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Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson. December 10, 1830– May 15, 1886. Emily’s Life. She was born in Amherst, Massachusetts on Dec. 10, 1830. Her family was religious and well-to-do. Her mother was not “emotionally accessible”. Her father was a congressman.

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Emily Dickinson

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  1. Emily Dickinson December 10, 1830– May 15, 1886

  2. Emily’s Life • She was born in Amherst, Massachusetts on Dec. 10, 1830. • Her family was religious and well-to-do. Her mother was not “emotionally accessible”. Her father was a congressman. • Unlike her father, Emily did not enjoy the popularity and excitement of public life in Amherst. • Emily attended the Amherst Academy but left to attend the South Hadley Female Seminary, but after only one year at the seminary, she returned in 1848 to Amherst where she began her life of seclusion.

  3. Following her return from school Emily began to dress in all white and choose the precious few that would be her own private society. • Emily seldom left her father’s house and refused to see almost everyone that came to visit. • In Emily’s life she took one trip to Philadelphia, one to Washington, and a few trips to Boston. Other than occasional ventures, she had no exposure outside her home town.

  4. Her Bedroom

  5. The White Dress

  6. During those few trips Emily did take, she met two very influential men: Charles Wadsworth and Thomas Wentworth Higginson. • Wadsworth was a married clergyman who became an outlet for Emily. She confided in him when she wrote poetry. It is widely believed that Emily had a great love for this Reverend and critics believe that Wadsworth was the focal point of Emily’s love poems. • Emily decided to seek out somebody for advice about anonymous publications and found Higginson. She wrote him a letter that included four poems she wished to receive his appraisal and advice on.

  7. The emotional turmoil of the Civil War came through Dickinson’s work, but so did many other issues that caused her to produce around 800 poems. • After the late 1860’s she never left the boundaries of the family’s property. • Within only a few years, her life was spent in mourning due to several close family deaths. • After these deaths, her poetry showed an obsession with death.

  8. On June 14, 1884 Emily suffered an attack from her terminal illness and on May 15, 1886, Emily took her last breath at the age of 56. • She wrote a total of 1,775 poems that were mostly not completed and written on scraps of paper, such as old grocery lists.

  9. Her poems are unique for her era. They contain short lines, typically lack titles, and often utilize slant rhyme as well as unconventional capitalization and punctuation. • Her first collection of poetry was published in 1890 by personal acquaintances Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd, both of whom heavily edited the content. • A complete and mostly unaltered collection of her poetry became available for the first time in 1955 when The Poems of Emily Dickinson was published by scholar Thomas H. Johnson.

  10. Here are two versions of one stanza of one of her poems. The first is unedited; the second has been “corrected.”We passed the School, where Children stroveAt recess—in the Ring—We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain—We passed the Setting Sun—We passed the school where children playedTheir lessons scarcely done;We passed the fields of gazing grain,We passed the setting sun.What are the differences? How does the poem’s mood/tone/theme change?

  11. “The Soul selects her own Society” • The Soul selects her own Society—Then—shuts the Door—To her divine Majority—Present no more—Unmoved—she notes the Chariots—pausing—At her low Gate—Unmoved—an Emperor be kneelingUpon her Mat—

  12. I’ve known her—from an ample nation—Choose One—Then—close the Valves of her attention—Like Stone—

  13. According to the poem, do we make choices with our minds (thoughts) or our souls (feelings)? How does this describe Dickinson’s experiences?How would you punctuate this poem?What examples does this poem contain of slant rhyme?

  14. Rhetorical Devices Why are certain words capitalized? Why is punctuation used in places it would normally not be used? If the capitalization and punctuation were changed, would this have a significant effect? What wood change? What is Emily doing when she uses the “—” (dashes)?

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