Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet that was little-known in life but became widely known after her death. She is even regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry.
Dickinson was born on 10 December 1830 at their family homestead in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her family was prominent but not particularly wealthy. Her grandfather was one of the founders of Amherst College.
Dickinson's father was a lawyer in Amherst and a trustee of Amherst College. Her father was heavily invested in their lives especially their school progress even while away. Dickinson would describe her father as warm but her mother as aloof and cold.
Dickinson attended Amherst Academy for seven years. She liked the school and was an exceptionally bright student. However, from a young age, Dickinson was deeply troubled by the subject of death especially the death of those close to her.
The thought of death made her melancholic. She made several friends at Amherst and in 1847, she began attending Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. She was only there for 10 months before she went back home where she occupied herself with household activities.
With time, Dickinson became more secluded and the deaths as the her close friends affected her. She lived most of her life in isolation. It's said that she was seen as eccentric as locals. She loved white clothes, was reluctant to greet guests, and would hardly leave her bedroom later in life.
Dickinson never married and although she was a prolific writer, she only had 10 publications of her work during her lifetime from her almost 1,800 poems. Her poetry's main theme was death and it was quite unique for her era.
It had short lines, lacked titles, used slant rhyme, and unconventional punctuation and capitalization. Most of her work was published after death and was heavily edited. Here is a collection of the best Emily Dickinson quotes, Emily Dickinson sayings, and Emily Dickinson captions.