"little green"

Revisiting her experience as a poor young mother in "Little Green" Joni Mitchell shows seasonal imagery, confused characterization, and descriptive personification in order to tell of her and her child’s experiences. She has many examples of these poetic devices throughout her song.
The song has many different seasons in it and she describes them with imagery. There is summer described in the song, winter and some spring, so there is pretty much all of the seasons in the song. Summer is described with California and how "everything’s warmer there". This means that it is pretty much summer all the time in California. Being very selfish the father went there instead of staying with them and being a family. When "spring is born" in the song it is an example of another season going by without the father. Showing how hard they have it and how alone they are. "There’ll be icicles and birthday clothes" is telling a good thing that may be going on in their life. There also are bad times, for example she says "There’ll be sorrow". In their lives they have had a lot of bad experiences because of the father’s absence; they do enjoy life when they can though.
Confused characterization is used to describe the people involved in the song. The father is clearly described as a selfish person for leaving them. It is said that he "went to California hearing that everything’s warmer there". This shows he is selfish because he only thinks about what will affect him in a good way and what he will like the most. Also the father is said to be "sad and sorry, but not ashamed" showing how confused he is. This shows a lot of different emotions and proves how he is confused. He is "weary of lies he is sending home" too, meaning he is unsure about them. Maybe he thinks he sould not have left and should not be where he is. The song shows that this father is a very confused person.
The descriptive personification in the song also shows what the mom and childs lives have been like. The first line, "Born with the moon in cancer" could be saying from the beginning life has been rough. Yes it is a sign of the zodiac but it could be saying the child has been born into a bad life. Relating to the name of the child; Green, her name resembles that "winter cannot fade her". Which would mean she will stay alive and happy even it the worst of cases when she should be down. The child is also "like the color when the spring is born", so the artist is trying to tell you that the child is very colorful and happy. Also she is "like the nights when the northern lights perform". The artist is really stressing that the chilld is a wonderful kid and very good.
This song shows a lot about the lives of this mother and her child. There is seasonal imagery to describe what it was like to be them and so you can imagine it. The confused characterization helps to show you what it is like for the father and how he felt about what he did. Also descriptive personification is used so you can see what the kid is like. That is how "Little Green" describes the experiences in this families lives.