Emily Dickinson Nobody

Being nobody is something that not many would desire, except perhaps Emily Dickinson. Emily Dickinson’s “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” is a satirical poem about the public sphere that she was not willing to conform to. On the other hand, Dickinson’s diction suggests that she is mocking the public out of both distaste and jealousy. The poem reflects this distaste with the public sphere as well as her desire to have someone to keep her company who is also nobody. The first lines of the poem show Dickinson’s pride in being nobody as well as her desire to have a friend. The line “I’m Nobody!” implies that Dickinson is unimportant to the rest of the world, however she is proud to announce this to people (1). The exclamation point gives a sense of excitement

The third line assumes that the person is nobody. Dickinson seems very excited when she writes, “Then there’s a pair of us!” (3) The rushed feeling continues here, with almost no pause between the question of if the person is nobody to her taking the person as her comrade. This gives the poem a desperate air, as if the poet is too tired of isolation to care if the person answers correctly or not. The exclamation point expresses her happiness with the fact that now there are two nobodies, which is a great thing in her mind. The exclamation point also shows how excited Dickinson is to finally have another nobody, and she wants to keep them by her side. This is reflected in the next line, when she says, “Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know!” (4) She is telling the person that they should not tell anyone about the fact that they are unique and do not conform to the rest of society. She is implying that by telling the others about their uniqueness, they will lose it. When she points out that they would advertise, she is saying that the others would try to convince the person to become somebody by advertising the benefits of it. This shows that the poet is trying to protect the person from becoming somebody. She wants to keep the fact that they do not conform a secret because she does not trust the others. This line can also be taken to mean that if they tell others of their uniqueness, they will be

Dickinson writes that, like a frog, people tend “To tell one’s name – the livelong June –“ (7) This relates to her previous point on how people are repetitive like frogs. The somebodies are only capable of talking about such shallow things as their own name. Dickinson implies that the somebodies are only concerned with broadcasting their names to everyone who passes by, and not intelligent conversation. This ties back in with her words, “How dreary…” (5) Only being able to say your name to keep up your status as nobody is a very boring lifestyle. A somebody would have no real conversations, and would only be capable of advertising themselves constantly to maintain their status. This advertisement is mentioned earlier, when she says, “..they’d advertise…” (3) The poet is saying that all the somebodies do is advertise. This makes it seems even more undesirable, since they seem to have no fun at all. She is also implying that being a part of the public sphere and being raised on any platform requires a constant broadcasting of your name, no matter how much actual qualities you have. The last line, “To an admiring Bog!” brings the poem to a close (8). She is finally mocking all those who sit and listen to those somebodies by calling them a bog. A bog is wet, muddy ground that cannot support anything heavy. This implies that the public is soft and cannot really support any