Loneliness
A prevailing feature of this short poem is its depiction of intense loneliness. The reader can hear the hurt in the speaker's voice as she addresses a world that has largely ignored her. She makes this emotion apparent in her mention of the world never writing a letter to her. She means that the world has never taken the time to acknowledge her in a meaningful way. As framed by the text, her education about the world has been derived from observation of nature, as compared (for example) to the reciprocity of social life. While she doesn't say so explicitly, it is clear that this has made her feel severely isolated. As the poem's final lines make clear, the speaker is trying to reach out to her "countrymen." She hopes that if they can appreciate nature's majesty, they can also have some sympathy for the quirks she has adopted as part of her writing life. This is particularly poignant given Dickinson's own choice to remain fairly isolated in the later years of her life.
Judgment
In conversation with the poem's theme of loneliness is its handling of judgment. As the speaker makes apparent right away, she is not accepted by her social sphere. From the opening lines' description of not being acknowledged by "the world," to her closing plea for understanding, the poem is suffused with a concern about judgment. The speaker seems keenly aware that she is perceived to be reclusive and strange. The reference to her "sweet countrymen" subtly marks her cognizance of their gaze on her. The letter is a direct address, an unapologetic bid to be better understood by her community. Her descriptions of nature's "message," "majesty," and "news" all compliment her final note about wanting some degree of acceptance. As shown in her fascination with these various facets of nature, these mysteries have been the object of her artistic pursuits for years. The writing of this poem comes across as an entreaty for the social world around her to see the goal of her writing a little more clearly, and possibly explain some of her perceived eccentricities. The speaker is, at once, aware of how she is seen by the outside world and striving to offer some insight into her way of being.
Art and Nature
One of the poem's themes is a subtle mission statement for Dickinson's own art. In aligning herself with nature at the poem's conclusion, she is implying that her seclusion (and other actions that might be perceived as strange by onlookers) were rooted in her love and pursuit of its hidden meanings. Her hope is that if her countrymen are capable of appreciating the "majesty" of nature, they might also be able to see what she has been attempting to do with her art all along. She spends so much time (four of the poem's eight total lines) describing her interest in nature because it elucidates a central part of her life and art. She has studied the natural sphere to get closer to some meaningful understanding of the world at large. She uses the words "news" and "message" to convey that there is essential information in nature and that it can be captured (partially) through writing. These middle four lines function much like a kind of mission statement for Dickinson's poetry. If the opening and closing lines are the speaker appealing to the world, these middle lines are the explanation of why she is the way she is. This also makes it fairly safe to assume Dickinson is writing about herself directly, as so much of her work is centered on nature imagery and she was known for being reclusive.
