Practicle Criticism by I. A. Richards
This blog is part of a classroom activity focused on I.A. Richards' practical criticism regarding figurative language. Here, I'll delve into a poem, examining its practical aspects such as language usage, structure, metaphors, and figures of speech.
For background reading of Practicle criticism visit below link. Practicle Criticism
I'm going to examine this poem while problematizing it, focusing on the metaphors, structures, and images within it.
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.
How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog! (I ’M nobody! Who are youBy Emily Dickinson)
Questions that arise while reading the poem are below:
1. Who is Nobody? Why is he/she asking someone and telling them they're nobody?
2. If there is nobody, how could there be a pair? Similarly, if there is absence, who will tell others?
3. What kind of things did they do that resulted in their banishment?
4. Somebody means a stranger; one cannot be especially dear to an unknown person.
5.The comparison between "public" and "frog" seems unusual due to their differing semantic fields. Additionally, "frog" is typically used for singular nouns, whereas "public" refers to a collective noun. Therefore, the question arises: does this comparison suggest that the public behaves akin to jumping frogs?
6. How can Bog be admired?
7. Telling a name only takes a few seconds, so why would someone repeatedly take the names of one person throughout the whole day?
Now let's defence the question as per New Criticism.
"Nobody is a poem where the speaker talks about how it's okay to be unnoticed and not stand out. They feel free when nobody pays attention to them. It's like they prefer being alone, away from what people expect. The poem says it's fine to avoid following the usual rules of society. Emily Dickinson uses simple words to make us think about who we are and how we fit in with others.
There is always hunger for fame as being Somebody. By being that one becomes artificial. The praises you get by being somebody is artificial.
Speaker asks that if other person whom he/she asking is Nobody, then there would be paid of them. Here speaker talking about sharing bond of nobody rather than fake somebody.
Moreover, other argument is this that "bog" is personified here. People are compared with the frog. Like frog makes noise of draw-draw, people praises somebody not in the real sense. Additionally, it is collection of people who do flattery. Whatever frog speaks big echo that sounds so it is more like artificiality.
There is direct attack on social structure of the society.
Nevertheless, while looking through psychological perspective one becomes happy when nobody knows them. In that cases people behave more naturally. For example, celebrities or sports personal or writers like to be nobody because everywhere people are knowing them interrupting their personal life.
The very idea of Vacation is connected with it. Because as being Nobody one can do what they want. Being free is different kind of experience.
Basically, there is cycle of being nobody to somebody.
Nobody---->Somebody
Somebody---> Nobody
As new criticism's critics said that good poems are those where one can not replace single metaphor. Similarly this poem used satirical metaphor.
Thank you.
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