Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts on December 10, 1830. Her grandfather established Amherst College, to which she attended along with Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. After she stopped going to school she kept to herself, writing letters and poems in her room. There is no known reason she stopped attending, but it is believed it’s because of her depression. Through her adult years she stayed home and took care of her sick mother, it is during this time that she wrote most of her poems. Emily never married and died on the homestead from kidney disease. ("Emily Dickinson Biography") Very few of her poems were published during her lifetime. The poems that were published were usually heavily revised due