think this is neccessarily gutter talk here, cummings is celebrating the newness of life and the first notice of the opposite sex. There's conversely an old man who passes through, unmoved by the passion and energy felt by the children. He is in his autumn perhaps. I feel goat footed means he walks with a hobble....He's seen many seasons like this one, many children come and grow old...he's unaffected by the newness and budding hormones in the air. I feel he's amused by it perhaps, content maybe. The balloons represent color, excitement, awakening...or maybe since the boys are becoming men and the girls women, the balloon man is an anachronism...no one needs him anymore. It's wide open to interpretation. Cummings was a non-conformist, but I think there's an inwardness and innocense about him.

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 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.

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.

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.

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! ^_^

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 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.

i'm teaching this poem to my english class tomorrow and hae been trying to interpret the poem. i'm only in high school but i, personally, think that cummings is sort of reminising about childhood. he talks about a ballonman and spring and child games. he says that "eddieandbill come running" and i think when he says this he is refering to two kids running up o a balloon man literally to get a balloon. no hidden meanings about sex and awakening. also, the way he phrases it "eddieandbill" and "bettyandisbel", when i read it out loud i want to say it fast because of how it is written, this could be intentional reference to the way children speak when they are excited, and when children get to get balloons from the balloonman they quite possibly could be excited. also i think the "whistles fara and wee" part is his way of saying its in the past, its far away and fading with time, much like the "whistles far and wee" seems to get further away towards the end of te poem, almost as if it is fading away like a distant memory. this supports the idea that he is reminising. the goatfooted thing seems to be more of a reference to pan the greek diety and the heralding of spring.
i really don't get how people are getting satan out of the poem though at all.

After reading what all of you have written about this poem, in Just-, by E. E. Cummings, I agree and strongly disagree with what your interpritations are.

To me, this is a poem about growing up and loosing innocence on the way. I do not think it has anything to do with Satan, the goat footed man is just Pan, the Greek god of herding and music. From what I know about E. E. Cummings, though it is little, I really don't think that he would have Satan mentioned in a poem with this message. How ever, all we can do is agree and disagree with what each of us say because there is no way we can ask him what his real meaning of this poem was, and from all of these comments I see no sign that he wrote down his real message in some sort of autobigraphy.

This is just my opinion though, and everyone has a right to state their own opinion.

i think this poem is about how spring is the time where everything is reborn and young and new and fresh and pure and innocent- so it's naturally the time where children are drawn to play outside in the nature and beauty of the earth and really connect with each other and the enviornment around them. and even though it is beautiful and fresh its also beautiful in from a child's eyes: ex. "mud-lucious" and "world of puddles" - who appreciates puddles besides a kid? then the balloonman represents an adult who has to signal to call in the children and herd them in from their play back into the counterinnocent world of adults. and the lame, queer, and goat-footed are merely insults whispered behind the adult's back by the children for interupting and trying to alter their fun. because wouldn't it be great if the world worked where you could play outside and connect with the earth and your playmates and not have to ever "come inside" or answer to that call? and yet "adulthood" takes over and whistles for us.

Read within the lines guys! My fast paced language arts class analyzed this, and you'd be amazed by the true definition!!!
The goat-fitted balloon man is actually a child molester. Notice, the kids disappear after they see him. He's in the background, quietly whistling, and watching the kids in the spring. Slowly, with a lame foot, he moves in closer. Notice, how the poem ends with with WEE bolded and written bigger, showing that he's moving in closer. He's just using the balloons to attract the children. The title, In Just, forms 1 word; Injust. That's why it starts off with In just balloon man, or Injust balloon man. E.E. Cummings is writing about the evil in the world, and how when you're young, the world looks happy. But it's not, there's evil lurking out there. Read the WHOLE poem, and look for the deeper meaning within it. You'll be surprised with what you find!!

I think that this poem is about the children growing up and becoming aware of the presence of sexuality.
At the beginning , it's childlike and innocent, but ideas like 'mud-luscious' using 'mud' from the child's realm and 'luscious' which is a rather adult term introduce the process of maturing. This is added to by the capitalisation of the M in 'balloonMan' later in the poem - the children now realise that he is indeed a man, not just a person, and they become aware of the adult world and of sexuality.
The spacing at the end could be showing that the children realise that they're no longer going to be children and are trying to hang onto that part of their lives so Cummings is dragging out the ending. The final 'wee' could be sad, thinking about all that will be lost; questioning whether or not it’s a good thing to be growing up; excitement to grow up & carry on the next chapter; or simply the abrupt end to innocence.

My interpretation is kinda different from a lot of the other ones. It does have a kind of irony in it - connected with "injustice." That injustice seems to refer to one of two things:
1) The balloonman is a pedophile, as some suggest, and abusing kids, giving them "joy" but making them also dirty, and the injustice could be that the children sometimes find it sad that they bust these guys who abuse them, but also treat them really nice.
2) What seems even more convincing is a comment on homosexuality, as evinced by the balloonman's "queer"ness. Dismissing the terms - insisting only on one meaning, not the other, seems to defeat the purpose of poetry - poets choose words for a reason - the multiple meanings. If we take it in the sense of homosexual, not strange or weird, then here, the balloonman is perhaps some personification of homosexual joy. The closeness of "bettyandisabel" or "eddyandbill" can be seen then to be more than just childhood friendship. There is nothing funny, or gross about this, but rather, the poem seems to be saying that their joy is considered "unjust" via the words "in Just-" and it seems it could be read different ways: could be a disgust for homosexuality, could be (seems to me more) consideration and sorrow for homosexuality and the discrimination of it, or the slander - such as its connection with communism under Joseph McCarthy.

It should also be noted we can read the first line and it seems most certainly best read like this - as BEING IN something - called Just; someone commented it was silly to say it is injustice, just as it would be silly to call it "In Justin." I hadn't thought of it, but the speaker is saying "IN" something called Just; perhaps it IS Justin, or a male person. Another element of the poem has to do with capitalization - which is associated with names. Just and Man are capitalized. Could here be the contrast with woman - again, from a male perspective, perhaps a sexual love between two men.

All of this seems apt or - I mean, who knows what authors intend? Least of all do they know themselves. Sometimes their darkest, most repressed desires come out. But who knows. The one thing that does seem weird is if we just take it literal, then it is a bad poem, and further, kind of weird ideas. Childhood? I mean - yeah, fun - but either regressive, or kinda strange feelings. There is of course, though, a curiosity also present in the poem that is interesting.

Obviously upon reading this I directly am seeing the "reader response lens" and the "psychological lens as well. Interesting enough I have heard this poem being of childhood sexuality and pedophiles. This is the result of conflicting time periods. When this poem was written people offering balloons was not an uncommon thing. Unlike now a days people selling balloons where not pedophiles they where people in hard times trying to make a living. the idea of a "goat footed balloon man" is more of one of joy and spring. I researched this reference made in the poem. The reference is to the greek god Pam. Pam was the god of spring, music and theater. He is truly a positive god. He is also considered to be a god of herding and flocks. Interesting enough the the man seems to be herding the children during spring. Contrasting the possible sorrow or hardships of the man and the joy of spring and what he is giving to the children. He is not a pedophile. We associate spring with the season of rape, and strangers as dangers, but this is not hat E.E. cummings was thinking about. Pam is a postive character and so is spring. spring was the end of winter the start of summer. harvest were being planted and food and joy were in the near future. This contrasting of joy and the lame or queer baloon man is discussing the nature of joy. How a balloon man and children can feel joy no matter what situation in the time of spring. the idea of the world being mud. the world today is mud in many peoples minds, but whats important is that no matter the situation they still find joy. the goal of this book is to look at the simple things of life like spring balloons, and children and how they bring such joy to the world. This joy of the simple things in life is what we must seek. dont take life too seriously seek out joy and hope. This poem is not about pedophiles. this poem is not about childhood sexuality. I am writting this out of my AP american literature class. We have discussed this and shot down those ideas. That idea came from conflicting time periods and ideologies that result from that conflict

I really don't think you can say that you 'shot down ideas'. cummings isn't here to tell us what this poem is about, and because of that, I don't think you can dismiss any idea - they are all as reasonable as each other. however, the Greek god Pan (not PaM) was the god of many things: nature, spring, hunting as well as fertility and sexuality. also, the Pagan god, also called Pan, is very similar, depicted with horns, cloven hooves, and a forked tongue and tail (this is the image which Christianity took to represent the devil). Both of these gods are often pictured with a large phallus. Also, the connection with the devil I find interesting. To sum up my ideas of the poem briefly, I think that it is set over three springs, the first with 'eddieandbill', the second with 'bettyandisbel' and the third with only the balloon man. to me it seems that the children pass down rumours of the balloonman, and he becomes more sinister as each spring comes by. the parents also worry, thinking him to be 'queer', and warn their children to stay away, believing him to be overly sexual (reference to Pan, and the reason for the capatilisation of man in 'balloonMan') and the children thinking him to be evil (the Devil), although the innocent balloonman is innocent. the way the children are now avoiding him saddens him, and so the spacing of 'far and wee' changed, become slower and slower to mimic the unhappy tone of his whistling. I don't think that your AP American Literature class can come up with the definitive answer to what this poem is about.

My Interpretation:

The poem to me represents the dichotomy of the ages of the characters.

The ballonman is stated to be old, lame, and poor. (If he is selling balloons for a living he must be poor.)

The children by contrast are young, full of energy / vitality, and residing in that magical time of life known as the age of innocence, - before the realities of how harshness and evil the world is made manifest to them.

The bridge between the two are the balloons. To the children they are a source of brightly colored and amusing toys. To the balloonman they are only a source of income. The magic and joys of youth have long since abandoned the balloonman.

The children have the rest of their lives to live. The balloonman is in the autumn of his years. We hear his shrill whistle dimly as he hobbles into the distance to his sad destined fate as the children revel in the joy of their newly acquired balloons, totally and mercifully ignorant of the harshness of life which awaits them.