Emily Dickinson

VERONIKA PANTELEEVA 11B

 Early Life
• Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born on
December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Her family had deep roots in New England. Her
paternal grandfather, Samuel Dickinson, was
well known as the founder of Amherst College.
Her father worked at Amherst and served as a
state legislator. He married Emily Norcross in
1828 and the couple had three children:
William Austin, Lavinia Norcross and Emily.
 Education
• Emily Dickinson was educated at
Amherst Academy (now Amherst
College) and the Mount Holyoke
Female Seminary. She was an
excellent student, despite missing
long stretches of the school year
due to frequent illness and
depression. Though the precise
reasons for Dickinson's final
departure from the academy in
1848 are unknown, it is believed
that her fragile emotional state
probably played a role.
 Influences
• Emily Dickinson began writing as a teenager. Her early influences include
Leonard Humphrey, principal of Amherst Academy, and a family friend
named Benjamin Franklin Newton. Newton introduced Dickinson to the
poetry of William Wordsworth, who also served as an inspiration to the
young writer. In 1855, Dickinson ventured outside of Amherst, as far as
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dickinson’s poetry was heavily influenced by
the Metaphysical poets of seventeenth-century England, as well as her
reading of the Book of Revelation and her upbringing in a Puritan New
England town, which encouraged a Calvinist, orthodox, and conservative
approach to Christianity. She admired the poetry of Robert and Elizabeth
Barrett Browning, as well as John Keats.
 The most famous poems
 "I taste a liquor never brewed

 "Success is counted sweetest

 "Wild nights - Wild nights!“

 "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain“

 "I'm Nobody! Who are you?“

 "'Hope' is the thing with feathers“

 "A Bird, came down the Walk“

 "Because I could not stop for Death“

 "My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun“

 "Tell all the truth but tell it slant"

 Publication
• Despite Dickinson's prolific writing, fewer than a dozen of her poems
were published during her lifetime. After her younger sister Lavinia
discovered the collection of nearly 1800 poems, Dickinson's first
volume was published four years after her death. Until Thomas H.
Johnson published Dickinson's Complete Poems in 1955, Dickinson's
poems were considerably edited and altered from their manuscript
versions. Since 1890 Dickinson has remained continuously in print.
 Adulthood
• During the 1850s, Emily's strongest and most affectionate relationship
was with her sister-in-law, Susan Gilbert. Emily eventually sent her
over three hundred letters, more than to any other correspondent,
over the course of their friendship. Susan was supportive of the poet,
playing the role of "most beloved friend, influence, muse, and adviser"
whose editorial suggestions Dickinson sometimes followed, Sue
played a primary role in Emily's creative processes. Although Emily
never married, she had several significant relationships with a select
few. It was during this period following her return from school that
Emily began to dress all in white and choose those precious few that
would be her own private society. Refusing to see almost everyone that
came to visit, Emily seldom left her father's house. In Emily's entire
life, she took one trip to Philadelphia (due to eye problems), one to
Washington, and a few trips to Boston. Other than those occasional
ventures, Emily had no extended exposure to the world outside her
home town. During this time, her early twenties, Emily began to write
poetry seriously. Fortunately, during those rare journeys Emily met
two very influential men that would be sources of inspiration and
guidance: Charles Wadsworth and Thomas Wentworth Higginson.
There were other less influential individuals that affected Emily, such
as Samuel Bowles and J.G. Holland, but the impact that Wadsworth
and Higginson had on Dickinson was monumental.
 Emily Dickinson’s Seclusion
• Because of her discomfort and shyness in social situations, Emily
gradually reduced her social contacts, going out less and less into
society. By her late twenties, this has led to an almost complete
seclusion; spending most of her time in the family house, rarely
meeting others from outside a close family circle. Her sister explains
this wasn’t a sudden decision, but a gradual process that happened over
a period of time. However, despite the physical seclusion, Emily still
maintained written contact with a variety of thought provoking people.
It is also clear from her poetry that her decision to live life as a recluse
did not close her mind, but in many ways allowed the flow of new
avenues of thought and inner experiences.
 Later Life and Discovery
• Dickinson died of kidney disease in Amherst, Massachusetts, on May 15,
1886 at the age of 56. She was laid to rest in her family plot at West
Cemetery. The Homestead, where Dickinson was born is now a museum.
• Little of Dickinson's work was published at the time of her death, and
the few works that were published were edited and altered to adhere to
conventional standards of the time. Unfortunately, much of the power of
Dickinson's unusual use of syntax and form was lost in the alteration.
After her sister's death, Lavinia Dickinson discovered hundreds of her
poems in notebooks that Emily had filled over the years. The first
volume of these poems was published in 1890, with additional volumes
following. A full compilation, The Poems of Emily Dickinson, wasn't
published until 1955.