# Origin of the phrase 'spring is in the air'?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-spring-is-in-the-air/292561>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 2, 2005, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-spring-is-in-the-air/292561 "2005-03-02T05:38:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-spring-is-in-the-air/292561/1 "2005-03-02T05:38:17Z")

</div>

What is the origin of the phrase “spring is in the air?” I have fruitlessly tried to google for this, and the sheer number of hits has made it … problematic.

I originally thought it might have been part of the poem containing the words “young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love,” by Alfred Lord Tennyson, but that work (“Locksley Hall”) didn’t appear to be it.

Any ideas?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-spring-is-in-the-air/292561/2 "2005-03-03T06:48:40Z")

</div>

Wow, nobody, huh? I guess I should submit this one directly to Cecil.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-spring-is-in-the-air/292561/3 "2005-03-03T06:52:57Z")

</div>

I’d always assumed that it was just literally that…you know that spring is just around the corner when you can smell it in the air.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-spring-is-in-the-air/292561/4 "2005-03-03T07:31:03Z")

</div>

In the thought that I might simply be looking for the wrong air pollutant, I tried googling different combinations to count the hits:

_spring is in the air_: 71,500 hits  
_summer is in the air_: 1,330 hits  
_autumn is in the air_: 2,930 hits  
_fall is in the air_: 11,800 hits  
_winter is in the air_: 1,470 hits  
_Christmas is in the air_: 820 hits  
_love is in the air_: 268,000 hits

Clearly there’s something about spring more than other seasons that calls for this use. The hits for “love” surprise me. Is this closer to the origin? Is there a connection to the Tennyson poem?

[This site](http://www.answers.com/in+the+air&r=67) says the idiom _in the air_ traces back to the latter half of the 1800s. Not very specific. Drat it all!

I even text-searched for the word “spring” in Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets online. Perhaps I’ll search next for “in the air” and see what happens.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-spring-is-in-the-air/292561/5 "2005-03-03T08:10:51Z")

</div>

WAG

Probably from some Ode or other of one of the Romantic Poets.