Who are you, little i?

 who are you, little i

(five or six years old)

peering from some high

window; at the gold

of November sunset

(and feeling: that if day

has to become night

252 English: Grade 11

this is a beautiful way)

Understanding the text

Answer the following questions.

a. Who can be the speaker of this poem?

b. What is “little i” doing?

c. What can be the relationship between “little i” and the speaker of the poem?

d. What is the speaker remembering from his childhood days in the poem?

e. What attitude does the speaker seem to have toward the child in the poem?

Reference to the context

a. Why do you think Cummings has placed a semicolon between the words window

and at?

b. If the speaker is the child grown up, why does he ask, “who are you”?

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)”?

d. What is the rhyme scheme used in the poem?

e. Explain the pun in “little i” that is related to what he is doing.

f. How does Cummings’s use of lowercase letters affect your understanding of the

poem? Explain.

Reference beyond the text

a. How does nature inspire the speaker in “who are you, little i”? Explain.

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.

c. Interpret the poem in any way you like.