Lit/Prof
"Spring"--Charles Simic
This poem by Charles Simic is representative of Foster’s ideas of seasons and how they affect literature. According to his beliefs (and many other people) whenever we think of spring we think of new life and peace, summer as romance, fall as harvest and tiresome and winter as death. This approach to the seasons is common in literature; whenever a story is set in the summertime there is a chance that it will involve some romance and if it is based in the winter there may be a hint of dismay. Authors stick to what is known by all readers instead of trying to persuade them to change their beliefs, but this is not to say there has never been a new beginning of life in the middle of autumn.
“Spring” starts out with exactly what the title is all about: what most people think when they say spring. The snow is melting, the birds are getting ready for a change in weather, and life is once again starting (the older women outside). The women hanging up the shirt on the line is symbolic of a fresh new start which is often a characteristic of spring. Then the poem continues with how the woman’s dress is lifted off of her and all she can do is laugh. This emotion is very expressive of spring, this easiness and virtue that can only be explained by the beginning of a new and lively season.
The way I interpret the poem is that the snow melting and the women’s dress rising off of her are both symbols of taking off all the layers of winter, shedding the gruesome film of the season past and opening the earth for a new beginning. I also think that the lifting of the dress could be interpreted differently. The night dress could directly represent winter itself, by her walking out in her nightdress and it merely being taken off of her it is like she is stripped of winter. It is the world’s way of saying that winter is over in an indirect context.
This chapter proves that season can alter the entire mood of a story and can transform a poem about a man’s visual into a representation of spring.
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