“I cautious, scanned my little life” Summary

“I cautious, scanned my little life” Themes

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  Writing and Memory

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  The Difficulty of Faith

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “I cautious, scanned my little life”

• Line 1

  I cautious, scanned my little life—

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 2-4

  I winnowed what would fade
  From what would last till Heads like mine
  Should be a'dreaming laid.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-6

  I put the latter in a Barn—
  The former, blew away.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 7-10

  I went one winter morning
  And lo—my priceless Hay
  Was not upon the "Scaffold"—
  Was not upon the "Beam"—

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-12

  And from a thriving Farmer—
  A Cynic, I became.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  Whether a thief did it—
  Whether it was the wind—
  Whether Deity's guiltless—
  My business is, to find!

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  So I begin to ransack!
  How is it Hearts, with Thee?
  Art thou within the little Barn
  Love provided Thee?

  

  

  

  

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“I cautious, scanned my little life” Symbols

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  Winter

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“I cautious, scanned my little life” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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“I cautious, scanned my little life” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Cautious
• Scanned
• Winnowed
• A'dreaming laid
• Latter
• Former
• Lo
• Scaffold
• Beam
• Cynic
• Whether Deity's guiltless
• Ransack
• Thou/Thee

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “I cautious, scanned my little life”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“I cautious, scanned my little life” Speaker

“I cautious, scanned my little life” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “I cautious, scanned my little life”

More “I cautious, scanned my little life” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Life of Emily Dickinson — A biography of the poet from the Poetry Foundation.

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of the poem by Julie Harris. 

  • Meter and Rhyme in Dickinson's Poetry — An in-depth look at Dickinson's idiosyncratic use of meter and rhyme. 

  • A Timeline of Dickinson's Life — A timeline of major events in Emily Dickinson's life, provided by the Emily Dickinson Museum.

  • The Poem in Dickinson's Hand — A copy of the poem found in one of Dickinson's handwritten fascicles, dated 1860. 

  • A Glimpse of How Winnowing Works — A short video which depicts winnowing, the process through which chaff is removed from wheat. 

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson

  • A Bird, came down the Walk

  • After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

  • A Light exists in Spring

  • A Murmur in the Trees—to note—

  • A narrow Fellow in the Grass

  • An awful Tempest mashed the air—

  • As imperceptibly as grief

  • A still—Volcano—Life—

  • A Word dropped careless on a Page

  • Because I could not stop for Death —

  • Before I got my eye put out

  • Fame is a fickle food

  • Hope is the thing with feathers

  • I cannot live with You –

  • I could bring You Jewels—had I a mind to—

  • I did not reach Thee

  • I died for Beauty—but was scarce

  • I dreaded that first Robin, so

  • I dwell in Possibility –

  • I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

  • If I can stop one heart from breaking

  • I had been hungry, all the Years

  • I have a Bird in spring

  • I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

  • I like a look of Agony

  • I like to see it lap the Miles

  • I measure every Grief I meet

  • I’m Nobody! Who are you?

  • I started Early — Took my Dog —

  • I taste a liquor never brewed

  • It was not Death, for I stood up

  • I—Years—had been—from Home—

  • Like Rain it sounded till it curved

  • Much Madness is divinest Sense -

  • My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun

  • Nature is what we see

  • One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted

  • Publication — is the Auction

  • Safe in their Alabaster Chambers

  • Shipwreck

  • Success is counted sweetest

  • Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

  • The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

  • The Bustle in a House

  • The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

  • There came a Wind like a Bugle

  • There is no Frigate like a Book

  • There's a certain Slant of light

  • There's been a Death, in the Opposite House

  • The saddest noise, the sweetest noise

  • The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean

  • The Soul has bandaged moments

  • The Soul selects her own Society

  • The Wind – tapped like a tired Man –

  • They shut me up in Prose –

  • This is my letter to the world

  • This World is not Conclusion

  • 'Twas the old—road—through pain—

  • We grow accustomed to the Dark

  • What mystery pervades a well!

  • Whose cheek is this?

  • Wild nights - Wild nights!