Alexander Pope's "The Quiet Life" is an exploration of the ways in which a secluded, idyllic life can make one happiest. This life is happy because everything a man needs is provided, and he wants for nothing more. "Content to breath his native air / In his own ground" shows that although one wouldn't venture forth or acquire new lands, it would be best simply because one is content. The animals and fields can supply "milk", "bread", and "attire", so one would never need to leave. Pope clearly sees this uncomplicated lifestyle as ideal because there is no need for conflict, no will which cannot be satisfied. It may be "quiet", but Pope feels that the loud surrounding world is the source of any discomfort. He begs "Thus let me live, unseen, unknown" so that he can never know the pain of conflict. If he can "Steal from the world, and not a stone / Tell where [he] lie", then no one must suffer the pain of having lost him.
Emily Dickinson's "I'm Nobody! Who are you?" explore similar sentiments of solitude. She desires a life much like Pope's "quiet" one. "Don't tell! they'd advertise--you know!" Like Pope, she wants to remain unknown to the world so that no conflict and pain can come to her. She happily exclaims, "I'm Nobody!" as if it were a name, as if her very anonymity defines her. Identity for Dickinson (or the speaker) is something hard to come by. "How dreary--to be--Somebody!" That name can describe everyone, therefore they are indistinguishable from each other, but Nobody is wholly original. Only in this sanctuary of "Nobody" can the speaker truly be herself.
She and Pope both seem to view public life as completely vulgar, almost beneath them. They try to escape the world not just in search of a wholesome life, but because they feel there is something horrifying about the sorts of relationships one encounters in public life.
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