At this time of year I always think of E.E. Cummings’ poem “in Just-,” also known as “Chansons Innocentes: I.”
Before we get into the poem here’s a description of Cummings’ poetry from his bio on The Poetry Foundation website:
“As one of the most innovative poets of his time, Cummings experimented with poetic form and language to create a distinct personal style. A typical Cummings poem is spare and precise, employing a few key words eccentrically placed on the page. Some of these words were invented by Cummings, often by combining two common words into a new synthesis. He also revised grammatical and linguistic rules to suit his own purposes, using such words as “if,” “am,” and “because” as nouns, for example, or assigning his own private meanings to words. Despite their nontraditional form, Cummings’ poems came to be popular with many readers.”
The Poem
in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman
whistles far and wee
and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it’s
spring
when the world is puddle-wonderful
the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing
from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
it’s
spring
and
the
goat-footed
balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee
The Manuscript
E.E. Cummings’ papers are held in two archives: Houghton Library (Harvard University) and the Harry Ransom Center (University of Texas at Austin). At 18 linear feet (116 boxes), the E.E. Cummings collection at Houghton is the larger of the two. It contains letters and poems, both published and unpublished, including this typescript of “In Just-,” which exhibits many differences from the published version.
In just-Spring
When the world is mud-luscious
The queer old balloon-man
Whistles far and wee,
And Bill and Eddy come pranking
From marbles and from piracies,
And it’s Springtime.
When the world is puddle-wonderful
The little lame balloon-man
Whistles far and wee
And Betty and Is’bel come dancing
From hop-scotch and still-pond and jump-rope,
For it’s Springtime,
And the world is ooze-suave,
And the goat-footed balloon-man
Whistles
Far
And
Wee.
I think the published version is a definite improvement, don’t you?
Publication
“In just-” was published in a series of five “Chansons Innocentes” in Cummings’ first collection of poems, Tulips and Chimneys in 1923. (Interesting side note: The publisher only accepted 86 of the 152 poems in the original manuscript and also insisted on using the word “and” rather than an ampersand in the title. Two years later, Cummings privately printed some of the rejected poems along with new ones under the title &.)
