Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) is a name recognized by many throughout the world as a writer
of distinction. Her poems frequently reflected her outlook on life. She lived alone and was not
seen in public the last 20 years of her life.
In her poem, "I'm Nobody! Who are you?" her feelings about life are revealed. Although
some pitied her perceived loneliness, her friend and literary critic, Allen Tate said, "All pity for
Miss Dickinson's starved life is misdirected. Her life was one of the richest and deepest ever
"I'm Nobody! Who are You?" begins with the first line as the title and mimics a childlike
rhyme. The reader is then brought into the scenario by the writer asking the reader a question,
"Are you - Nobody - too? Then there's a pair of us."
The reader is now tied into the writer's "conspiracy" by her saying, "Don't tell! They'd
banish us – you know!" The writer is letting her readers know that she wants to be a nobody
and it is not by destiny but by choice. She is saying she knows it isn't popular to be a
nobody, a loner, but this is the life she chooses.
Emily Dickinson, now the speaker in the poem, changes her tone in the second stanza and
assumes a rather cynical, sarcastic tone. She also sounds very defensive in her desire to be
She says "How dreary - to be - Somebody! How public - like a Frog –". She is letting her
new partner, the reader, know how disgusting she considers being in the public eye. The
author's style of writing is very sing-song and brings the reader in on her side.
The final 2 lines, "To tell or name - the livelong June - to an Admiring Bog!" indicates
the writer/speaker's disgust with pubic figures. She thinks it disgusting and boring.
I enjoy poems that reflect the writer's feelings on life. Emily Dickinson's poem, "I'm
...