In
the poem: “In Just-” the first thing that spoke to me before I even read the
poem was the format Cummings created. I’m not hundred percent sure why the
words are spaced the way they are in certain parts of the poem, but I think the spaces between the words in "whistles
far and wee" suggest that the distance that a whistle covers, and how far
it can be heard. Also when I turn the poem to the side, the extensions of certain lines reminds
me of blades of grass just popping out of the ground, signaling that spring has
finally arrived. Also the unusual spelling of words such as “mud-luscious”, and
“puddle-wonderful” (Pg.1112) sort of gives me a sense that Cummings wanted to combine
a noun and adjective after the word “world” to present imagery with it: “in
Just spring when the world is mu-luscious” and “when the
world is puddle-wonderful.” Also I found
it interesting how Cummings combined several names such as: "eddieandbill" and "bettyandisbel"
suggesting that the pairs are friends and are very close that they’re
practically connected. I also discovered he does the same thing with “whistles
far and wee” but does the opposite, and instead adds space.
To me, the poem itself was very straight
forward: that it’s that day in May when the sun starts shining for the first
time in weeks and everybody heads out to the park. Though the poem seemed
simple to me, the structure however was complex and hard to figure out. But the
poem overall gives me a sense of childhood innocence and how there’s a sort of
magic to the first day of spring and being in a park. “from hop-scotch and
jump-rope and
it’s
spring
and
wee”
