|
THis poem
I'm very bad at understanding this like this, so can someone please clarify for me what this poem means or is about?
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!
[ ]
Want to answer more questions in the Work & School category?
Maybe give some free advice about: School?
This is poem is by Emily Dickenson, who, unlike most people today really valued her anonymity. She hated crowds, and dealt with her friends only really through letters, had very few visitors and published only a couple of poems during her life. She never married. In many ways she was a very early American feminist.
So don't think this poem is a contradiction. She is being very honest. Being a 'Nobody' is being different. If people found out that they were managing to live as Nobodies, they would tell others (advertise) and then they would have to be Somebodies, and introduce themselves all around to those who were interested in them, like an icky little frogs croaking. Emily Dickenson found nothing less appealing then that.
]
"I'm Nobody! Who are you? Are you--Nobody--too?" These first lines are using Nobody as the speaker's name. It's a double meaning, it means that they consider themselves nobody. "Then there's a pair of us? Don't tell! they'd advertise--you know!" That means that the speaker is kind of like, "whoa, there's somebody like me? There's another Nobody?" I can't really explain this very well, but the general meaning of this poem is very sarcastic and ironic. It's like, everybody wants to be Somebody, but everybody is just Nobody. And it's talking about all the great things about being a Somebody, and how special it is to be a Nobody. It's basically the opposite of what most people think. "How dreary--to be--Somebody! How public--like a Frog-- To tell one's name--the livelong June-- To an admiring Bog!" This is saying, basically, being a somebody sucks. It's saying that when you're a somebody, your life is public and people know your name. As for the June/Bog part, I'm not sure. I'm thinking the Bog part is also sarcastic because a bog is like a swamp, and the term "an admiring bog" basically means a lot of admiring people that don't matter. It's like, if you're admired by a bog, it makes no difference. Is this making sense? The tone of this poem is lighthearted and sarcastic. It's talking about all the great things about being a Nobody, and how much it would suck to be a Somebody. However, in real life everybody wants to be a Somebody so it's very contrary. It's making being a Somebody seem like it would be horrible.
]
More Questions: |