I'm Nobody

"I'm Nobody! Who are you?"

I'm nobody! Who are you?

Are you nobody, too?

Then there's a pair of us — don't tell!

They'd banish us, you know.

These lines are from the poem "I'm Nobody! Who are you?" by Emily Dickinson.

In the poem, the speaker declares that she is a nobody and wonders if the person she is addressing is also a nobody.

The lines "Then there's a pair of us — don't tell! They'd banish us, you know" suggest that the speaker is enjoying the idea of being a nobody and sharing this status with someone else but also acknowledges that society might view them as outcasts.

The poem is often interpreted as a commentary on the pressures of conformity and the value of individuality.

The speaker seems to celebrate the freedom of being a nobody rather than someone who is expected to conform to social expectations.

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How dreary to be somebody!

How public, like a frog

To tell your name the livelong day

To an admiring bog!