I'm Nobody

Actually, like most of Emily Dickenson's poems, this one is unnamed.  Most poetry books or anthologies like to assign a number, but I think that's cheesy and un-poetic.  So we'll just call it by the first two words.

This poem is pretty straightforward -- yet profound, at the same time.  The freedom that comes with anonymity as well as the solidarity.  And as a fledgling poet, I like this sentiment -- that you don't have to be Somebody to write poetry -- even great poetry.  There's something in there about poetry being the voice of humanity, but I'm not going to go off on that.  Think about that one yourself.

Dickenson's poems were never published while she was alive -- they were found after her death and published.  A lot of people like to use her as an example of sexism and the silencing of women.  While I can't deny sexism and the silencing of women, then and even today, I think this poem shows pretty clearly that saying that Dickenson didn't publish because she was a woman in a man's world is silly.  Dickenson didn't publish because she didn't want to.  She liked her privacy and her anonymity. Let's get away from the religion of Hollywood that says that everything that is Good must also be famous. (and everything that's Famous must also be good).  Dickenson's anonymity is not a tragedy.  She clearly wanted it that way. 

Rhythmically, this poem is a great example of Dickenson's prevailing style -- she likes and primarily uses the two dash stops.  The lines are short, all about seven or eight syllables.  There is a sense of rhythm and the stanzas are of equal length, but the primary form is dictated by the two-dash stops. 



Have an opinion about I'm Nobody?  Think I'm full of it?