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Emily Dickinson · 1891
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
The full text of Emily Dickinson’s poem, what it means in plain words, and its best lines as pictures you can download and share.
- Poet
- Emily Dickinson
- Published
- 1891
- First line
- I’m Nobody! Who are you?
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Emily Dickinson
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know!
How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog –
To tell one’s name – the livelong June –
To an admiring Bog!
Best lines
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I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?
How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog –
Meaning and summary
The speaker happily calls herself a “Nobody” and is delighted to find another. They should keep it secret, or others would make a fuss about them.
In the second stanza she pokes fun at being “Somebody”: famous people are like frogs croaking their own name all summer to a swamp that admires them. The poem praises privacy and laughs at the hunger for fame.
Form
Two four-line stanzas with Dickinson’s dashes and capitals and loose rhyme.
About the poet
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) lived quietly in Amherst, Massachusetts, and published almost nothing in her life. The poem was written around 1861 and first printed in 1891.
Poems
More classic poems
Questions
About the poem
What is the message of I’m Nobody?
That a quiet, private life is better than the empty noise of fame.
Why does Dickinson compare fame to a frog?
A frog croaks its own name all day to a bog, as famous people keep announcing themselves to admirers.
When was it written?
Around 1861; it was published in 1891.