I’m continuing my posts on American women writers with the nineteenth century poet, Emily Dickenson.
Emily Dickenson was born on December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts. She spent most of her life in the family home built by her grandfather, Samuel Fowler Dickenson, in 1813. It was his role in founding the Amherst Academy in 1814 and Amherst College in 1821 that forged a family tradition of public service that was continued by her father, Edward and brother, Austin.
The Dickensons were attorneys and all had political ambitions. The Dickenson home was a center of Amherst society and the annual Amherst College commencement receptions were held there.
As a result of growing up in a household made up of dominant, politically active males, Emily’s letters to her friend revealed her frustrations: “Why can’t I be a Delegate to the great Whig Convention?—don’t I know all about Daniel Webster, and the Tariff and the Law?”
Although Emily felt prepared to embark on a political career, it was denied her because she was female. She attended and graduated from Amherst Academy and completed a year of study at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. Severe homesickness led her to leave.
She seldom left her house and rarely entertained visitors, but those she did come in contact with had a big influence on her poetry. The Reverend Charles Wadsworth, who she met while on a trip to Philadelphia, seems to have stirred her heartsick verses after a visit to her home in 1860. She called him, “my closest earthly friend.”
During the 1860s, Emily lived in virtual isolation, but maintained correspondences with many people and was widely read. She did spend time with family, however. Her father was active in politics and her brother attended law school, becoming an attorney. She had a sister, Lavinia, who also lived at home her entire life. Her siblings were her intellectual companions throughout her lifetime.
The poets she most admired were Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning and John Keats. As a poet, Emily wasn’t recognized publicly until after her death in 1886. The first volume of her work was published in 1890, the last in 1955.
According to her brother, Austin, “Her compositions were unlike anything ever heard—and always produced a sensation—both with the scholars and Teachers—her imagination sparkled—and she gave it free rein.”
While studying at Holyoke Female Seminary, she was resistant to professing her faith publicly and was designated as a person with “no hope” of salvation at a time when public confessions of faith were quite common among family and friends. Emily stated, “Christ is calling everyone here, all my companions have answered, even my darling Vinnie believes she loves, and trusts him, and I am standing alone in rebellion.”
Her resistance to conversion showed her willingness to go against popular sentiments. Her stubborn independence fueled Emily’s writing. She stopped attending church by the age of thirty.
She continued to retreat from public view and the majority of her poems weren’t discovered until after her death.
Bibliography
Poetry
Poems by Emily Dickinson (1890)
Poems: Second Series (1891)
Poems: Third Series (1896)
The Single Hound: Poems of a Lifetime (1914)
The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson (1924)
Further Poems of Emily Dickinson: Withheld from Publication by Her Sister Lavinia (1929) Unpublished Poems of Emily Dickinson (1935)
Bolts of Melody: New Poems of Emily Dickinson (1945)
The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson (1960)
Final Harvest: Emily Dickinson’s Poems (1962)
Prose
Letters of Emily Dickinson (1894)
Emily Dickinson Face to Face: Unpublished Letters with Notes and Reminisces (1932)
For more info on the life and work of Emily Dickenson, visit these sites:
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/dickinson/bio.htm
What a very strong woman. It’s so sad she couldn’t bring herself to leave her home. Thanks for the post. I tweeted.
It is sad, Ella! Makes you wonder how her life would’ve been different if she’d been allowed to pursue her political ambition.
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Emily Dickinson gave impression of being a warm-hearted and passionate woman, in spite of how she lived. I blogged about her in 2009 and rerun blog every year on her birthday (Dec 10). http://writersrest.com/2012/12/10/genius-4/
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