Who Are You, Little? Summary
This poem “Who are you little i?” was written by a famous American poet, essayist, novelist, and Playwright, poem is a e e cummings (Edward Estlin Cummings). In this poem, he describes a child looking out a window at the end of the day. It is about nature and the effect that has on the speaker. The speaker in the a person “voicing” the words, remembering a childhood moment closely connected with nature. In the poem, the speaker is a child of five or six years old who is looking out a window at the end of the day. He expresses that he was free from duties and responsibilities to enjoy nature but now he may not have that opportunity. So he vividly recalls the childhood experience. So, it inspires the speaker that he has remembered his sweet experience of his childhood. Just recalling his those days, he still equally and freshly gets the same scenic beauty of the setting golden sun of November. He still feels the transformation of the day into the night which he got when he was in his five or six years. From this, he even understands the meaning of life and death in a beautiful way.
The poem presents the inspiration of nature that we can get to move ahead in our life.
Who Are You, Little? Questions And Answer: Understanding the text
Answer the following questions.
a. Who can be the speaker of this poem ?
Ans: The speaker of the poem can be a small child of five or six years old who is the poet himself i.e. E. E. Cummings.
b. What is “little i” doing?
Ans: The “little i” is looking from some high window at the sunset of November and feeling a beautiful way of changing the day into night.
c.What can be the relationship between “little i'” and the speaker of the poem?
Ans: The relationship between “little i” and the speaker can be his childhood who enjoyed with the natural beauty. The speaker in the present recalls the memory of his childhood in connection with the nature. Just to recall the memory as it was, he speaks the voice of “little i” in the present.
d. What is the speaker remembering from his childhood days in the poem?
Ans: The speaker is remembering the scene which he saw from some high window that was the setting golden sun of November and his feeling of transforming the day into night in a beautiful way from his childhood days in the poem.
e. What attitude does the speaker seem to have toward the child in the poem?
Ans: The speaker seems to have a positive and good attitude towards the child in the poem. The speaker likes to recall his childhood days in which he enjoyed a lot with a pleasing natural scene. He becomes very happy having the memory of the nature that he had in his childhood as the “little ” He enjoyed the scenic beauty of the golden sunset of November and its transformation from day to night in a beautiful way. He still wants to enjoy with such a scenic beauty.
Reference to the context
a. Why do you think Cummings has placed a semicolon between the words window and at?
Ans: I think Cummings has placed a semicolon between the words window and at to show the distance between him (little i) and the golden setting sun of November. In other words, it can be taken that he is inside the window and the sun is outside it. So to show the locations of two things (little child and the sun), he has placed the semicolon between window and at.
b.If the speaker is the child grown up, why does he ask, “who are you”?
Ans: The speaker is the child grown up then he asks “who are you” because he likes to recall his childhood days in which he used to enjoy with the nature without having any duties and responsibilities. He wants to get similar pleasure connected with the nature in these days too. So, by asking ‘who are you”; he wants to get the same pleasure as he used to get in his childhood.
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)”?
Ans: An adult reflects on the childhood experience in this poem. The speaker of the poem is a grown up man now. When he was a child, he used to enjoy with the scenic beauty of the golden setting sun of November. He looked at the setting sun through out the window. He used to think of transforming the day into night in a beautiful way. In his childhood, he was free from duties and responsibilities to enjoy with the nature. But now he is not free from the obligations to enjoy such a scenic beauty. It means like the day transforms into the night, we also transform from childhood- to- adulthood-to- old age; and finally we become fully free from our duties and responsibilities with our death. So we can connect our life with the day and death with the night as the speaker felt to transform in the poem. It looks like that the sun has his life in the day time and he loses the life in the night.
d.What is the rhyme scheme used in the poem ?
Ans: The rhyme scheme used in the poem is ACAC and BDBD. In the poem, i in the first line rhymes with high in the third line of the poem; old in the second line rhymes with gold in the fourth line of the poem; so is the case in- sunset rhymes with night; and day rhymes with way.
e.Explain the pun in “little i” that is related to what he is doing.
Ans: A pun is a joke that gives different possible meanings of a word. It also refers to the words that sound alike but have different meanings along with humour. The poet has used pun in the poem beautifully. It is said that the boy is little who is looking at the golden setting sun from some high window. ‘Little i’ rhymes with the word ‘high’. So their sound is alike but it creates laughter for the readers to find out the meaning. It means the “little i” is somewhere in high window’s location. The height of ‘little i’ and ‘window’ has been presented to look at the setting sun which has created laughter for readers.
f.How does Cummings’s use of lowercase letters affect your understanding of the poem? Explain.
Ans: Cummings’s use of lowercase letters definitely affects my understanding of the poem. Grammatically speaking, the use of lowercase letters is considered as wrong ones. Using his poetic license, the poet has used lowercase letters in his poem which have different meanings beyond their forms. Here, he does not want to emphasize on anything; instead, he gives equal emphasis to all the things. That is why, he even writes his name in lowercase letters. So, in the poem, everything that he has mentioned is equally important so that we cannot ignore any word, phrase, or sentence to have a complete of meaning of the poem.
Reference beyond the text
a.How does nature inspire the speaker in “who are you, little i””? Explain.
Ans: The poem “Who are you little i?” is written in connection with the nature. So, it obviously inspires the speaker that he has remembered his sweet experience of his childhood. Just recalling his those days, he still equally and freshly gets the same scenic beauty of the setting golden sun of November. He still feels the transformation of the day into the night which he got when he was in his five or six years. From this, he even understands the meaning of life and death in a beautiful way.
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.
Ans: When I was ten, I looked out through a window and took pleasure when I saw the rays of the sun peeping my room and caressing me on my face with his soft and pleasing hands of the rays. Just below the rays in my front yard, the larks were twittering and flying with full delight. Bees were busy in sucking the nectar of the flowers. I feel how beautiful morning can be changed into the scorching day and again day into beautiful evening and finally evening into the dark night. I feel the larks and the bees remain in their nests and hives throughout the day. So innocence and beauty transform into arrogance and ugliness as the day grows.
c.Interpret the poem in any way you like.
Ans: The poem “Who are you little i?” was written by an American poet, e e cummings. In the poem, the speaker is a child of five or six years old who is looking out a window at the end of the day. He feels very closely connected with nature. This poem presents about nature and its effect it has on the speaker. The speaker of the poem is the person “voicing” the words, recalling a childhood moment closely connected with nature in which he finds that day transforms into the night. He expresses that he was free from duties and responsibilities to enjoy nature but now he may not have that opportunity. So he vividly recalls the childhood experience.