It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
The passage is a run-on which is filled with contradictions. The winding length of the quote indicates a story and time from the past, and the contradictions exist at the same time, making the period in question paradoxical in nature.
The narrator is reflecting on a time that is tumultuous and full of tension because the aristocracy and the commoners are at odds with one another, much like the contradictions Dickens highlights in these opening lines.