Are you a nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us - don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.
How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the longlive day
To an admiring bog!
Emily Dickinson
The poet, Emily Dickinson |
Analysis
In general, this poem questions the theme of identity. The identity of the reader, either rudely or politely.
The structure of this poem has an unclear rhyme scheme, and the rhythm is deliberately vague and inconsistent. It has different sentence length, different spots of punctuations, giving weird pauses. This can be tied to the fact, as though the poet was like a child, who haven't found her identity.
This links to the tone of the poem. The tone is light-hearted and child-like. Seemingly as an effect to garner support from people around her, and an ability to be able to speak her mind and get away with things, like an inoffensive tone. Despite the rudeness, it is covered up by the tone that is throughout the entire poem. She can be seen as "overly-excited" with the placements of exclamation marks, yet a "hurry" as though she's on a run to be a critic to the popular people, and on a run of how her thoughts were flowing.
This is also explored by how being someone of a low profile, a "nobody" is a luxury. Like how the rich or famous people are compared to "frogs", making known to the people around them with their unique "croaks" recognisable by people. The people who admired those rich and famous were similarly compared to "bog", as mud and dirt, seemingly as though they would "stick" and "follow" the person anywhere.
The title itself, is supposedly left blank. And that is suitable to the entire theme of the poem, which is to represent the missing identity of this poem. It is enforcing the point of the meaning of this poem, which is to have no identity. Bringing the pros and cons of being a "nobody" or a "somebody".
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