Emily Dickinson's Poem 'I' M Nobody ! Who Are You?

1 “I’m nobody! Who are you?” By Emily Dickinson“I'm nobody! Who are you?” is Dickinson's satirical poem, mocking those with a pompous view of live singling out those who obsess over fame.When the poem was scripted, in the 19thcentury, being humble was considered a superior quality while beinga glory seeker was frowned upon. AlthoughDickinson ridicules these individuals, she uses tone and punctuation to keep the satire playful and light. Emilyhad an easy life and was not recognized until she died. She was not known in society despite her tremendoustalent.In the first stanza Dickinson says “I’m nobody! Who are you?” she is conspiring with the audience to make them feel like somebody while ridiculingthosewho seek outattentionto feel like
The person who does not need to constantly seek out the attention of others has the values of a good person not the person who has status in society and needs to boast aboutit. Even though society shuns the “nobody” for not having status in society, the true nobody is a symbol of a “somebody” (Mossberg). Insociety, people with status reject other people with lower or no social status. Dickson supports this belief in her poem with “they'd banish us for being nobody”.Dickinson uses words such as “you” and “us” in order to bring the audience in as a friendor co-conspirator. By uniting with the reader, she’s implying they are also nobodies but as the poem goes on it is clear nobodies are actually somebodies. Dickinson lives during a time wheresocial status is everything but she receives no recognition for her accomplishments. This could have led to her bitterness about attention seekers, or her bias could be the result of her