Blog #13

After our class discussion of the poem “in Just” by e. e. cummings, I still had more questions than answers. Due to the fact that there is no right answer when analyzing a poem, I should get used to the fact that I will never completely know whether I am right or wrong therefore I am always left with answers.For example in class we discussed the possibility of the balloonMan in the e. e. cummings poem as being representative of Pan or the devil. We came to this conclusion based on the fact that this man is described as “queer” and “goat-footed” within the poem. These words are usually correlated with an image that shouldn’t be combined with an image of children as it is in the poem. However, I feel that the balloonman could possibly be correlated with something, if not completely positive, neutral. E.e. cummings also describes the balloonman as someone who is “little” and “old”. When these words are put into focus, a neutral if not positive correlation is perceived. A little old man who sells balloons for the enjoyment of children is a perfectly acceptable character, so why is it that we focus on the negative aspects describing this man?An additional question I formulated both from my own reading of the poem as well as our class discussion is in regards to the children described in the poem. E. e. cummings doesn’t use any sort of spacing or punctuation when he mentions the two children that respond to the call of the balloonman. These two children are called “eddieandbill” and “bettyandisbel”. Why did he squeeze these two names together? Was he trying to make the reader rush them together when reciting the poem? If so, what purpose does this formatting have in the entirety of the poem? While I of course do not have the correct answer to this question, if there is one, I have been able to reflect upon it after our class discussion when I was pondering what to blog about this week. The complete lack of spacing between the names could perhaps be for the purpose of attempting to blend the nouns together. This would force the reader to say them quicker when reading due to the lack of spacing. This coupled with the lack of capitalization suggests an informal tone. But what does that say about the overall meaning, or “so what?” If one considers the lack of spacing and punctuation as an attempt to generalize the names of the children, it could suggest a widespread effect. As if e.e. cummings wanted to communicate to the reader that it’s not just “betty and isbel” who are attracted to the siren call of the balloonman, but rather that all children respond to the call. When this is joined with the idea that the poem communicates the effect of sexual transformation, it makes sense that e.e. cummings is trying to convey the fact of a generalization of children because all children go through that transformation.