English IIIA
March 9, 2010
Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson, a well known poet, was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst Massachusetts. Living in a small farming community in New England her whole life, very rarely would you find her going on trips. Emily had very many interests as a young girl. Among her many interests were exploring the countryside and attending social gatherings with her family and friends.
Emily Dickinson’s family was a big part of her life. Edward Dickinson, her father, was a businessman and lawyer. Emily loved her father dearly, despite the face he was strict. Emily had the opposite effect with her mother, Emily Norcross Dickinson. She once claimed she never had a mother. Emily’s mother later suffered a paralyzing stroke, bringing the two of them closer.
Emily was also close to her siblings. Her older brother, Austin, stayed close to home by moving in next door after his marriage. Austin and Emily were very close. Emily’s younger sister, Lavinia or Vinnie, stayed at home like Emily to help run the household. Lavinia would share her sister’s secrets, but keeping her identity.
When it came to Emily’s education, her father highly encouraged it. Although, he encouraged her education, he looked down on books that might ruin her mind. Emily
went to Amherst Academy at sixteen. She later enrolled at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary around South Hadley. Emily returned home after one year at Mount Holyoke. She then continued to teach herself.
In Emily’s late teens or early, she decided what she was going to do with her life. She was going to write poetry. When she wrote poetry, she was inspired by many things. Three main things impacted and inspired her writing, loss, loneliness and death.
Emily in her thirties had removed herself from the world, not leaving her house. She stayed subtle and secluded for twenty years. Emily fell ill in 1884, from Bright’s disease, which is the gradual failure of the kidneys. She died two years later on May...