Emily Dickinson, 175 ("I cautious, scanned my little life --")

Cynic — In classical Athens, the term Cynic referred to a philosophical outlook (associated with Antisthenes, an ascetic disciple of Socrates who lived roughly 445-365 BCE, the rather more radical and outlandish Diogenes, c. 412-323 BCE, and the gentle and much-admired Crates of Thebes, c. 365-285 BCE) that argues that virtue is the only good and that the essence of virtue was to practice self-control and live independent of others. Later, in the popular imagination, cynicism became more broadly associated with the belief that human beings are motivated entirely by selfishness and are thus untrustworthy, and also with a sour and unpleasant disposition (although that was not part of the original philosophy).

175 (“I cautious, scanned my little life —”)
by Emily Dickinson

I cautious, scanned my little life —
I winnowed what would fade
From what w’d last till Heads like mine
Should be a-dreaming laid.

I put the latter in a Barn —	5
The former, blew away.
I went one winter morning
And lo — my priceless Hay

Was not upon the “Scaffold” —
Was not upon the “Beam” —	10
And from a thriving Farmer —
A Cynic, I became.

Whether a Thief did it —
Whether it was the wind —
Whether Deity’s guiltless —	15
My business is, to find!

So I begin to ransack!
How is it Hearts, with Thee?
Art thou within the little Barn
Love provided Thee?	20



scanned — possibly a pun, as to scan can mean to read a line of poetry in order to determine its rhythm or meter

w’d — would; the vast majority of Dickinson’s poems were not published in her lifetime and exist only in manuscript, and Dickinson would occasionally abbreviate like this when writing

Cynic — In classical Athens, the term Cynic referred to a philosophical outlook (associated with Antisthenes, an ascetic disciple of Socrates who lived roughly 445-365 BCE, the rather more radical and outlandish Diogenes, c. 412-323 BCE, and the gentle and much-admired Crates of Thebes, c. 365-285 BCE) that argues that virtue is the only good and that the essence of virtue was to practice self-control and live independent of others. Later, in the popular imagination, cynicism became more broadly associated with the belief that human beings are motivated entirely by selfishness and are thus untrustworthy, and also with a sour and unpleasant disposition (although that was not part of the original philosophy).