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!
F260
(1861) 288
This is one of Dickinson’s most widely read
poems – although it is far from her best. She may have been parodying one or
more flowery poets of her day, one of whom went on at great length about heaven
and earth and kings and winds and how he was nobody, thankfully, rather than “somebody.”
Dickinson takes such pap and tells the story plainly.
For
me the best line is “How public – like a Frog – ”; sometimes when I hear
someone puffing themselves up I think of the line and I picture the speaker
croaking to “an admiring Bog.”

Hello Susan,
ReplyDeleteIs this poem based on Franklin's edition? I think in Johnson's edition the last line of the first stanza is in this way:
"Don't tell! they'd banish us – you know!"
Am I right?
I'm using Franklin and, yes, Johnson's version has the 'them' banishing.
ReplyDeleteJESUS I FUCKING LOVE THIS POEM
ReplyDeletejust because it's adorable doesn't mean it's not important
about being an outsider and meeting a person like you
Why are there different versions? Did Emily originally write "they'd banish us..."?
ReplyDeleteDid Emily's original version contain "banish" or "advertise"?
ReplyDeleteActually, she wrote both. "Advertise" was written as an alternative and then underlined. Perhaps that convinced Franklin that it was preferred over "banish". Here's an archival photo of the poem: http://www.edickinson.org/editions/4/image_sets/80307
Delete(sorry this response is late; the site kicked your comment into the Spam folder -- perhaps because of the word "advertise" -- but who knows...
Typo: You meant disingenuous …
ReplyDeleteThank you!! It took me a while to correct as I was traveling and couldn't update. This was an important correction!
Delete