I 'm Nobody ! Who Are You?

Dickinson’s This is my Letter to the World raises tension between exclusion and the human conditions’ longing for belonging. Dickinson’s “letter to the world” is an extended metaphor of her deliberate attempt to establish an affinity with her society through art- her literature just like Grossman’s essay. Her vulnerability and isolation, is evident in her personal tone with “my letter” being exposed to the wider “world”. This disclosure juxtaposed with the next line “that never wrote to me” further emphasizes her reality filled with isolation. The juxtaposition encapsulates her position as an outsider, interplaying the themes of inclusion and exclusion, seen through her desire for her art to be reciprocated and appreciated by the open distant world. Furthermore, Dickinson covets for a sense of connection through the reoccurring motif of the natural world, personifying “her” as a feminine persona with a nurturing capacity emphasizes through the accumulation of endorsing imagery “tender majesty… hands I cannot see…for love of her”. Despite her lack of relationship with her environment, she elevates nature to be majestic further denigrating her own self status as her writing will still be “judged” no matter how “tenderly”. Thus Dickinson seeks a sense of belonging through nature deriving from the human condition, yet in this driving process towards inclusion is met by exclusion from her sense of identity

Emily Dickinson was an exceptional writer through the mid-late 1800’s. She never published any of her writings and it wasn’t until after her death that they were even discovered. The complexity of understanding her poems is made prevalent because of the fact that she, the author, cannot expound on what her writing meant. This causes others to have to speculate and decide for themselves the meaning of any of her poems. There are several ways that people can interpret Emily Dickinson’s poems; readers often give their opinion on which of her poems present human understanding as something boundless and unlimited or something small and limited, and people always speculate Dickinson’s view of the individual self.

“I’m Nobody! Who are you?” by Emily Dickinson reveals the invaluable aspect of remaining a “Nobody”—a person of little fame and stature. The poem examines the short monologue of a speaker as he or she confides with another “Nobody” and pities the life of a “Somebody”—a person with fame. The speaker finds the life of the famous boring; he or she finds being unrecognized much more comforting. This can be seen through the author’s varying tones in the first and second stanza: the first being more secretive, and the second being more pitiful. The secretive tone is present in the line “Don’t tell!” and brings about a sense of excitement as the speaker remains out of the public’s eye. In contrast to the excitement, the second stanza reveals the speaker’s viewpoint of the life of the recognized: it is mundane and “dreary” (Dickinson 838). The distinct contrast between the secretive tone and the mundane tone reveals why the speaker has a fondness towards being a “Nobody”: the life of a “Nobody” is—ironically—more exciting than the life of a “Somebody.” Another use of irony in “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” is the companionship found within being unrecognized versus the loneliness created from being famous. The speaker finds another “Nobody” to share his or her opinions with, stating that “there’s a pair of [them]” while being “Somebody” results in being a frog alone talking to an “admiring Bog” (Dickinson 838). The significance in this irony is that the speaker identifies the

Emily Dickinson is one of the most influential figures in American literature. Her unusual character and style has made her become one of America’s best and most original poets of all time. She composed almost 1800 poems, but fewer than a dozen were published in her lifetime. In her poems, she expresses her feelings about identity, religion, nature, love, and death. Her poems tell us a lot about her lifestyle, which was very private and reserved from society. In poems 260 and 409 it talks about the theme of identity. Although they consist of the same theme, there are differences in meaning, tone, and narration.

Dunbar and his work were mentioned in major magazines and newspapers. By 1896 Dunbar had published his third collection, but first professionally published volume, Lyrics of Lowly Life. In this volume Dunbar wrote a poem called, “We Wear the Mask.” In the poem, “We Wear the Mask”, lies and deceit, suffering, race, and society and class are used as themes to illustrate the African American life during and before Dunbar’s lifetime. The purpose of this analysis is to explore certain

The last two lines of the poem are a timid reflection on what might happen “Had I the Art to stun myself/ With Bolts—of Melody!” (23-24). The idea that creation is a power that can get loose and injure even the creator illuminates why in this poem the artist positions herself firmly as a mere spectator. In these first two poems, we meet a Dickinson who is not entirely familiar to us—even though we are accustomed to her strong desire for privacy, these poems can be startling in the way they reveal the intensity of Dickinson’s fears. She is, after all, shrinking from what is dearest to her—nature, one of her favorite subjects, becomes a harsh judge, and poetry, her favored medium of communication, can suddenly render the reader “impotent” and the writer “stun[ned]” (19, 23). The extremity of her positions in shrinking from the small and beautiful things she loves creates the sense that this is just the beginning of a journey by leaving so much room for change.

Ever since 1600s when William Shakespeare described the whole world as “a stage” and “all the men and women merely players”, the idea of people wearing masks and hiding their true feelings has been present in literature in one way or another. In the late 1800s, Paul Laurence Dunbar publishes “We wear the mask”, a poem that focuses on people hiding their true feelings from others and everyone can relate. Unlike Dunbar who talks about different kinds of emotional masks people use, Edwin Arlington Robinson uses his “Richard Cory” to draw attention to a mask of money and success, which makes the average people (“we people”) admire and idealize the successful person (Richard Cory) only because we do not know and do not even try to see what is hidden behind the mask. In just 4 stanzas and 16 lines, Edwin Arlington Robinson tells a meaningful and timeless story about misfortune of Richard Cory, a person behind the mask of money and success who seemingly has everything anyone could wish for.

In this piece, she discusses how certain characteristics of the mind make it limited; specifically the selection of those we call friends. She argues that in certain instances our mind shuts the doors to accept anything else into it. The last stanza of the poem recites this poem clearly by saying, “I’ve known her – from an ample nation – Choose One – Then – close the Valves of her attention – Like Stone – ” (414) This idea is the complete reverse of her explanation of the possibilities for the mind, but she is only stating that we can limit our own power through exclusion. Critics have often derived this from several of Dickinson’s poems, especially those about friendship, like Jeffrey E. Simpson observed, “Dickinson’s poems dealing with friendship, together with her letters, define a fragile personal universe always threatening to turn "cold," "frigid,"--impersonal.”

Power and powerlessness are prominent themes common in both Emily Dickinson’s and Phillip Larkin’s poems. The idea of whom or what is in control and how power is obtained are explored. Both poets predominantly explore the idea that power primarily belongs to a male figure. However, in Larkin’s ‘Send No Money’ the speaker is portrayed to be powerless against an abstract idea rather than a physical, human being as shown in Dickinson’s ‘754’. This shows how both poets have many similarities in the manner in which they write about power and powerlessness. Both poets explore that ideas of power and powerlessness but one aspect of their writing that cannot be ignored is the time the poems were written in and the perspective they were written from. Dickinson is writing her poems from the eyes of a woman in the 19th century. Whereas Larkin wrote his poems around a century later when the times had changed and society had evolved. His poems are of course from the viewpoint of a traditional male writing around the 1950’s and onwards. It is interesting to note that neither poet married during their lifetime. Emily Dickinson was a recluse who preferred to live a solitary life and avoided interaction with outside people. Phillip Larkin could not commit himself into a long relationship. They both experienced loneliness in life where they couldn’t experience the struggle for power in relationships meaning they experienced power in different aspects. Dickinson was a deeply religious person

In the poem “The Soul Selects Her Own Society” the speaker takes a more mysterious and shadowy turn when the soul is willing to give up the entire world for a life of self-realization. Using imagery and tone in the poems “The Soul Selects Her Own Society” and “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?” , Dickinson shows a strong theme of the individual verse society.

The poem, ‘I’m nobody, who are you?’ is about one and a half centuries old. Yet, it hits the nerve of our time: The digital 21st century in which everybody is somebody on the World Wide Web. Emily Dickinson, the US poet born in 1830, was what we would now call a loner. She chose few, very close friends during her lifetime which she mainly spend alone, writing poems and letters to near ones. She carefully chose what to share and with whom, confiding her thoughts and feelings mainly to paper. What she wrote has depth and reaches out to millions, still. The “Nobody” in whose perspective her poem is written, reaches out to a possible soul mate, and the reader. “Nobody” is definitely not an insignificant, pitiable person, rather a self-confident one. “Nobody” seems to enjoy the anonymity of not even telling her name.

In her poem, “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”, Emily Dickinson reflects her own reclusive emotions through poetry. Emily Dickinson organizes her poem like an introduction of herself or a greeting. Her first and second line: “I’m Nobody! Who are you?/Are you nobody - too?” the speaker introduces his or herself as “Nobody” shows that Dickinson uses personification for Nobody and Somebody as if to show that is their name. Next, shows the speaker’s desire to be a “Nobody” and fear of showing individuality or being a “Somebody” “How public - like a Frog” (L6) “How dreary - to be - Somebody!” (L5) Finally, we understand that the poem shows Emily Dickinson’s emotional issues. Emily Dickinson had a range of emotional issues including: agoraphobia, depression,

Individuality and nonconformity is the essence of Emily Dickinson’s poem “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” The unconventional syntax of the poem carries the paradox of being nobody from the first sentence to the last.

In fact, Dickinson describes being a somebody as dreary, which causes the readers to ask why Dickinson believes being a nobody is superior to being a somebody. The poem shows how society treats outsiders badly, and hints at the importance of accepting others despite their differences. People can be categorized as an outsider for many reasons whether it be race, personal beliefs, or ones liking of isolation. Strangely enough, Dickinson could be considered as an outsider herself because she rarely

The world is full of worries, wonders and rush. Everyone is busy handing their own affairs and business. In this rush, it can be quite easy to get swept away from the crowd and go unnoticed, especially if you are shy and not much of an outgoing person. At the same time, it can be a horrible thing to realize that you’ve gone invisible in a way that no one even realizes that you’re still alive or that you’ve been actually doing and accomplishing things in your life. Emily Dickinson often had this feeling. “Throughout her life, she seldom left her home and visitors were few.” She stayed at home, mostly filling her notebooks with poetry and writing hundreds of letters, corresponding her poetry to her friends and close colleagues. Dickinson lived a secluded life and thus often felt invisible and unnoticed. However, this sense and feeling of invisibility didn’t seem to bother her much at all. In fact, she did not want to be in such quest for glory, fame or even being noticed rather it is evident through this poem that she reproved such fame seekers and even chastised them. Rather, “I am nobody!” she exclaims, making the powerful declaration of her nobody-ness and assuming that someone else particularly us readers are feeling the same too.