Who is Emily Dickinson?

Vernnay Tanner

Mrs. Gottfried

English 3

20 September 2011

This Is Emily Dickinson

• Emily Dickinson was born on December 10th, 1830 in Amherst Massachusetts.

• She rarely ever left the house, and people hardly ever visited her, but any person who did come in contact with her, had an effect on her poetry.

• During the 1860s she completely isolated herself from the outside world. She spent a majority of her time reading and spending time with her family. Because most of her life was spent alone, a majority of a poems were about her loneliness.

An End But a New Beginning

• In 1886 she died in her hometown of Amherst. Her family was able to find all the poems she had been keeping that were organized beautifully. She had them in alphabetical order. She used a lot of dashes some even vertical. These poems were all published and people were able to see the talent of the hidden Emily Dickinson.

She Was More Than A Great Poet!

• All of Emily Poems were meaningful. They brought to the light things that we were to busy into life to realize. She was alone and had more time on her hands. SO she was able to observe the little things that we sometimes do not even appreciate.

A Famous Poem From Emily

• 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!

The literal meaning of “I’m Nobody Who Are You”

• The literal meaning is that she is a “nobody” and you may be too. She wants it to be a secret between you and her, because if you tell somebody they may tell others and you may become somebody. Your name will be well know.

My Interpretation of the poem “I’m Nobody Who Are You”

• I feel that she is saying that you should appreciate being less than famous. She’s saying that if you became famous in anyway that you may not have any privacy left. Someone will always be talking about you and bringing up your name. She feels that it give her more peace to be unknown and less talked about

Writing Conventions used in the poem

• Dashes- I noticed that dashes were used throughout her poem. I feel that she mostly likely used dashes to create a dramatic effect and to create more emotion. For example “How dreary – to be – Somebody!”

• Similes- I also noticed the use of similes used to create comparisons to make you think throughout the poem. For example “How public – like a Frog –” 

• Metaphors- which was also used to make you think and to compare real life situations to the ones used in the poem.

Works Cited

• Cullina, Alice. Chainani, Soman ed. “Emily Dickinson's Collected Poems Study Guide : Summary and Analysis of "I'm

Nobody! Who are you?“”. GradeSaver. 26 July 2009. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

• “Emily Dickinson.” Poets.org. Academy of American Poets. 2011. Web. 20 Sept. 2011.

• “Emily Dickinson’s Story.” The Poet’s Bookshelf. Kyrene de las Brisas Elementary. Nov. 1998. Web. 20 Sept. 2011.