Thomas H. Johnson’s celebrated three-volume
variorum edition,The Complete Poems of Emily
Dickinson, Including Variant Readings Critically
Compared with all Known Manuscripts (1955),
established Dickinson as a major nineteenth-
century American poet and made impossible from
that date forward any omission of her and her work
from literary anthologies covering the nineteenth
century. Johnson estimated the poems’ composi-
tion dates and assigned numbers to the poems,
establishing the practice of referring to Dickinson’s
poems either by number or first line.
Throughout the remaining decades of the
twentieth century and into the twenty-first, the
numerous biographies of the poet and the swelling
body of literary criticism proved Emily Dickin-
son’s permanent place among the most celebrated
poets of all times. Many scholars attested to her
genius, to the richness of her poetry. In one such
tribute, Michael Ryan remarked that Dickinson
‘‘found the style that would suit her purpose.’’
And he went on, ‘‘Against all the blinding power
of...conventions’’Dickinsonwasableto‘‘seethe
truth beyond’’ herself, she was able to ‘‘unhinge the
way words can be used, and the world can be seen.’’
CRITICISMMelodie Monahan
Monahan has a Ph.D. in English and operates an
editing service, The Inkwell Works. In the follow-
ing essay, she explores issues of publicity and
privacy and the social mechanisms that affect
them as these are suggested in Emily Dickinson’s
‘‘I’m Nobody! Who are you?’’
It is commonplace to characterize Emily
Dickinson as a recluse, to see her as homebound
and even agoraphobic, cringing at the thought of
social contact, hiding behind doors, listening
from the upstairs hallway. This image of the
poet has been articulated in scholarly works, in
various biographies, and even in children’s fic-
tion about the so-called Belle of Amherst. Given
this widespread and reductive perception of the
poet, it is tempting to interpret ‘‘I’m Nobody!
Who are you?’’ as an expression of Dickinson’s
personal aversion to publicity and her probable
criticism of individuals who command attention
by tirelessly imposing their identity and their
high rank on others. It is easy to imagine that
the confidential, satirical voice in the poem is the
poet’s voice, and perhaps in some ways it is. But
the speaker is contained within the poem the
poet wrote, and the irony in the poem is pro-
duced by the poet not the speaker. Certainly, it is
useful to look at the poem in as many ways as it
invites. While it may make some sense to refer to
its speaker using the female pronoun, as is the
pattern in this essay, it is important to realize
that the poet is distinct from the poem, and the
gender of the speaker is not indicated conclu-
sively in the poem. That disclaimer notwith-
standing, this poem is clearly an investigation
of a topic closely associated with the biography
of the poet: the ambivalence one can feel toward
both anonymity and publicity and toward social
ranks that privilege some and devalue many
others.
‘‘I’m Nobody! Who are you?’’ is a dramatic
monologue that seems to suggest both some-
thing about the setting in which the words are
spoken and something about the speaker. For
example, one might imagine a classroom or a
church meeting. One might consider the implied
differences between those who speak from the
podium and those in the front rows who volun-
teer their opinions by standing up to address the
stage presenters and the audience seated further
back. One might assume that individuals seated
in the very back or in the balcony seek to remain
anonymous and listen as observers who choose
not to draw attention to themselves.
In this imagined scene, one might go ahead
and imagine in the back row of such a gathering,
one person might cup her mouth and whisper to
the adjacent stranger, ‘‘I’m nobody!’’ and that
person might nod and smile in recognition. Some-
thing familiar, perhaps a twinkle in the stranger’s
eye, might cause the speaker to make a judgment‘I’M NOBODY! WHO ARE YOU?’ EXPLORES THE
PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL DIALECTIC BETWEEN
PRIVATE AND PUBLIC ASPECTS OF IDENTITY, THE
DYNAMIC AND CONTRADICTORY WAYS IN WHICH
PEOPLE CHOOSE TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS OR
VENTURE TO EXPOSE THEMSELVES TO OTHERS.’’I’m Nobody! Who are you?