The Cumming’s household held many adventures for Edward and his younger sister Elizabeth. Living with both parents, two siblings, a grandmother, aunt, uncle, family friend and two house assistants, afforded young Edward with the freedom to play and r

Another of Cummings’ memorable poems was based on his childhood experiences of playing with other children in the yard of Charles Eliot Norton. “Norton’s Woods”, as the area was known, provided E. E. Cummings with his first glimpses of nature’s wonder. A glimpse that would leave a lasting impression on the artist. Once, in a lecture at Harvard, Cummings stated that he “first encountered the mystery who is nature” in the aforementioned woods. (Norman 22) The poem in Just initially evokes a feeling of childhood naiveté and the wonder in one of the first signs of spring. Cummings displays some of his famous non-traditional word play by using nonsensical words such as “mudluscious” and puddle-wonderful”, which heighten the readers sense of the playfulness in childhood. The word play on children’s names (i.e. eddieandbill, bettyanddisbel) propels the reader into the perceived urgency of childhood delight. Upon first reading of this poem the reader feels the emotion of happiness and the excitement of spring, but hidden in the balloonman is a sense of danger and foreboding. Once the reader focuses on the balloonman her or she is made aware of the adult presence. The balloonman breaks up the games that the children are playing just as adulthood breaks up the “fun” in life. Rushworth Kidder summarized the balloonMan in saying that he represents the adult’s presence in a child’s world, in that his Sapphic character draws the children from their individual sexed games (i.e. hopscotch and marbles) towards a complex world of adult interrelationships. (24) Cummings portrayal of the balloonman as “queer”, “old” and “goatfooted” also represents the emotion of fear, but because of the lightness and fragility of the balloons he carries the children are not afraid of him; just as humans are not afraid of adulthood. The rhythmic beat of this poem also alludes to the senses. The joining of children’s names reads in an upbeat rising momentum, whereas as the spacing used in the balloonman’s “far and wee” leave the reader with a more ambiguous feeling. The ambiguity of this poem allows the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. He or she may focus on the surface meaning of the poem and feel the innocence and gaiety of childhood or may read into the shadowy undercurrents represented by the balloonMan.

All in Green My Love Wen

Some topics in this essay:
Rushworth Kidder, Harvard Cummings, Return Cumming’s, E Cummings’, Cummings America, E Cummings, Elizabeth Living, Tulips Chimneys, Rebecca Cummings, Love Riding, e cummings, love riding, green love, tulips chimneys, green love riding, word play, “four lean hounds, lean hounds, cummings poems, “four lean, epithalamion nicolette songs, sciences harvard, social sciences harvard, mea chansons innocentes, social sciences,