I'm nobody! Who are you?

I'm nobody! Who are you? is one of Emily Dickinsons most famous poems. Here is my analysis:

I believe that the speaker in this poem is Emily Dickinson, and she is talking about herself, and her quiet, secluded lifestyle. She enjoys privacy, and yet she looks for friends who enjoy the same thing. “Don't tell! they'd advertise – you know!” seems to indicate that she and her friend would like to be hidden away from the rest of society, in order to have their own little world. She doesn’t seem to want to even be known by anyone other than this friend, who she so enjoys talking to. A nobody would be someone who isn’t particularly known- maybe not as a celebrity, or in Dickinson’s case, not particularly well known by anyone outside her small world. A somebody to her would likely be either the celebrities of her day, or, people in her community. She, despite her being a “somebody” sentient and thoughtful, would like to be somebody to herself, and is, but would not like to be particularly known by anyone else. On the other hand, she may be talking about herself, and talking to herself. After all, if she is nobody, than she can have an intelligent conversation with herself, right? Another possibility is that she had problems with self esteem, and though she knew herself to be somebody, was afraid of being ridiculed for some reason or another, and chose to stay an anonymous ‘nobody’.
It also seems that she was making a statement about vanity, and by comparing being a ‘somebody’ to being a frog, that you would simply be talking to a bog, that being somebody simply wouldn’t matter some time later, that everybody was already a frog, and it is a waste of energy to make yourself popular among the frogs, because in all honesty, what does that earn you in the bog? It certainly doesn’t make you a great person, it simply means you’re a loud croaker! She did, also, mention how public it was to be a frog, perhaps indicating that she’d rather have her privacy, instead of fame, and perhaps, in a way, this was freedom to her.

Some while ago I also read most of Brian Jacques Redwall series, starting with Salamandastron.



So far I read:

• Redwall (1986)
• Mossflower (1988)
• Mattimeo (1989)
• Mariel of Redwall (1991)
• Salamandastron (1992)
• Martin the Warrior (1993)
• The Bellmaker (1994)
• Outcast of Redwall (1995)
• The Pearls of Lutra (1996)
• The Long Patrol (1997)
• Marlfox (1998)^[1]
• The Legend of Luke (1999)
• Lord Brocktree (2000)
• The Taggerung (2001)
• Triss (2002)
• Loamhedge (2003)
• Rakkety Tam (2004)
• High Rhulain (2005)

I need to read more now!