Everyday Canvas

Emily Dickinson's Nobody

Prompt: Emily Dickinson wrote in one of her popular poems "I'm Nobody! Who are you? Are you -nobody- too?"
What are your thoughts on Ms. Dickinson's phrase? Have you ever engaged with nobody? What insights are possible?

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The way I look at it, this poem is a satire with a sharp edge, pointing to the public figures and the general public’s adulation of them.

In Dickinson’s time, the published poets were considered to be somebodies, but Dickinson was neither a published poet nor did she try to be one; thus, to the most of the society of her time, she was a “nobody.” She took her being a nobody with cheerfulness and sarcasm, however.

In our time, since most anyone can publish anything, even the published are nobodies; therefore, to the question “Have you ever engaged with nobody?” I have to answer, yes. I engage daily with nobodies.

In a way, I agree with the poet in the sense that it could be a painful existence for me if I were to be adulated and my every step would be open to the public scrutiny. If such a thing could happen, my existence would lose its meaning totally.

From that self-valuing stance, I feel for the public figures and pity those who want fame as if it were Manna from Heaven. Just think of the writers who stopped writing and publishing for this very reason, like J.D. Salinger. As Simone de Beauvoir considered happiness to be found at the heart of freedom, in our time or at any time, it is important to me to think and perform with meaning and freedom, rather than fame.

Looking at the poem from another point of view, if being a nobody denotes feeling lowly or insignificant, this kind of a charge would indicate an underlying psychological defect or malady, but I don’t think this was the undertone of the concept Emily Dickinson was chirping about.

As the last word, I can only hope that some kind of a recognition might be possible without causing hurt or discomfort to an artist, writer, or musician because of his or her participation in the arts.