18 pages • 36 minutes read
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
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Symbols & Motifs
Frog
Dickinson defines what she does not want to be by defining a frog, saying, “How public – like a Frog” (Line 6). Frogs are generally known for their croaking sounds that carry through the open air. Croaking is usually associated with males calling out for female partners during mating season. Multiple male frogs may croak together or individually. Female frogs may reply as well. Dickinson does not want to perform in a public spectacle, like frogs do when croaking.
The speaker also mentions that the bog is “admiring” (Line 8), which suggests a community of admirers, not just one. This likely includes the admiration of females to male frogs during the mating season but also the admiration of listeners in the swamp area, including other animals and maybe even humans. On one hand, Dickinson could be passing judgment on or condemning the frog as a slimy egomaniac that needs to croak simply to remind potential mates it is worth noticing, or she is speaking of its predisposed biological nature—the frog is really unable to keep to itself. It must share and connect with others in order to keep its species alive.
Bog
As mentioned in the Frog symbolism, the bog suggests a type of community. This is not just any community but one that thrives on an overabundance of precipitation and dead plant materials in the peat. Many humans associate bogs with unpleasant living conditions; therefore, the connotation of the word “bog” is a negative one, strongly influencing how the reader perceives Dickinson’s feelings about living publicly and the types of audiences she might have to serve. On the other hand, some life does obviously thrive in bogs, so it is not an unfit living environment for everyone. It is simply not the speaker’s particular cup of tea, and she does not choose to speak of the bog in favorable terms.
Pronouns
The words “Somebody” and “Nobody” are capitalized and are present in both stanzas of the poem, giving both of the words equal weight. Ultimately, though, the title of the poem involves nobody. The word is repeated twice in the poem (Lines 1-2), with “somebody” appearing only once later in the poem (Line 5), as “nobody” is Dickinson’s preferred pronoun. She makes the nobodies and somebodies separate and at opposition. Because of the nature of pronouns, the words “nobody” and “somebody” seem universal, as if anyone could place themselves within the poem and identify as either or both. At the same time, the word “nobody” also implies “no person.” As a result, the word can be both anybody and no one. While the speaker of the poem is an actual person, the implication seems to be that being no one is a guise that she wears in order to survive in the world.
The meaning of the pronouns goes even further with the use of “you” (Line 1), “us” (Line 3), and “they” (Line 4). Going back to the idea of opposition, the use of these pronouns throughout the poem feels as if the speaker is reaching out to the reader “you” and forming solidarity with “us.” The use of “they” creates opposition, another party who does not understand or is not a part of the preferred nobody club.
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Related Titles
By Emily Dickinson
