The Life and Legacy of Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson: An Introduction to Her Life

Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts, into a prominent family with strong ties to the community. Her grandfather was one of the founders of Amherst College, and her father, Edward Dickinson, was a respected lawyer and treasurer of the college. Emily, the second of three children, received a thorough education at Amherst Academy and later attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. However, she did not conform to the Seminary's strict religious expectations and left after a year. The religious and intellectual atmosphere of her upbringing, during a time known as the Second Great Awakening, had a profound impact on her, though she increasingly questioned established religious doctrine in her adult life.

Emily Dickinson's Solitary Adult Years

As an adult, Emily Dickinson became increasingly reclusive, choosing to live a life of seclusion within her family home. While the reasons for her withdrawal from society are subject to speculation, including theories of an unrequited love for Reverend Charles Wadsworth, she maintained active correspondences with several individuals. Her sister-in-law, Susan Gilbert Dickinson, was a significant recipient of her poetry, receiving nearly 250 poems. A severe health issue in 1864, which may have been iritis or another condition, led to a prolific period of writing for Dickinson. Her poetry from this time often grapples with the concept of death, likely influenced by the loss of several close acquaintances to diseases like tuberculosis.

Influences on Dickinson's Poetic Style

The literary movements of Romanticism and Transcendentalism left a notable imprint on Emily Dickinson's poetry. Romanticism, with its focus on personal emotion and the natural world, resonated with Dickinson's introspective style. Similarly, Transcendentalism, which originated in New England and emphasized individual spirituality and intuition over empirical thought, paralleled Dickinson's own philosophical inquiries. Her poem '"Hope" is the thing with feathers' exemplifies the influence of these movements, showcasing a deep sense of personal spirituality and a connection to the natural world.

The Death of Emily Dickinson and Her Rising Fame

Emily Dickinson died on May 15, 1886, at the age of 55. While initially attributed to Bright's Disease, modern scholars suggest that she may have succumbed to heart failure. After her death, her sister Lavinia discovered Emily's extensive collection of poems and sought to have them published, which led to Emily's recognition as a significant literary figure. Dickinson's distinctive style, marked by idiosyncratic punctuation, capitalization, and slant rhyme, along with her exploration of themes such as death, nature, and the ineffable, has profoundly influenced subsequent generations of poets and writers.

Recurrent Themes in Dickinson's Work

Emily Dickinson's poetry is characterized by its exploration of themes such as death, the nature of consciousness, religion, and the natural world. Her personal experiences with illness and death, as well as the religious milieu of the Second Great Awakening, deeply informed her reflections on mortality and the afterlife. Her poems frequently ponder the boundaries between sanity and madness, a possible reflection of her own introspective and solitary life. Although she distanced herself from orthodox religion, her poetry is suffused with spiritual questioning and imagery. Nature, a central tenet of Romanticism and Transcendentalism, is a prevalent motif in her work, through which she contemplates life's larger questions.

The Enduring Legacy of Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson's legacy in American literature is monumental, despite the fact that only a handful of her poems were published during her lifetime, often without her consent and not in their original form. Her complete works, which include over 1,800 poems, showcase her innovative approach to language, form, and thematic exploration. Her vivid imagery and profound treatment of existential questions have continued to influence writers and poets. Her correspondence with literary figures, such as Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and the posthumous publication of her poetry have solidified her position as a pivotal figure in the canon of 19th-century American poetry. Dickinson's work remains a subject of academic study and is celebrated for its depth, complexity, and originality.