This poem captures the essence of spring. For children it is the feeling of liberation and joy. In just 24 lines cummings simulates the energy and vigor of the season.

cummings' style is notable for its originality. He doesn’t conform to any poetic tradition, uses words in his own inventive way, ignoring grammar and punctuation and usual conventions. His poems are like sculptures, the words forming shapes, with spaces that are as meaningful as the words themselves.

He has been defined as a Modernist, a movement that grew up after the First World War when whole populations, chastened by their catastrophic experiences, were forced to encompass a new morality; a new way of life.

On one level this is an innocent poem about the joys of spring and childhood. On another it is a sinister poem about emerging sexuality and, maybe, sexual abuse in the figure of the ‘ballonman’ who could be a minifestation of the priapic Greek god Pan.

Structure and Language
The usual systematic analysis of structure and language is impossible with this inventive poet. Formal meter, rhyme and stanza divisions are abandoned. The detailed annotations explain in detail what cummings has done.