1. Emily Dickinson
A Life in Poems

2. Who Was She? Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, 1830
Prominent, but not wealthy, family
Grandfather founded Amherst College
Father a businessman
Well educated for a girl in Victorian America
One of three children, she had a brother and a sister
Seen by her teachers as unusually bright, a good scholar, and someone who asked questions, particularly about science
Began to be troubled by death when several relatives and family friends died in a typhus epidemic
Who Was She?

3. Sent by family to Boston to recover from severe “melancholia” in 1844
She returned refreshed and able to return to her studies
A revival of faith his Amherst in Dickinson watched large numbers of her peers testify that they had “found God,” but she never made a formal declaration of faith
She later said that it was her "greatest pleasure to commune alone with the great God & to feel that he would listen to my prayers.“ But, she did not see God as did her relatives and friends.
In 1847, Dickinson was admitted to Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, a “Seven Sisters” school (Ivy League for girls)
Who Was She?

4. Who Was She? She lasted only ten months at Mt. Holyoke Why?
Various reasons were given: she was in poor health; her father wanted to have her at home; she rebelled against the evangelical fervor present at the school; she disliked the discipline-minded teachers; or she was simply homesick
When she returned home, she took up her role as a good Victorian unwed girl—housekeeper for her parents.
Who Was She?

5. The Victorians
Repressed sexually (Queen Victoria’s apocryphal advice to her daughter)
Obsessed with image
Nationalistic
Strange combination of religion and science warring with one another

6. Fashion reflects ethos—covered up, restrained, contained
Battles over social Darwinism, evolution, and advances in science as well as the religious implications of each of these
Women, in Victorian England and America, had begun to agitate for more rights, but were still held to rigid standards of behavior
Unmarried women whose families had money were expected to stay at the family home and do charitable work as well as manage the house
The Victorians

7. Emily Dickinson: The Poet
She was well read in contemporary literature as well as what she had studied in school
She read and understood the Bible
She possible fell in love twice: once a junior lawyer in her father’s firm; once a newspaper writer. There is no evidence of romance in either case
She began writing poetry at an early age. Her output rose as her isolation grew
Thomas Higginson, a radical editor and abolitionist, published a few of her poems in the 1860’s
Her actual seclusion began in the 1860’s, extending until her death
Emily Dickinson: The Poet

8. Dickinson became the subject of speculation as she withdrew
She began to be called “The Recluse” or the “Woman in White” because she isolated herself and was often seen in a white dress through the windows or in the garden
She may have found a late-life romance with Otis Lord, beginning in 1877 when his wife died, but their letters were destroyed, so it is speculation
Her sister Lavinia burned all of Dickinson’s letters after her death
Dickinson died in 1886, probably a result of pneumonia or a stomach ailment
The “Woman in White”

9. Dickinson’s works—hand written manuscripts sewn together into volumes with no actual titles—were gathered
First volume published in 1890
All volumes were financial successes and highly influential
First scholarly publication (all poems and commentary from experts) was not until 1950
Dickinson is considered one of the best American writers—not one of the best American women writers
Legacy

10. Simply put, Dickinson wrote about her life, but, as usual, it is more complicated than that
Nature
Love
Ambition
Death
Success
Failure
God
And almost anything else that she thought about during her life
Subject Matter