3. Emily Dickinson

4. Born in 1830 (second of three children) in Amherst, Massachusetts
Father: a lawyer, wealthy and respected citizens, trustee of Amherst College

5. Dickinson grew up regularly attending services at the First Congregational Church
Eventually stopped attending regularly

6. Attended Amherst Academy, where she studied a “modern” curriculum…

7. She attended Mount Holyoke Seminary (now Mount Holyoke College) – then as now an innovative school for women

8. Around 1850, she began to write poems, which she circulated among friends
Her poem “Sic transit gloria mundi” was published in the Springfield Daily Republican in 1852

9. During the 1860’s, she stopped socializing and became a recluse, staying in the family home

10. We don’t know why she withdrew from friends and society
Some speculate that the death of her dog (“Carlo” a Newfoundland – a gift from her father) had something to do with it…

11. Among her remaining intimates was her sister-in-law, Susan – wife of her older brother Austin

12. She began corresponding with a local intellectual, Thomas Wentworth Higginson

13. Higginson became a kind of mentor, a relationship that continued for the rest of her life
After her death, Higginson helped to publish the first edition of her work
Dickinson wrote more than 1,700 poems
Only eight were published during her lifetime

14. Dickinson spent most of her time reading and writing poetry
She called writing poetry her “business”
She copied many of her poems into hand-sewn small booklets or “fascicles” and sent them as gifts to family and friends

15. According to tradition, Dickinson dressed entirely in white and communicated only indirectly with visitors and friends, from behind a folding screen or via notes and gifts in a basket she let down from her window into the garden

16. When Dickinson died in of Bright’s disease, her family was surprised at the amount of work she left behind
Her sister Lavinia found 40 notebooks and loose poems in a locked box in her bedroom

17. Lavinia (“Vinnie”) asked sister-in-law Susan to edit the poems for publication
When Susan seemed to procrastinate the project, Lavinia turned to another family friend, Mabel Loomis Todd

18. A little scandal: it later turned out that Mabel Todd had been having a secret affair with Austin Dickinson – for some 13 years

19. Mabel Todd and Thomas Higginson together undertook the first publication of Emily Dickinson’s poems

20. Higginson edited and “corrected” her poems for punctuation and conventional usage
It was not until 1955 that Dickinson’s work was collected and published – in its original form – by Thomas Johnson

21. “Corrected” version: from “Because I could not stop for Death”
We passed the school where children played Their lessons scarcely done; We passed the fields of gazing grain, We passed the setting sun.

22. Original version:
We passed the School, where Children strove At recess—in the Ring— We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain— We passed the Setting Sun—

23. Characteristics of Dickinson’s Poems
Rhythm mirrors church hymns
Idiosyncratic punctuation, often using dashes for pauses and emphasis
Capitalization emphasizes key words, sometimes indicates abstractions

24. Dickinson’s approximate rhymes
EYE rhyme (though / through)
VOWEL rhyme (see / buy)
SLANT (or HALF) rhyme (bear / boar)

25. Dickinson’s themes Her own identity / status
Personal interactions with nature
Inner spirituality as distinct from religion
Pain
Ecstasy (encounters with the sublime)
Death (in particular, the process of transition)