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I was wondering if using "again" in the following paragraph is redundant:

  • I just love this time of year. Spring is in the air and everything is coming back to life "again", finally. Birds singing, warm breezes blowing, and sweet smells filling the air. Source

I think, whereas "back" in "coming back", includes the concept of "again" to me, hence, the adverb "again" would be redundant.

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  • coming* instead of coning. Your link is redirecting to a page containing several blog posts, could you specify which one to refer? – Dhanishtha Ghosh Oct 30 '20 at 23:30
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    I think "again" is good going there. Especially given the current circumstances, again would certainly add emphasis to the sentence. – Dhanishtha Ghosh Oct 30 '20 at 23:31
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    I think this may be an instance of "pleonasm", which according to Wikipedia is the figure of speech which is "the use of more words or parts of words than are necessary or sufficient for clear expression". – Prime Mover Oct 30 '20 at 23:48
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It's redundant but that's not bad. This quote has several examples of redundant expressions: "Breezes blowing" (what else do breezes do?) "sweet smells in the air" (where else do you get smells?)

The particular part you ask about could be shortened to "everything is coming back to life". By adding "again" this means it is not the first time that it has come back. You don't need to say this (we all know that spring follows winter).

It is not strictly speaking completely redundant. If you say "He came back" it could be that he went and returned. But "He came back again" means he went, returned, went again and returned again. He must have come back at least twice.

Saying "everything is coming back to life again" is completely natural and normal in English.

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