Biography
Emily Dickinson's home- The Dickinson Homestead
Amidst paradox and uncertainty, Emily Dickinson had an undeniable capacity to move and provoke her readers throughout her complex poetry. Emily Dickinson, regarded as one of America’s greatest poets, had an extraordinary talent: she could express far-reaching ideas within short phrases, lines, or stanzas. Her unique poetry, fostered with romanticized ideas, and often time sheltered in speculation, shows her impressive intellect and literary power. Although Dickinson spent most of her life living in seclusion, Dickinson’s poetry blossomed into a literary dimension that had never been exposed before. The influences of her early life, religion, and personal seclusion molded Dickinson’s powerful poetry into a literary tool fantasized by many modern-day poets and intellectuals.
On December 10, 1830, Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. Amherst became a well-known center for Education; her family, fostering the blossoming of education, opened their house to well-established intellectuals, including Ralph Waldo Emerson. Raised in a home full of blossoming intellect, Emily Dickinson proved to be a brilliant student. Dickinson naturally was able to create many original writings, rhyming stories, and even short poems. Throughout her early life, Dickinson became deferential to her father and other male figures of authority; Dickinson was heart-set on establishing an independent mind, often refusing prevailing orthodoxy’s on modern issues to establish her own mind-set.
As Emily Dickinson continued to mature, she became increasingly influenced by her religion. As a proper Calvinist, Dickinson believed that humans were predestined to go to heaven or to hell; humans, in Dickinson’s mind, had to proclaim their faith in Jesus to have a chance of being saved. She frequently encouraged people to declare themselves saved, and often used her poetry to retain an independent view towards religion. She often felt as if she was excluded from the established Calvinist religion; her frequent reference to “being shut out of heaven” began to reveal her profoundly religious temperament. Dickinson began to embody uncertainties and fluctuations throughout her poem as a result of her religious affairs.
Emily Dickinson continued to thrive as a bright student. Dickinson studied many subjects, from Latin to English literature, at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley. Her vigorous studies, however, abruptly halted to a stop. After becoming ill with a persistent cough, Emily Dickinson’s father removed her from her college studies at Mount Holyoke and brought her back home. Upon her arrival to her home, Emily frequently became ill and discomforted in social situations. Dickinson began to seclude herself from society. Dickinson began to spend most of her time in the family house; Dickinson rarely spent time with anyone exept for her family, only connecting herself to other accomplished thought-provoking people through lengthy letters. Her broadened education and vocabulary fostered a romanticized lifestyle for Dickinson; throughout long, lonely days of seclusion in her room, Dickinson began to write complex poems filled with paradox, and uncertainty. As events around her occurred throughout her seclusion, such as the death of a dear family friend, Dickinson’s poetry began to transform: her views on the world around her, her poetry, and her mind-set began to sway with the occurrences of the day.
At the age of fifty-five, on May 15, 1886, Emily Dickinson died from Bright’s disease, caused by kidney degeneration. The accumulation of stress throughout her life, as suggested by Dickinson’s doctor, likely contributed to Emily Dickinson’s premature death. Prior to her death, few of her poems were published, and Dickinson was not renowned for her incredible poetry. After her Death, Emily Dickinson’s sister, Vinnie, was instructed to burn Dickinson’s letters. While going through her sister’s belongings, Vinnie stumbled upon a box containing nearly one thousand seven hundred of Emily Dickinson’s poems. Ignoring her sister’s request to burn her old letters, Vinnie handed over Emily Dickinson’s poems to a family friend: Mabel Todd. In 1893, with the help and encouragement of Terrence Higginson, a fiend of Emily Dickinson, many of the fantastic poems Emily Dickinson wrote during her life were published. Although Dickinson had died relatively unknown, her immortal poems, praised by magazines and newspapers, rendered Dickinson an immortal English-speaking poet.
On December 10, 1830, Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. Amherst became a well-known center for Education; her family, fostering the blossoming of education, opened their house to well-established intellectuals, including Ralph Waldo Emerson. Raised in a home full of blossoming intellect, Emily Dickinson proved to be a brilliant student. Dickinson naturally was able to create many original writings, rhyming stories, and even short poems. Throughout her early life, Dickinson became deferential to her father and other male figures of authority; Dickinson was heart-set on establishing an independent mind, often refusing prevailing orthodoxy’s on modern issues to establish her own mind-set.
As Emily Dickinson continued to mature, she became increasingly influenced by her religion. As a proper Calvinist, Dickinson believed that humans were predestined to go to heaven or to hell; humans, in Dickinson’s mind, had to proclaim their faith in Jesus to have a chance of being saved. She frequently encouraged people to declare themselves saved, and often used her poetry to retain an independent view towards religion. She often felt as if she was excluded from the established Calvinist religion; her frequent reference to “being shut out of heaven” began to reveal her profoundly religious temperament. Dickinson began to embody uncertainties and fluctuations throughout her poem as a result of her religious affairs.
Emily Dickinson continued to thrive as a bright student. Dickinson studied many subjects, from Latin to English literature, at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley. Her vigorous studies, however, abruptly halted to a stop. After becoming ill with a persistent cough, Emily Dickinson’s father removed her from her college studies at Mount Holyoke and brought her back home. Upon her arrival to her home, Emily frequently became ill and discomforted in social situations. Dickinson began to seclude herself from society. Dickinson began to spend most of her time in the family house; Dickinson rarely spent time with anyone exept for her family, only connecting herself to other accomplished thought-provoking people through lengthy letters. Her broadened education and vocabulary fostered a romanticized lifestyle for Dickinson; throughout long, lonely days of seclusion in her room, Dickinson began to write complex poems filled with paradox, and uncertainty. As events around her occurred throughout her seclusion, such as the death of a dear family friend, Dickinson’s poetry began to transform: her views on the world around her, her poetry, and her mind-set began to sway with the occurrences of the day.
At the age of fifty-five, on May 15, 1886, Emily Dickinson died from Bright’s disease, caused by kidney degeneration. The accumulation of stress throughout her life, as suggested by Dickinson’s doctor, likely contributed to Emily Dickinson’s premature death. Prior to her death, few of her poems were published, and Dickinson was not renowned for her incredible poetry. After her Death, Emily Dickinson’s sister, Vinnie, was instructed to burn Dickinson’s letters. While going through her sister’s belongings, Vinnie stumbled upon a box containing nearly one thousand seven hundred of Emily Dickinson’s poems. Ignoring her sister’s request to burn her old letters, Vinnie handed over Emily Dickinson’s poems to a family friend: Mabel Todd. In 1893, with the help and encouragement of Terrence Higginson, a fiend of Emily Dickinson, many of the fantastic poems Emily Dickinson wrote during her life were published. Although Dickinson had died relatively unknown, her immortal poems, praised by magazines and newspapers, rendered Dickinson an immortal English-speaking poet.
Emily Dickinson's toumbstone- Reads: Emily Dickinson Corn Dec. 10, 1830 Called Back May 15, 1886
