Spring is like a perhaps hand

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1923

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Poem Analysis

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Further Reading & Resources

Related Poems

“i’ll tell you a dream i had once i was away up in the sky Blue,everything:” by E.E. Cummings (1925)

The “III” that begins “Spring is like a perhaps hand” refers to the poem’s appearance in a sequence in E.E. Cummings’s self-published &. The sequence, entitled “&: SEVEN POEMS” contains, as one might imagine, seven different poems. “I’ll Tell You a Dream […]” is number II, appearing directly before “Spring is like a perhaps hand.” Aside from its textual relevance, this poem also experiments with typography and syntax in a slightly different way than “Spring is like a perhaps hand,” providing a good range of Cummings’s early poetic innovations.

"The Waste Land" by T.S. Eliot (1922)

The beginning of “The Waste Land’s” first section, “I. The Burial of the Dead,” is relevant to Cummings’s poem. Its first stanzas describe spring in a vastly different way than “Spring is like a perhaps hand,” though it was published only a few years prior.

“a thrown a” by E.E. Cummings (1950)

This little poem from Cummings’s late career was published in his collection XAIPE (1950). The poem is a pristine example of Cummings’s fully developed techniques of multiple itineraries, lineation, syntax and punctuation manipulation, and more. Like many of Cummings’s most seemingly difficult works, the content of the poem is rather simple and minimalist upon untangling it from its formal context.

Further Literary Resources

“Review: ‘E.E. Cummings: A Life’” by Alan Cheuse (2014)

This interview from NPR is a short reflection on Cummings by the late American writer and critic Alan Cheuse, who reviews Susan Cheever’s longer biography.

“E.E. Cummings: A Life” by Susan Cheever (2015)

Cheever’s biography is the most recent comprehensive look at E.E. Cummings’s life as of the writing of this guide. Her book tracks his life and development as an artist, paying special attention to the other poets and artists with whom he came in contact and who shaped his poetic views and practices.

CIOPW by E.E. Cummings (1931)

This text contains almost a hundred works of visual art created by Cummings. The title is an acronym standing for Charcoal, Ink, Oil, Pencil, & Watercolors, the media used by E.E. Cummings to create the artworks published within. The link provided is hosted by Grand Valley State University, and reproduces facsimiles of several of Cummings’s artworks in the book. As a poet profoundly influenced by visual art techniques, E.E. Cummings can be better understood as a writer upon a study of his plastic art pieces.

Listen to Poem

E.E. Cummings reads his poem, “Spring is like a perhaps hand”

This recording of E.E. Cummings reading his poem is part of a larger album of original poetry readings—available for free on YouTube or Spotify—called Pleasure Dome: Audible Modern Poetry Read by its Creators. The album contains a few other readings by Cummings, as well as several by William Carlos Williams, T.S. Eliot, Marianne Moore, Elizabeth Bishop, and others.