Emily Dickinson

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Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830 in the community of Amherst, Massachusetts. She was the second daughter of Edward and Emily Norcross Dickinson. Emily, her brother Austin, and her sister Lavinia were brought up and nurtured in a quiet reserved household headed by their father Edward. Throughout her life, her mother was not always around, or "accessible," a fact that is said to have caused Emily’s eccentricity. They were raised in Puritanical Massachusetts, where they were expected to take on their fathers beliefs and values.

Because Emily was the daughter of a prominent politician, she was able to get a good education at the Amherst Academy. After her time at the academy, she went to South Hadley Female Seminary where she started to become a young lady. Although she was indeed successful at college, Emily returned after only one year at the seminary to begin her life of seclusion.

Although she never married, she had several significant relationships with a select few people. It was during the period after her return from school she began to dress in all white and chose few people that she would let into her own precious society. Emily refused to see almost everyone that came to visit her. She seldomly left her fathers house. In her entire life she took one trip to Philadelphia, Washington, and a few trips to Boston. Other than those trips, she did not leave her hometown. During this time which was her early twenties, Emily began to write poetry. Luckily for her, during those few journeys she met two men that would help her be of source of inspiration later on...Charles Wadsworth, and Thomas Higginson.

Charles Wadsworth (age 41) had a positive effect on the life of Emily. Sh...

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...the theme of salvation in a context of modern drawing-room comedy. Other dramatic presentations of religious and moral themes are The Confidential Clerk (1954) and The Elder Statesman (1958). Among his other works are Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939) a book of verse for children, which was adapted for the musical theater stage and began running in 1981;

the plays Sweeney Agonistes (1932) and The Family Reunion (1939); and the prose works The Idea of a Christian Society (1940) and Notes Toward a Definition of Culture (1948).

In looking at the works of Emily Dickinson as well as T.S. Eliot it is clear to see that many factors influence the style and focus of an authors works. Religion seems to have played a major part in the writings of poets at this time. It is clear that family, religion, and personal experience help shape the poetry of many authors.

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