Emily Dickinson Research Paper

With a slight flick of the wrist and the power of the pen, authors are capable of determining their destinies. Some authors receive fame, and some do not. A few writers are not recognized until after their passing and never know of their potential for fame. Each writer has his own unique style of writing, and all have a different background that formed his way of life. Emily Elizabeth Dickinson had an unusual way of things, but her differences in her life molded her into a major figure among others in American literature. Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts on December 10, 1830, and was in between two siblings (“Emily Dickinson.” Bio). As the second child, Emily was born in a time of farming advancements and the development

Due to no purification of water at the time, outbreaks of Typhoid and Cholera were fairly common (Horner). As for her parents, Dickinson’s father was a lawyer and was stern but kind (Dickinson’s Poetry 423). Her mother was sickly, and suffered during her third pregnancy and nearly died during labor. Emily, however, spoke as if she had no mother and never knew her father despite their presence in her life. At the age of two, she was sent to her aunt’s residence in Massachusetts because of household struggles. When her aunt described Dickinson’s well-being and behavior, she described Emily as well behaved and as a very content child. She also began to learn piano (Horner). Dickinson, however, had a mischievous streak despite her good behavior (Dickinson’s Poetry 423). She began primary school in 1835 in a Christian-based schoolhouse (Horner). As

As a poet, she found joy in life’s paradoxes (Loving 196). Known for her poignant and compressed verse, Dickinson analyzed almost every aspect of nature (“Emily Dickinson.” Bio; Loving 196). She began writing as a teenager, and she had many influences such as Leonard Humphrey, Benjamin Franklin Newton, and William Wordsworth. Humphrey was the principal of Amherst Academy, Newton was a family friend, and Wordsworth was a poet (“Emily Dickinson.” Bio). Dickinson was also greatly influenced by the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Dickinson then began to write mostly on life experiences, occurrences, death, and eternity. During the Civil War is the time period of which Dickinson produced her most and her best poetry. Her poetry after the Civil War reflected the alienation of American intellectuals and expressed Emerson’s late pessimism. Dickinson wrote an abundance of poetry with more than one thousand seven hundred poems. She chose not to publish, but at least ten of her poems were published in her lifetime without her permission (Loving 196). Dickinson also had a strong literary voice, which contributed to her high position in American literature (“Emily Dickinson.” Bio). She used imagery in many poems, and she frequently reinforces that the most important moments in life go by within the blink of an eye (Loving 196). She was encouraged to publish more, but