Symbol Analysis
It’s spring. In fact, it’s "Just-spring." And if springtime is the beginning of the year, then "Just-spring" is the beginning of all beginnings. Cummings makes no bones about the fact that it’s springtime, as you may have noticed. As he emphasizes this moment of youth and growth, however, he plays some growing-and-changing games of his own. Check these out:
- Lines 1-2: The creation of a new word, "Just-spring," becomes an attempt to forge a new set of symbolic references for the world of the poem.
- Lines 2-3: Repeating the "u" sounds in "mud-luscious" is a form of assonance which helps us to hear the two words as one (hyphenated) unit.
- Lines 8-9: The repetition of the simple phrase "and/ it’s spring" creates a cyclical feeling for the reader which mimics the changing of the seasons.
- Line 10: Cummings is up to his old tricks with some serious alliteration in this line. The repeating "w"s makes the entire line seem wet (just like puddles are).
- Lines 16-18: Again, repetition. Again, it’s not all that subtle. In fact, the speaker announces here that it’s spring.