Emily Dickinson

American poet (1830-1886) · United States · Writers · Died at 55

Emily Dickinson is read about 2,355 times a day, in 101 languages.

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She wrote nearly 1,800 poems in secret, published ten, and died unknown. A sister found the rest in a desk drawer. Now the elliptical lines and slant rhymes that editors once "corrected" read like the template for modern poetry.

Writers Writer / Author Literature Poetry United States Americas 19th Century

A life in dates

1886Died15 May 18861872“To live is so startling, it leaves but little room for other occupations.”In their wordsLetter to T. W. Higginson (late 1872); Letters (1958) p. 380, no. 381Read the whole statement

“We turn not older with years, but newer every day.”In their wordsLetter to Louise Norcross (late 1872); Letters (1958) p. 499, no. 379Read the whole statement

1870“If I read a book [and] it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry.”In their wordsLetter to T. W. Higginson (1870); Letters (1958) p. 474, no. 342aRead the whole statement

1858“My friends are my "estate." Forgive me then the avarice to hoard them.”In their wordsAugust 1858Letter to Samuel Bowles (August 1858 or 1859); Thomas H. Johnson (ed.) The Letters of Emily Dickinson (1958) p. 338, no. 193Read the whole statement

1857“Friday I tasted life. It was a vast morsel. A circus passed the house - still I feel the red in my mind though the drums are out.”In their wordsLetter to Mrs. J. G. Holland (c. 1857); Letters, vol. 1 (1894) p. 171Read the whole statement

1850“God is sitting here, looking into my very soul to see if I think right thoughts. Yet I am not afraid, for I try to be right and good; and He knows every one of my struggles.”In their words29 January 1850Letter to Abiah Root (29 January 1850); Mabel Loomis Todd (ed.) Letters of Emily Dickinson, vol. 1 (Boston: Roberts Bros, 1894) p. 39Read the whole statement

1830Born10 December 1830

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Photos 8

Emily Dickinson daguerreotype (Restored, cropped, blown up, sepia)

Bianchi, Martha Dickinson, 1866-1943

Biblioteca Pública de Xeraco 2

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In their own words 10

Emily Dickinson

10 statements, newest first

To live is so startling, it leaves but little room for other occupations.
1872, Letter to T. W. Higginson (late 1872); Letters (1958) p. 380, no. 381, Own words
We turn not older with years, but newer every day.
1872, Letter to Louise Norcross (late 1872); Letters (1958) p. 499, no. 379, Own words
If I read a book [and] it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry.
1870, Letter to T. W. Higginson (1870); Letters (1958) p. 474, no. 342a, Own words

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Awards

National Women's Hall of Fame1973

Family

Parents

Emily Dickinson

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About this person

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a prominent family. She studied at Amherst Academy for seven years and briefly attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary before returning home. There she wrote prolifically - nearly 1,800 poems on nature and mortality, lean and acerbic, built on off-rhyme - but kept them mostly to herself. Only ten saw print in her lifetime. After her death on May 15, 1886, her younger sister Lavinia discovered the poems in her desk. The first published selection in 1890 was heavily edited to fit convention; not until Thomas H. Johnson's 1955 complete collection was her work restored closer to its original form. At least eleven poems were dedicated to her sister-in-law Susan Huntington Gilbert Dickinson, a relationship some scholars interpret as romantic, possibly obscured by censorship.

Country

United States

Writers from the United States 6

Henry David Thoreau76.5

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