first clause is clarified by the one that immedi-
ately follows it. Commas identify items in a list
as parallel units. Commas also separate parallel
phrases or clauses and dependent clauses from
independent clauses. A semicolon announces
that the independent clauses on either side of it
are more closely related to each other than adja-
cent sentences are. Capitalization indicates the
onset of a sentence and identifies proper names.
Capitalization is not used for emphasis; italic
print is. Grammatical writing assures that ideas
are held in correct relationship to one another,
that modifiers are adjacent to the subjects they
modify, and that sentences deliver complete
thoughts. Readers come to any text with the
expectation that these formal matters will be
handled in accord with conventional usage,
and using these mechanics correctly increases
clarity in the statement and comprehension in
the reader.
However, readers of Dickinson’s poetry
immediately see that these formal conventions
are abandoned. The conventional use of punctu-
ation, capitalization, and sentence structure are
set aside or ignored. The poet’s preference is to
open the text as though it were a mosaic of bits
surrounded by space. Dashes create the spaces
and sometimes a phrase or single word substitutes
for a complete and explicit statement. Transitions
between phrases are omitted; thus, the relation-
ship between parts is left unidentified. These sty-
listic features may enhance such interpretative
subtlety as equivocation or nuance, yet readers
may feel baffled by poetry that reads more like a
verbal puzzle than a statement.
After Johnson publishedThe Complete Poems
in 1955, in which the poems as closely as possible
replicate the final manuscript version, readers and
scholars alike began to see how the departure from
rules opened the poetry to multiple possibilities or
layers of meaning. Ambiguity and equivocation,
double entendre, and elision, all became more
evident. The artistic gains Dickinson made by
departing from the strictures of convention began
to be appreciated, and her originality began to be
recognized.
Dramatic Monologue
A dramatic monologue is a speech made by one
speaker to an implied listener. It is dramatic
because what is said suggests a scene or a social
context and implies information about both the
speaker and the one addressed. ‘‘I’m Nobody!
Who are you?’’ is a dramatic monologue. The
speaker addresses a person she does not know
and does so with a tone that is both scoffing and
confidential. She recognizes the person she
addresses as having something in common with
her. It is as though she wants to introduce herself
in order to experience shared commonality and to
do so in reference to people who are different from
the speaker and the one whom she addresses.
The speaker distinguishes herself and her
listener from people who broadcast themselves,
who speak in self-promoting ways in order to
command admiration from others. The speaker
is making fun of important people, the some-
bodies, equating their self-centered talk with
how frogs in a swamp croak through a summer
day. At the same time, ironically, she sets herself
and her listener above those who are self-
aggrandizing. She and her listener are not ego-
tistical and overbearing like somebodies are. To
a certain extent, then, the joke is on the speaker.
In her small pond of whispered confidence, she is
doing exactly what the somebody does: She is
commanding the attention of another by
addressing that person regarding her identity
and imposing her opinions where they have not
been solicited.Historical Context
Emancipation Proclamation and
the Thirteenth Amendment
In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln (1809–
1865) suggested to his cabinet that a declaration
freeing the slaves might advance the military
purpose of the Union army in defeating the Con-
federate troops, already two years into fighting
the Civil War. Right after the battle at Antietam
on September 17, 1862, which was considered a
Union victory, Lincoln made public the Eman-
cipation Proclamation, announcing that all
slaves of masters in rebellion against the United
States were free as of January 1, 1863, if their
masters remained in rebellion on that date.
Interestingly, the proclamation did not free
slaves in border states who were owned by mas-
ters who were not in active rebellion against the
Union. Surprisingly, the approximately three
million southern slaves were not immediately
affected by the proclamation. However, as the
Union army advanced into the South and cap-
tured areas, slaves in those areas were manumit-
ted. Lincoln was elected for a second term, andI’m Nobody! Who are you?