2. General Information
Emily Dickinson was an American poet and she was born on
10th of December 1830 in Amherst Massachusetts and she
died on 1886.
Emily Dickinson, regarded as one
of America’s greatest poets, is
also well known for her unusual
life of self imposed social
seclusion. Living a life of
simplicity and seclusion, she yet
wrote poetry of great power;
questioning the nature of
immortality and death, with at
times an almost mantric quality.
Her different lifestyle created an
aura; often romanticised, and
frequently a source of interest
and speculation. But ultimately
Emily Dickinson is remembered for her unique poetry.
Within short, compact phrases she expressed far-reaching
ideas; amidst paradox and uncertainty her poetry has an
undeniable capacity to move.
3. Early Life
Her family were pillars of the local community; their house
known as ―The Homestead‖ or ―Mansion‖ was often used as a
meeting place for distinguished visitors including, Ralph
Waldo Emerson. As a young child, Emily proved to be a
bright and conscientious student. She showed a sharp
intelligence, and was able to create many original writings of
rhyming stories, delighting her fellow classmates. Emily’s
father was strict and keen to bring up his children in the
proper way. Emily
said of her father.
―his heart was pure
and terrible‖. His
strictness can be
shown through his
censorship of
reading materials;
Walt Whitman for
example was
considered ―too
inappropriate‖ and
novels had to be
smuggled into the
house. In response,
Emily was highly
deferential to her father and other male figures of
authority. But in her own way she loved and respected her
father, even if at times, he appeared to be aloof. At a young
age, she said she wished to be the ―best little girl‖. However
despite her attempts to please and be well thought of, she
was also at the same time independently minded, and quite
willing to refuse the prevailing orthodoxy’s on certain issues.
4. Teenage Years
Dickinson spent seven years at the Academy, taking classes
in English and classical Literature, Latin, botany, geology, history,
"mental philosophy," and arithmetic. Daniel Taggart Fiske, the
school's principal at the time, would later recall that Dickinson
was "very bright" and "an excellent scholar, of exemplary
deportment, faithful in all school duties". Although she had a few
terms off due to illness—the longest of which was in 1845–1846,
when she was enrolled for only eleven weeks—she enjoyed her
strenuous studies, writing to a friend that the Academy was "a
very fine school".
Dickinson was troubled from a young age by the "deepening
menace" of death, especially the deaths of those who were close
to her. After an incident She became so melancholic that her
parents sent her to stay with family in Boston to recover. With
her health and spirits restored, she soon returned to Amherst
Academy to continue her studies During this period, she first met
people who were to become lifelong friends and correspondents,
such as Abiah Root , Abby Wood, Jane Humphrey, and Susan
Huntington Gilbert (who later married Emily's brother Austin).
5. Poems...
My life closed twice before its close.
It yet remains to see
If immortality unveil
A third event to me,
So huge, so hopeless to conceive
As these that twice befell,
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.
A door just opened on a street-I, lost, was passing by-An instant's width of warmth disclosed
And wealth, and company.
The door as sudden shut, and I,
I, lost, was passing by,-Lost doubly, but by contrast most,
Enlightening misery.
A long, long sleep, a famous sleep
That makes no show for dawn
By stretch of limb or stir of lid, -An independent one.
Was ever idleness like this?
Within a hut of stone
To bask the centuries away
Nor once look up for noon?
