1. by: Stephanie Verdaris
Emily Dickinson
by: Stephanie Verdaris

2. Birth Date and Place
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, an iconic poet, was born on December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts.

3. Education and Family Life
Growing up in Massachusetts, her family had deep roots in New England. Dickinson attended school at Amherst Academy, now known as Amherst College. Her grandfather was the founder of Amherst College and her father worked there. Her father married Emily Norcross in 1828 and they had three children: William Austin, Lavinia Norcross, and Dickinson. Dickinson attended Amherst College and Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. She was an excellent student, but missed many school days due to sickness and depression. Emily left school as a teenager to live at home.

4. Family Life Continued
Among her peers, Dickinson’s closest friend and adviser was a young woman named Susan Gilbert. Gilbert married Dickinson’s brother and all of the siblings lived together on the large Dickinson Homestead in Amherst. Dickinson served as the as chief caregiver for their mother up until her death. William Dickinson had a family of his own and studied the practice of law.

5. Writings and Influences
Dickinson began writing poetry in her teenage years. Her earliest role models include Leonard Humphrey, principal of Amherst Academy, and a family friend, Benjamin Newton. She also came to admire the writings of William Wordsworth.

6. Poetic Movements
Though most of her poetry was written in the middle of the 19th century, Dickinson has come to be regarded as a forerunner of the Modernist movement in poetry. The Modernist movement was a philosophical movement that arose from wide-scale and far-reaching transformations in Western society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

7. Famous Works and Publications
Dickinson wrote most of her nearly 1,800 poems during her years at the Homestead. Five of her poems were printed in the Springfield Republican, but Dickinson herself made only one serious attempt at further publication, sending four poems in After the death of Dickinson in 1886, Lavinia discovered her sister’s poems. She handed them over to editors and the first of three volumes, titled Poems, came out in 1890.

8. Fun Facts
Dickinson was very protective of her poetry. She kept it locked up in a box.
In the later parts of her life, Dickinson only dressed in white.
She had Auburn eyes and Auburn hair color.
Her mission in life was to write a letter to the world. She wanted to express herself through the letter.
The last time she left Amherst was a trip to Boston 12 years before her death. An eye doctor forbade her to read and write.

9. More Fun Facts Dickinson was an avid gardener.
She left Mount Holyoke Female Seminary after only one year for unknown reasons.
Dickinson was sometimes referred to as the “Myth of Amherst” because of her dressing in all white and she very rarely left the Homestead.

10. Sources http://www.biography.com/people/emily-dickinson-9274190
The intro of The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson by Rachel Wetzsteon