Helen

I had been hungry all the years

The concept of belonging in this poem can be seen through Dickinson's metaphoric expression of "hungry" as her desire for people to accept her art (poetry) and herself as it is.
With the poem describing and contrasting her detailed emotions of being metaphorically very hungry outside the window ie) desperately desiring for the acceptance of herself and her poetry, and also having the food infront of her inside the room of the window ie) finally belonging through people's acceptance of her art, reveals her opinion that once she belongs, her great passion and desire for her poetry would disappear - just like the emotion of having "plenty of food" thus being not hungry.

This poem explores the concept belonging and being accepted through her poetry, and also the idea that as she perceives her poetry is not accepted in her current society, this hunger and desire for acceptance is the motivation for her to write her art. This idea can be seen in the contrast of the lines in the poem.
"I looked in windows for the wealth I could not hope for mine" uses the personal pronoun "I" for the beginning of each line to convey the desperation the persona feels to be inside the room with the wealth of food. However this hunger is contrasted with the line "As berry of a mountain bush Transplanted to the road" which uses emjambment to give a sense of oddness and how much the persona feels out of place once she is with the wealth of the food.

Simply and personally, i think that Dickinson may be expressing her thought that
-once i feel that i belong and that people have accepted my art (poetry) , i might lose my desire and motivation in holding onto my values and art. So maybe belonging/acceptance isn't the key into standing for my art and values as it may be the key and trigger in actually losing them.