Emily Dickinson' poem titled, "I'm nobody! Who are you?" is not only one of her most popular poems, but it is also possibly one of her most complex and misunderstood poems. It is because of its theme that that is most likely so popular. It seems to preach a sense of angst felt by many young people. Its main idea is that the speaker is some sort of an outcast, and she seems to meet another of her kind. The speaker seems to speak of the current society as some sort of Orwellian world or tyrannical rule in which all outcasts or loners will be banished as it is some sort of law. She then goes on to state how seemingly terrible it is to be popular and in the public eye (Dickinson). Perhaps the most complex and interesting topic this poem arouses not only about the society of that time period, but also about Dickinson's life is thoroughly discussed by Sharon Leiter in her literary criticism. She visits multiple theories about the oddity of Dickinson's supposed reclusiveness from which different ideals may rise from each (Leiter). Again, the true meaning of the poem all comes down to the reader's interpretation because they may choose any set of reasons or ideals they feel is most suitable to their life. First, although Dickinson of course did not know just how popular her poetry would be, if at all, at the time of her writing, and today we regard her as one of the greatest poets of all time. So this may add to the reason she portrays herself as an outcast from the "popular" society. However, one cannot help but think that she must have realized her important place in her small literary community at that time. (Leiter). It makes the reader wonder why exactly she would put herself in the lowest of social situations. Let us think about this; it is perhaps that she enjoyed being secluded from most everybody. This aspect of her life can be seen in many of her poems dealing with nature. She conveys a sense of loneliness when describes idle animals as her most valuable friends. In addition, she was commonly known to be by herself for most of her life mainly due to her enjoyment of writing in an isolated location. But then the reader is still left to wonder her appeal to this other seemingly unimportant outsider whom she has approached. It almost appears as if she is a desperate, crazy woman in search of approval from somebody. Of course, we know this not to be true because there is an underlying symbolism to this situation. As Sharon Leiter elaborated, in this time, social trends for women were much different. Women were typically seen as rather unimportant people who needed to tend to their affairs at home. However, lucky for Dickinson, her father believed that women should be educated and in the world. This puts even more mystery into the reason why Dickinson puts on this loner's mask. Personally, I see it as the writer, or speaker rather, speaking out for the little man, or everyman, in society then as in pertains to today's world against the large mass of what appears to be popular at the time. She then goes on in the second stanza to support this ideal by demeaning the idea of being so du jour by using imagery to compare this to a frog in a bog (Dickinson).
Works Cited
Dickinson, Emily. "I'm nobody! Who are you?" Part One: Life. Bartleby.com. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.
Leiter, Sharon. "'I'm Nobody! Who are you?'." Critical Companion to Emily Dickinson: A Literary Reference to Her Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCED064&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 22, 2011).
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