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About the poet
E(dward) E(stlin) Cummings (1894-1962), often styled as e e cummings, was an American poet, painter, essayist, novelist, and playwright. He wrote approximately 2,900 poems, two autobiographical novels, four plays, and several essays, as well as numerous drawings and paintings. He developed the style of poetry writing for which he became renowned, with its unconventional use of capitalization, punctuation, spacing, and structure. He is regarded as an eminent voice of the 20th century English literature. Cummings’ poem ‘who are you, little i’ describes a child looking out a window at the end of the day. It is about nature and the effect which has on the speaker. The speaker of the poem is the person “voicing” the words, recalling a childhood moment closely connected with nature. Perhaps the speaker is Cummings.
Summary
The poem ‘who are you, little i’ has been composed by E. E. Cummings. It is a short reflective poem. There are eight lines in the poem. It is about nature and the effect on the speaker. The main theme of the poem is beauty of nature and it’s positive effects on humans. The speaker recalls a childhood moment closely connected with nature. Perhaps the speaker is the poet.
The speaker stands next to the window and addresses himself in the form of his own inner child of 5 or 6 years, calling ‘little i’ as the childlike feelings still lives within him. The feelings and peering that cause him to recall how he used to enjoy the golden sunset in November through some high window when he was a child. Now his adulthood worries have suppressed all his joys and pleasures. He considers the day turning into the night as the gradual passage of time. He welcomes this as a beautiful way.
The speaker in the poem is a small boy whose feelings and acts are reflected in the poem. From the lines we come to know the speaker’s deep love and intimacy towards nature.
The poet has used semicolon (;) between the two words to provide a break in the long sentence while keeping the thought flowing. The poem can be divided into two parts: first part is from the first line to the fifth line (we find the speaker’s state of mind recalling the past pleasing moments of his childhood. He is in a nostalgic mood here), and second part is from the sixth to the last line of the poem (he is in sad mood. This part describes his liberation from his mood).
Understanding the text
Answer the following questions.
a. Who can be the speaker of this poem?
The speaker of this poem is the poet himself. Here in this poem, he has presented himself as a little boy recalling his childhood experience connected with nature.
b. What is “little i” doing?
‘Little i’ is looking the beautiful and golden scene of sunset from a window and feeling about the beautiful way of transforming the day into the night.
c. What can be the relationship between “little i” and the speaker of the poem?
The “little i” is the childhood of the speaker himself, and the speaker is the child grown-up. So we can say that the “little i” is the child version of the speaker.
d. What is the speaker remembering from his childhood days in the poem?
The speaker is remembering an extremely beautiful scene of nature from his childhood days in the poem. He is remembering himself as a little boy who used to enjoy the beautiful golden sunset and its transformation.
e. What attitude does the speaker seem to have toward the child in the poem?
The speaker seems to have a positive, nostalgic attitude towards the child. He feels a youthful presence in himself still now, who inspires him now to look out and enjoy the nature outside.
Reference to the context
a. Why do you think Cummings has placed a semicolon between the words window and at?
I think Cummings has placed a semicolon between the words window to provide a break in the long sentence while keeping the thought flowing. In such situations a semicolon works stronger than a comma as in the present sentence structure.
b. If the speaker is the child grown up, why does he ask, “who are you”?
There is no doubt that the speaker is the child grown up. Still he puts the question “who are you”. It may be because he is struggling to recall the wonderment of his youthful days. Or maybe, it’s his incredulity that there is still a youthful presence in himself enjoying the nature.
c. In this poem, an adult reflects on the childhood experience. Based on that, what might be the theme of the lines:
“(and feeling: that if day / has to become night / this is a beautiful way)”?
Here, in these lines, we find the boy’s feeling about the beautiful scene of November’s golden sunset. He feels about wonderful transition of nature i.e day to night. Thus, the theme of these lines might refer to death. It is a touchy way to describe an unwelcome transition from the joyful youth to the end of life.
d. What is the rhyme scheme used in the poem?
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of sounds that repeats at the end of a line or stanza. The rhyme scheme used in the poem is ABAB and CDCD.
e. Explain the pun in “little i” that is related to what he is doing.
A pun is the clever use of a word that has more than one meaning or a word that have different meanings but sounds the same. The pun in ‘little i’ indicates both a specific aspect of the poet’s personality, the childlike feeling of wonder, and seeing the world through the ‘eye’ of a child.
f. How does Cummings’s use of lowercase letters affect your understanding of the poem? Explain.
Cummings’s use of lowercase letters affect my understanding of the poem. He uses lowercase letters to emphasize his inferior feelings in regard to his experience. He used to enjoy nature in his childhood full of happiness but now his adulthood worries have suppressed his joys and pleasures.
Reference beyond the text
a. How does nature inspire the speaker in “who are you, little i”? Explain.
Nature inspires the speaker a lot in “who are you, little i”. The beauty of nature has made him to go back into his beautiful childhood experience. He finds himself as a little boy of five or six years old in his childhood. He used to look at the beautiful golden sunset and feels for the beautiful way of the transition of the day into the night.
b. Recall a childhood moment when you felt closely connected with nature. Describe the time and place as well as your feelings and thoughts about it.
I was born and raised in the busy city of Kathmandu. My father works there. I grew up in the midst of the city, with little connection to nature. As I was about to take my school graduation exams my father announced that we would go to our native village in the long vacation. My happiness knew no bound. It was like a dream coming true. Finally I was in my native village. It was so different. Opposite to the hustle and bustle of the busy city, it was so calm and tranquil. It was first time I saw a milking cow. Otherwise I used to think that all produce come from super markets or dairies. The next morning my grand pa took me to our paddy field. I was surprised to see the vast stretch of greenery. It was so different from the concrete jungle of the place where I live. The chirping of birds in mango groves was so sweet. It was not like a caged bird. I never knew before that winds can play so delightfully. There I learnt how to connect with nature. I enjoyed sun rises and sunsets, which were always covered by the big buildings of my city. We stayed there for about a month. But I shall never forget my first introduction with nature.
c. Interpret the poem in any way you like.
This poem is related to nature and its effect on the speaker. This poem is quite short which contains only eight lines. The main theme of this poem is freshness of beautiful nature and its positive effect on the humans. This poem opens with the speaker standing near a window and looking out of it, at the end of a day. He goes to a nostalgic mood, recalling his childhood, when he used to watch a sunset thoughtfully. He remembers how he used to enjoy such a beauty when he used to be a little boy of five or six years. It is a wonder that he still has youthful presence in himself. This presence can recognize the beauty of the evening. Perhaps in his inner heart he wants to come out, but his maturity and adulthood doesn’t allow him, to do so.
The poet has beautifully described a little boy, his location and his acts of peering (looking) and feeling about beautiful and wonderful nature. He has presented his experiences of childhood closely connected with nature. He has presented himself as a little i or a boy of five or six years old who keeps on peering beautiful golden sunset of November through some high window and pondering about the wonderful transformation of the day into night in a very beautiful way.
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