Emily Dickinson Essay

Emily Dickinson was an American lyrical poet. Dickinson was an obsessively private person who devoted her self in secret to writing. She has often been referred to as a writer before her time. Her work was completely original, stemming from much of her own personal experiences.

Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts on December 10, 1830 (McNeil, xii). She was the second child of Edward Dickinson, a prominent lawyer, and Emily Norcross Dickinson. Emily Dickinson had an older brother, Austin, and a younger sister, Lavinia. The children were raised as Christians in the Puritan religion (Rogers, 49). This Puritan upbringing had a great influence on much of Dickinson’s works.

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At the age of 17, Emily was sent to the Holyoke Female Seminary. This was after she had spent seven years attending Amherst College, where her father was the treasurer. Despite her academic success, after one year at the Holyoke Female Seminary she left, due to homesickness (“Emily”).

During Emily’s teen years she remained fairly social, but by the age of 22-23, she had begun to begin her life of isolation. She kept few associates outside of her immediate family and a few close friends. Despite this fact, Emily maintained over 100 relatively strong friendships via letters (Rogers, 49). Many of these letters contained a number of Emily’s poems.

By the late 1860’s, Dickinson lived in complete isolation, refusing to see many visitors. The people she did, however, come in contact with, were ones she met during various trips. These individuals seemed to have a huge impact on her writings. One such individual was Reverend Charles Wadsworth, whom she met on a trip to Philadelphia. After his departure from a short visit to her home in 1860, Dickinson began writing much more heartsick versus (“Emily”).

Emily Dickinson’s work was influenced greatly by poets such as Robert Browning, John Keats and Elizabeth Barrett. Shakespeare, the Bible and classic mythology also had a great influence on her writing (Rogers, 49). When the civil war began, one can see the emotional turmoil that was produced by this event through Dickinson’s work.

In June of 1884, Emily had her first attack of kidney disease, and at the age of 56, on May 15, 1886, Emily finally succumbed to this disease (McNeil, xvi). After her death, Emily’s sister, Lavinia, upon going through her possessions, discovered over 900 poems. Deciding to publish these works, Lavinia co-edited three volumes of poems during the 1890’s, although it was not until about 1955 that the complete collection was published (Rogers, 49). In Dickinson’s lifetime only 10 of her works were published.

Emily Dickinson lived a life of solitude. As a result of this life, Emily was able to focus more sharply on her world. She was both innovative and original in her poetic works. Although Emily Dickinson was never fully recognized for her works during her life time, she has now taken her place alongside of Walt Whitmore as one of the two great American Poets of the nineteenth century (McNeil, 2).

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