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Figurative Language And Form In E. Cummings 'You' Re On Your Own Kid

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Sadie DeCoster 1-31-23 “You’re On Your Own Kid”: Symbolism, Figurative Language and Form in E.E. Cummings ❲In Just-❳ Can you remember the last time you felt free like you did during childhood? The poem ❲In Just-❳, by E.E. Cummings, talks about the transition when a person loses their child-like attributes and becomes an adult. Cummings does this by describing a demonic-like “balloonman” who whistles to children during the spring distracting them from their games. This poem has great importance because it talks about something that not many people notice. The loss of childhood is not very memorable. Thinking back to the last time you felt like a child might not even be possible. E.E. Cummings, in his poem, ❲In Just-❳, uses symbolism, allusion, …show more content…

Some symbols in this poem I feel stand out include spring and the balloonman. Spring is brought up many times within this poem. Cummings chooses to use the word spring because he is describing a time of change. Spring, in terms of a season, is between winter and summer and it is the time when nature begins to change and come back to life. Although, that is only one meaning of the word spring. It can also mean emerging or arising, an energetic and forward movement, an outburst of fresh development, and it can be a supply of water emerging from the ground to form a river. Throughout the poem, Cummings talks about how the Earth becomes “mud-luscious” (lines 2-3) and “when the world is puddle-wonderful” (line 10). During the springtime, the snow begins to melt, and it creates mud and puddles. This great amount of water feeds the surrounding nature allowing new growth and life. Cummings uses the word spring to not only describe a time of growth within nature where there are muddy puddles, but also to relate it to the act of growth within a person. Many people declutter their lives with spring cleaning to try and become someone different for the following months. The use of spring in the poem symbolizes the children going through a time of growth where they are decluttering their child-like habits and growing into the teenagers they are bound to

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Two of the literary elements or figurative language used in the poem are symbolism and diction. These two elements are used throughout the poem mainly by the use of the term bells. The word bells is used fifty-eight times throughout the poem, symbolizing different human lifetimes. Childhood is a time of fun and being free, and Christmas is a recreational event for kids. This childhood times in the bells are represented in the first stanza by diction like, silver bells and sledges (line 1-2).

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Like Chopin states “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves” (Chopin, par. 5). Chopin here explains how the usage of beautiful words like “spring life” makes the reader think that Mrs. Mallards feel free, she gets a new life because spring symbolizes new beginnings.

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‘The trees were all aquiver with new spring life’ and ‘the sparrows were twittering’ show that her happiness is associated with joyful, pleasant ideas and this contrasts to her other emotions that she felt such as grief and confusion. The trees being described as ‘aquiver’ shows that they are not constant, like how Mrs Mallard’s happiness is not always felt and when felt is short lived. The use of the words ‘new spring life’ convey that this feeling is something that has never been felt before (new) and the positive idea shows that happiness is clearly being felt. She is being compared to sparrows or birds which are seen as having freedom; and are around during spring time when ‘new spring life’ emerges. They are ‘singing in distant song’ depicting that her happiness is still far away but close enough to be felt and thus creates a positive

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