References:

• For Poem 288  "I'm Nobody!  Who are you?"

Application & Wild Association

1. Does Emily Dickensen's biography (a short one, a longer one) shed any light on this poem or the next one?
2. ( To interest you: "Dickinson had what appears to have been a normal childhood---was bright, witty, had friends, went to parties---but by her early 30's began a withdrawal which later became almost complete: there were occasions when even people whom she obviously loved had to speak with her from the other side of an ajar door.")
3. Do you see yourself as a somebody or nobody?  Or both or neither?
4. You can contrast the self this poem with two contemporary feminist songs: Sinead O'Connor's "Red Football, " &  Alanis Morissette's "Not the Doctor."  Can you explain the similarities and differences among them?

• Emily Dickinson's Two Poems on Death