For the last several years, autumn has been the star season, its popularity helped along by social media videos of influencers in cozy knitwear against backdrops of gaudy foliage. More than a calendric event, fall has become an aesthetic, a lifestyle, a vibe, complete with its own TV show (comforting “Gilmore Girls” reruns), soundtrack (“Stick Season” by Noah Kahan) and flavor (pumpkin spice).
Spring, by contrast, can seem so muddy and disappointing. It is seen as a time of wildly fluctuating temperatures and pollen-induced sneezing fits. Recent surveys of Americans’ seasonal preferences place it a distant second or even third to autumn, the runaway winner.
But now, as crocuses and snowdrops pop up from the ground after months of bitter weather across much of the United States, there are signs that spring may be primed for a cultural comeback.
An online influencer with the handle sofiaxmarie was one of many who recently posted in praise of spring, which begins at 10:46 a.m. on Friday. To the strains of an acoustic guitar, her TikTok video included images of cherry blossoms, tulips, a puppy, a bunny, geese, horses in green pastures, an iced matcha latte and herself strolling through a park sans overcoat.
“I am so ready,” she wrote.
That sort of sentiment used to be a given. Spring was a special favorite of poets and musicians, who were moved by the lush reawakening of the natural world to express their feelings of love and wonderment in verse and song.
Christopher R. Miller, a professor of English at the College of Staten Island of the City University of New York, said that spring’s fleetingness — its “brief golden glow,” in his words — was long a source of inspiration to great artists. He cited Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” in which the poet bemoans spring’s evanescence, likening it to Eden.
“These blooms are only going to be here a short time,” Professor Miller said. “You can see spring as a transitional threshold period, where its changes are so visible — and so ephemeral.”
In a less melancholy vein, Chaucer invoked the “sweet breath” of April’s winds in “The Canterbury Tales.” William Shakespeare struck a similar note in Sonnet 98, marveling at the way springtime “hath put a spirit of youth in everything.”
More than three centuries later, the Beatles captured the upswelling in mood brought on by warm weather in “Here Comes the Sun.” Over bright chords, the song, written and sung by George Harrison, bids adieu to “a long, cold, lonely winter” and notes the “the smiles returning to the faces.”
Mr. Harrison composed “Here Comes the Sun” on a lovely April day in 1969, after having ditched an unpleasant band meeting not long before the Beatles’ breakup. “It was like slagging off school,” he later reflected. “I went to a friend’s house in the country, and it was just sunny and it was all just the release of the tension that had been building up on me.”
The song captured the hopeful, back-to-nature ethos soon to be replaced by pragmatism and skepticism. As the cultural mood shifted, climate change seemed to compress spring and “supercharge” allergens while lengthening fall’s annual reign. With the advent of social media, autumn was all too ready to lend itself to hashtags and hot beverages, its golden hues seemingly custom-made for Instagram.
Carol Connare, the editor of The Old Farmer’s Almanac, which has been publishing since 1792, embraced the arrival of warm weather on a recent day by going on a hike with a co-worker near the company’s office in Dublin, N.H.
“We did it today because it’s in the 60s,” Ms. Connare said, speaking by phone. “The beautiful warm wind and feeling that thermal air is amazing.”
“Sometimes old farmers would light fires in the spring, take out the dead wood,” she continued. “When you read the old almanacs, spring was such an important time. It’s always: ‘Are you ready? Have your tools cleaned!’ All these things need to be done because, before you know it, we’re in the field.”
Is there a chance that people might once again welcome spring with the enthusiasm they now reserve for fall? Enter: Jamie Falkowski, the chief creative officer at Day One Agency, a marketing agency in New York. If spring were his client, I asked him, what would he do to improve its image?
Mr. Falkowski emphasized that a successful campaign would account for the negatives associated with the season — Tax Day; mud; allergies; the sense that one minute you’re shivering in a puffer coat and the next you’re cursing the heat and humidity. Once that was dealt with, he would try to spin spring’s brevity and unpredictability into a positive.
“The line I would try to build around is: ‘Don’t Sleep on Spring,’” Mr. Falkowski said. “We’d try to build a full 360 campaign. I’d try to find a creative who could capture the essence of the season really well.”
“I really like the imagery of Harley Weir,” he continued. “She’s a photographer out of the U.K. She’s done work for Vogue, McQueen. She really captures the dreamlike quality of spring. I’d want to bring in someone to build out the dream message: ‘Hey, this season is short — don’t sleep on it!’”
He suggested that social media stars could be given a brief: “‘Hey, this is the perfect season to play hooky. All I want you to do is blow off your normal day and show how you’re taking advantage of the season.’ Tap a bunch of interesting creators to tell those stories.”
“I don’t think spring needs a total rebranding,” he added. “I just think it needs a wake-up call. Spring is our wake-up call as people. To go out there and live life again. That’s what I would try to bring to life creatively.”
He was asked to name his favorite season.
“If my client is spring,” Mr. Falkowski said, “I’m going to say spring.”
Steven Kurutz covers cultural trends, social media and the world of design for The Times.
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