Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830 and died on May 15, 1886 from nephritis which is inflammation of the Kidneys. Emily grew in up in Amherst Mass. Living her whole life in at her fathers house. She was somewhat of a city recluse. She always dressed in all white and when she sporadically left her house it was only for a short period of time and only for important reasons such as going to Boston briefly to see a doctor about eye problems she was having. She refused to see most people, not likely for her she went and stayed a year at South Hadley Female Seminary.

Her father was a lawyer and served as the treasurer of Amherst College. He also served and the Massachusetts General Court, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. He was a well respected man in the community, and it was “out of color” for Emily to be so hermit in her lifestyle. Although Dickinson never married she had significant relationships with men who were friends, confidantes, and teachers, all of which were discovered in her poems. She wrote about persons with such passion and intensity that it proved that she felt something for somebody.

Dickinson’s poems were not exactly cared for by people of her time. She was more of a realist when it came to poetry and at that time poetry was written with a romantic style flare. When she died she had had only ten of her poems had been published, she wasn’t appreciated as a poet until the twentieth century. After her death her poetry was collected by Higginson and Mabel Louis Todd who edited and organized her work published many versions of her poetry. This was her first real public exposure and it found an immediate audience, later on in the decade around 1892 critical opinion