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Home » Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson wrote poetry in the 1850 and 1860s and she is considered to be one of the best American poets. Emily uses her imagination and experiments with her poetry. She is important because she writes about new subjects: science, religion, home life, loss and death. The voice in her poetry is that of a disobedient and rebellious child. She began writing in a time of educational freedom for young girls. Before this girls could not go to school. Her work was not published in her lifetime but 4 years after her death. Her work is widely read and it is studied in schools and at universities.OZoFe.Com

Emily’s Childhood

Emily was born May 15, 1830, in Massachusetts, America in a farming community called Amherst. Emily lived with her parents Edward and Emily Norcross, and her brother Austin and sister Lavinia in a house built by her grandfather, Samuel. But when she was 9 years old they moved house to a house called “The Homestead.”

Emily spent 4 years at primary school and went to Amherst Academy for 7 years. Although she was a very sick child and she was not always able to study, Emily really enjoyed school.

She became very good at science so she wrote about flowers, plants and her interest in gardening. Emily left school when she was 15 years old and went to a religious school where they labelled her “without hope,” as she did not believe in God. At this time she was writing about rejecting marriage and religion.

Education was very important to Emily’s father, Edward Dickinson who was a lawyer. Emily’s mother enjoyed studying science, but she became very ill and she had to look after her.

Emily’s father was very strict and would let Emily, Austin or Lavinia read some books and not others. Emily’s poetry is written in response to her father’s control, but they did have a good relationship. Because Emily never married, she was supported by her father’s money and had to stay at home to cook, clean and do the gardening.

Becoming A Poet

Emily started reading William Wordsworth and Ralph Emerson’s poetry when she was a teenager. Emily liked to stay indoors, and did not like to stay away from home because she became homesick. In her letters she wrote about her feelings of homesickness when she was away from home.

When a few of Emily’s friends died because the hospitals were not very good, Emily became very sad and stayed at home even more. She wrote poetry about loss and death and did not spend much time with her friends.

The Influences On Her Poetry

Austin, Emily’s brother, also became a lawyer like their father Edward. Austin married Susan, who Emily loved like a new sister, even though her family was very different. Susan helped Emily finish her poetry through writing letters to her.

Emily’s family was not always religious. Emily’s mother was first to join the church, then her father, brother and his wife. Lavinia and Emily were rebellious and did not join the church. Emily’s poetry was more important to her.

Emily stayed in her family home “The Homestead” for the rest of her life after becoming too homesick on a trip to visit her father in a different part of America.

When her mother became very ill, Emily spent a lot of time with her in the garden and in their new conservatory in their home where she grew flowers.

In 1858 Emily wrote and rewrote her poems. She also started writing about a romantic relationship with an unnamed man.

Emily’s Poetry

By 1865, Emily had written 1,100 poems.

Emily showed her poetry to all of her friends, who she hoped would help her with her work. When she showed her work to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, he said she needed to work harder on her poetry.

Higginson started helping her to finish her poetry and also helped her in a very sad time. She said that Thomas saved her life by helping her.

When Emily was very ill she had to leave her home. She spent time at a hospital in Boston, and did not want to speak to anybody. Even though she did not like to speak to people, Otis Phillips Lord liked Emily in a romantic way, but they did not get married.

Emily wrote a lot of letters and less poetry as she got older. She stayed at home as she had to look after her mother. During this time, the garden became her main focus.

She wrote about the extreme changes she saw in nature and in society. When Emily’s father, mother, brother, nephew and friends died 1874-1884, Emily wrote about loss but then also became ill and died in 1886.

She did not want to publish any of her work, but when she died, her sister found 1,800 of Emily’s poems, which were published by her friend Thomas Wentworth Higginson in 1890.

The Clover’s simple Fame

Emily Dickinson

Whether they have forgotten

Emily Dickinson

Immured in Heaven!

Emily Dickinson

The Beggar at the Door for Fame

Emily Dickinson

By homely gift and hindered Words

Emily Dickinson

A train went through a burial gate

Emily Dickinson

Down Time’s quaint stream

Emily Dickinson

I thought the Train would never come

Emily Dickinson

Praise it – ’tis dead

Emily Dickinson

I’ll Tell You How The Sun Rose

Emily Dickinson Girl, Purple, Rose, Running, Sun, Swimming, Time

Whose Pink career may have a close

Emily Dickinson

The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

Emily Dickinson

There is another Loneliness

Emily Dickinson

Luck is not chance

Emily Dickinson

And with what body do they come

Emily Dickinson

Of Yellow was the outer Sky

Emily Dickinson

The Face we choose to miss

Emily Dickinson

STEP lightly on this narrow spot

Emily Dickinson

My Cocoon Tightens, Colors Tease

Emily Dickinson

Could mortal lip divine

Emily Dickinson

Of so divine a Loss

Emily Dickinson

Let me not mar that perfect Dream

Emily Dickinson

Not any sunny tone

Emily Dickinson

Warm in her Hand these accents lie

Emily Dickinson

Too cold is this

Emily Dickinson

Not Sickness stains the Brave

Emily Dickinson

These Fevered Days – to take them to the Forest

Emily Dickinson

Dear March – Come in

Emily Dickinson

Oh Shadow on the Grass

Emily Dickinson

The Hills erect their Purple Heads

Emily Dickinson

The Notice that is called the Spring

Emily Dickinson

The Spry Arms Of The Wind

Emily Dickinson

If Ever The Lid Gets Off My Head

Emily Dickinson

Said Death To Passion

Emily Dickinson

So much of Heaven has gone from Earth

Emily Dickinson

When Memory is full

Emily Dickinson

She could not live upon the Past

Emily Dickinson

Is It Too Late To Touch You, Dear?

Emily Dickinson

Shall I take thee, the Poet said

Emily Dickinson

Had we our senses

Emily Dickinson

Exhilaration is the Breeze

Emily Dickinson

When a Lover is a Beggar

Emily Dickinson

On my volcano grows the Grass

Emily Dickinson

Glory is that bright tragic thing

Emily Dickinson

To the bright east she flies

Emily Dickinson

Twas comfort in her Dying Room

Emily Dickinson

Air has no Residence, no Neighbor

Emily Dickinson

As old as Woe

Emily Dickinson

As subtle as tomorrow

Emily Dickinson

Tell as a Marksman – were forgotten

Emily Dickinson

March is the Month of Expectation

Emily Dickinson

Ended, ere it begun

Emily Dickinson

Speech is one symptom of Affection

Emily Dickinson

Hope is a strange invention

Emily Dickinson

The reticent volcano keeps

Emily Dickinson

Remembrance has a Rear and Front

Emily Dickinson

If all the griefs I am to have

Emily Dickinson

Silence is all we dread

Emily Dickinson

Spring comes on the World

Emily Dickinson

There is no Silence in the Earth

Emily Dickinson

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