I'm Nobody! Who Are You?

As part of my English class, we are studying the poetry of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. I have a new found love in the works of Emily Dickinson.

In her 20's she chose to remove herself from society and lived her life as a recluse. She was content with her choice. She wrote different poems about the individual vs society, and they are all brilliant. This is one of my favorites:

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you 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 livelong day
To an admiring bog!

I love the sarcastic mood of this poem -the speaker is calling herself a 'nobody', as that is what society sees her as - if you don't conform to society's image, you will 'be banished'. And she's happy about it. In her mind, it would be boring to be 'somebody' - just sitting there in public (on a lily pad), croaking and boasting to anyone who will listen in a noisy, admiring bog. The speaker doesn't want to 'belong', because belonging comes with scrutiny and hard work. She can be herself and be comfortable with herself as a 'nobody'.

Emily Dickinson wrote this poem in the mid-late 1800's. Isn't it amazing how some things never change?

I think this begs the questions: Are you a Somebody, or a Nobody? If you're a Somebody, how do you treat the Nobodies in your community? If you're a Nobody, what can you do to help the Somebodies broaden their horizons?

Are there any works that make you think about your life or society?