Kevin McGarrey

10th Grade
Garnet Valley HS
Mr. Drozdowski
Words: 825

Dear Emily,

First of all, I really enjoyed your poem, “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” In your poem, you relate

to the lives of many teenagers, partly including myself. You do this by combining the depressing

mood with an interesting word choice and use of literary devices that grab the attention of all

readers, especially kids living the teen life. One example of this is how use similies and

metaphors Although you wrote your poem almost two whole centuries away from when I am

reading it, it still has meaning in the life of kids my age today. Despite the fact that your style

may be just a tad bit outdated in the modern day, you still manage to get your point across very

well. I usually do not like poetry, so I was surprised to find myself enjoying this one.

In your poem, you talk about topics that really relate to a teenager’s life. You do this by

bringing up topics such as loneliness and sadness, as well as finding someone just like you. This

is relatable to a teenager’s life because there are always those times where you feel like you

don’t mean anything to anyone. We live in a society today where the goal for all adolescents and

young people, in general, is to be one of the people that is considered to be “popular”. This idea

has a negative impact on people’s lives because if you do not feel you are living up to these

standards, then you are not doing the right thing in life. Your poem helps teens understand that

whether you are shy or outgoing, you should be true to yourself and feel like you are what you

should be to not only yourself, but to other people as well. A part of your poem that I found

meaningful was when you said “How dreary to be somebody... To tell your name the livelong
day”. It seems like you are trying to send a message to the reader telling that it is not bad at all to

be a “nobody”; it is actually the opposite. It is good for you to focus on what makes you happy,

and not what you want others to think about you. When you said “They’d banish us, you know”,

I thought that was really interesting because it accurately represents society’s views on people

who aren’t as “popular” and could be the ones who are considered “weird”. I, personally, am

someone who has grown up always seeming to be known as the outgoing, social type. I typically

enjoy being in groups or with at least one other person rather than being alone. I feel left out and

lonely. However, every once in a while, I feel like someone who can be quiet and not as social as

my peers. I occasionally feel like I am a “nobody”, and I’m sure millions of teens also feel that

way as well, regardless of their social status. I feel that if I got a chance to read your poem earlier

in my life, I would have gotten a better understanding of how others felt socially, and not just

like people with an equivalent social status to mine. It is actually normal and even sometimes

important to feel like the “nobody”.

Although I have been talking about how it is normal and ok to be the “nobody”, I

feel that it is also important that you have at least a small amount of friends or acquaintances that

you can talk about your life and your feelings with, or just to have a good time together every

now and then. If you do not make an effort to find people that have similar interests as you, you

are missing out on the opportunity to not be in constant mental darkness, and broaden your

horizons and have some good times. If this does not work out for you, then I think it would make

you happier that you gave it an attempt.

Something else I liked about your poem was the use of different types of

punctuation that you do not see every day in poetry. One example of this is actually in the title
and in the very first line of the poem: “I’m Nobody! Who are you? The exclamation point makes

it seem like the narrator is proud that he/she is a nobody and he wants everybody to know it. The

same goes for the first line of the second stanza: “How dreary to be somebody!” The narrator

gives off the impression that being the standard “somebody” that everyone strives to be is boring

and cliche.

Thank you very much, Emily, for teaching me how wonderful it is to be proud of wanting

to be different and to be someone that not everybody is trying to be. It really made me change

my perspective on human views on society.

Sincerely,

Kevin McGarrey, 10th Grade, Garnet Valley High School