I'm Nobody! Who Are You?

“When I Peruse the Conquer’d Fame” by Walt Whitman (1867)

In this poem from the famous Leaves of Grass collection by Dickinson’s literary contemporary Walt Whitman, he writes about his lack of jealousy for the fame of “mighty generals” (Line 2). Instead, it is the “brotherhood of lovers” (Line 6), a shared connection over time that fills him with envy. Similarly, Dickinson takes comfort in her nobody status, perhaps sharing it with one other special person, but she is not interested in advertising it to the wide, open public.

“anyone lived in a pretty how town” by E. E. Cummings (1923)

In this popular Cummings poem, the main character is named anyone, and anyone lives his life and dies without any notice by the others in the town. In fact, “Women and men (both little and small) cared for anyone not at all” (Lines 5-6). The theme of anonymity is present in this poem, as it is in “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?” Also similar in both poems is the use of four-line stanzas, or quatrains, and a unique presentation of the English language, the ordering of words and the lowercase in Cummings’s poem and punctuation and particularly dashes in Dickinson’s.