all ignorance toboggans into know
and trudges up to ignorance again:
but winter's not forever,even snow
melts;and if spring should spoil the game,what then?

all history's a winter sport or three:
but were it five,i'd still insist that all
history is too small for even me;

for me and you, exceedingly too small.

Swoop(shrill collective myth)into thy grave
merely to toil the scale to shrilleness
per every madge and mabel dick and dave
—tomorrow is our permanent address

and there they'll scarcely find us(if they do,
we'll move away still further:into now

Trevor

Kyle

It seems that their are two possible interpretations of this poem. One of the first possibilities is that it is a poem that is describing WWII. This poem was written in 1944 which was 5 years after the beginning of WWII. The line “winter’s not forever” seems to enforce this as “winter” could represent the war and thus this line describes that the war will in fact have an end. The line “to toil the scale of shrillness” also seems to fit the war theme as both the literal sounds of war and the heated anger of the countries within the war could contribute to this “shrillness.”  The other possibility is that this is in fact a romantic poem, describing the speaker’s love. While quite different from the war interpretation this is also in fact supported by the poem. When he says “history is too small for me; for me and you, exceedingly too small” he seems to be refuting the idea that this is a war poem. Cummings is implying that history is a small and unimportant topic next to him and whoever this “you” is he is referring to. The line “we'll move away still further:into now” also seems to be romantic. By saying “we’ll” move still further the speaker is associating them self with this other person. In addition, them moving “further: into now” seems to suggest that they’re moving forward together. Thus this poem seems to have an equal possibility of either interpretation.

(1)By “All ignorance toboggans into know and trudges up to ignorance again” he describes how the ignorance of war is continuously repeated over time. With every war, the horror of it is revealed to the country and yet, we decide to march whole hearted into war after war.

(2) When Cummings writes “but winter's not forever,even snow melts;and if spring should spoil the game,what then?”, he is using a metaphor to describe war, and its end. Winter is used to describe war as it is a harsh, cold, and lifeless season. Cummings uses the coming of spring to represent the possibility of a  end to the war. He brings up the question of what impact the country would face in such an instance where we were in over our head.

(3)”History is too small for even me;” is the first line where Cummings seems to be refuting that this is in fact a war poem. It implies that he is no in fact discussing history, because it is too unimportant.

(4) The line “for me and you, exceedingly too small.” furthers this implication that this is not a historical poem and seems to assert the idea that this is a poem about the speaker and someone else, possibly romantic. By the smallness increasing when it is for the speaker and the person they’re referring to implies that the speaker holds quite a bit of value in this person

(5)”The scale of shrillness” seems to be referring to the feverish war pitch reached by the fighting countries in World War II. “Shrillness” on its own could even more literally be referring to the actual sound of missiles and bombs from bombardments on cities  

(6) The couplet in which Cummings writes, “per every madge and mabel dick and dave
—tomorrow is our permanent address”, he is referring to the unsure nature that war brings. He lists off some common names to give the feeling that the unwanted  difficulties could affect any person including those not in war. The only deciding factor of their future is fate, as they have no control.

(7) In the lines, “and there they'll scarcely find us(if they do, we'll move away still further:into now”, there could be a few interpretations. One being that they are avoiding an actual force, like the draft where they try to avoid it at all costs. Secondly, it could be a metaphor for just avoiding the horrors of was itself, and trying to avoid all irrational support for it that they see.