Weekend Writing: Celebrating Emily Dickinson

When I first started this blog in January 2016, I wrote a blog post celebrating women writers. Since then, I have celebrated women writers multiple times on this blog, paying extra attention to my favorite poet, Emily Dickinson. There aren't enough words for me to explain how much I love her writing.

After all, as I have credited before, her poems were the first ones I could understand. Then, I fell in love with her writing and here we are, many years later, still loving and learning about Dickinson.

A portrait of Emily with her older brother, William Austin, and her younger
sister, Lavinia (photo/ThoughtCo).

Today, I celebrate her on my blog because tomorrow is her birthday. Born on December 10 in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born into a prominent, but not exactly wealthy, family. She was the middle child, with an older brother (William Austin) and younger sister (Lavinia).

To our knowledge, young Emily was a very well-behaved child. She was described as "perfectly well and contented." She hardly caused any trouble, and this would be true in her adult years, as well. Young Emily had a gift for music, particularly the piano, and she received wonderful marks in school. That's not surprising, is it?

During her teenage years, Emily spent a number of years studying English, classic literature, Latin, botany, geology, history, mental philosophy, and more. She was an excellent scholar and her school's principal described her as "faithful in all school duties." She enjoyed her strenuous studies and even at a young age, she loved to be by herself and simply learn.

A portrait of young Emily Dickinson (photo/Tomato and
Mushroom).

But it was during her teenage years when Emily became troubled and "fascinated" by death, largely because of the deaths of those close to her. Her second cousin and close friend, Sophia Holland, died from typhus in 1844, traumatizing Emily. She wrote that "it seemed to me I should die too if I could not be permitted to watch over her or even look at her face."

Emily became so depressed that her parents sent her to stay with a family in Boston to recover. Luckily, Emily recovered (as much as one can), and she returned to Amherst to continue her education. She met more friends and colleagues. Once she graduated, she briefly attended a female seminary for ten months. She didn't make any friends at the school and left because she was too homesick. She returned to her beloved Amherst home, where she took up the responsibility of baking for her family.

It was during this time when Emily began writing. She became friends with a young attorney, Benjamin Franklin Newton. He was her tutor, preceptor, and inspiration. He introduced her to the writings of William Wordsworth and Ralph Waldo Emerson. When Newton was dying of tuberculosis, he wrote to her, saying he "would like to live until she achieved the greatness he foresaw."

After his death, Emily continued to read. She read everything she could get her hands on--from the Bible to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and more. Emily thought, perhaps she could write herself. She was largely influenced by many companions in her life: her sister-in-law (Susan Gilbert), a minister (Charles Wadsworth), editor-in-chief of the Springfield Republican (Samuel Bowles), and more.

Emily Dickinson (photo/Famous Biographies)

Of course, Emily would become one of the most famous and beloved private poets of all time. I emphasized the word 'private' because Emily lived a reserved life. She hardly, if ever, left her New England house. She remained at the house, where her mother was bedridden with various chronic illnesses. She stayed at the home, where she felt she belonged. Emily was considered "eccentric" by locals and became known for her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, to even leave her bedroom. She never married and only corresponded with her friends through written letters. She didn't even attend her father's funeral, held in the home's entrance hall. She stayed in her bedroom with the door cracked open.

Instead of socializing, Emily wrote. She wrote and wrote in that small little bedroom, but she wrote with passion. She wrote and reviewed poems, making clean copies, and assembled a manuscript. But she wasn't famous for her writing while she was living. Fewer than a dozen of her nearly 1,800 poems were published during her lifetime. It wasn't until her death in 1886 when her sister, Lavinia, discovered Emily's hidden pile of poems. Thankfully, Lavinia read the poems and recognized the talent in her sister's work. She committed to having her sister's poetry published in 1890.

Emily Dickinson (photo/emilydickinson.net)

The rest is history. Emily Dickinson is regarded as one of the most influential and powerful American poets ever to exist. Her poetry has reoccurring themes on death, immortality, and loss. She wrote about life. She wrote about truth, nature, success, grief, faith, freedom, and the real emotions associated with death and loss. She's famous for her "Dickinson dash," the short lines, often use of slant rhyme, and the unconventional capitalization and punctuation. She was different. She was "eccentric," but in the best way possible.

Below are three of my most favorite Emily Dickinson poems. Read them, study them, enjoy them, and, most importantly, love them. Show them the love and appreciation they deserve. The best way to celebrate Emily's birthday is, of course, to read her poetry. She may have been isolated and reserved when she wrote these poems, but boy, do we know and love her now.

"Because I could not stop for Death--"

"'Hope' is the thing with feathers--" 

"I died for beauty, but was scarce"

Happy birthday, Emily. We love you.

-KJL-