Emily Dickinson 1

Emily Dickinson

From the daguerreotype taken at Mount Holyoke,December 1846 or early 1847. The only

authenticated portrait of Emily Dickinson laterthan childhood, the original is held by the

Archives and Special Collections at AmherstCollege.[1]

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) wasan American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successfulfamily with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted andreclusive life. After she studied at the Amherst Academy for sevenyears in her youth, she spent a short time at Mount Holyoke FemaleSeminary before returning to her family's house in Amherst. Thoughtof as an eccentric by the locals, she became known for her penchant forwhite clothing and her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, evenleave her room. Most of her friendships were therefore carried out bycorrespondence.

While Dickinson was a prolific private poet, fewer than a dozen of hernearly eighteen hundred poems were published during her lifetime.[2]

The work that was published during her lifetime was usually alteredsignificantly by the publishers to fit the conventional poetic rules of thetime. Dickinson's poems are unique for the era in which she wrote;they contain short lines, typically lack titles, and often use slant rhymeas well as unconventional capitalization and punctuation.[3] Many ofher poems deal with themes of death and immortality, two recurringtopics in letters to her friends.

Although most of her acquaintances were probably aware of Dickinson's writing, it was not until after her death in1886—when Lavinia, Dickinson's younger sister, discovered her cache of poems—that the breadth of Dickinson'swork became apparent. Her first collection of poetry was published in 1890 by personal acquaintances ThomasWentworth Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd, both of whom heavily edited the content. A complete and mostlyunaltered collection of her poetry became available for the first time in 1955 when The Poems of Emily Dickinsonwas published by scholar Thomas H. Johnson. Despite some unfavorable reviews and some skepticism during thelate 19th and early 20th century as to Dickinson's literary prowess, she is now almost universally considered to beone of the most important American poets.[4]

Emily Dickinson 2

Life

Family and early childhood

The Dickinson children (Emily on the left), ca.1840. From the Dickinson Room at Houghton

Library, Harvard University.

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born at the family's homestead inAmherst, Massachusetts, on December 10, 1830, into a prominent, butnot wealthy, family.[5] Two hundred years earlier, her patrilinealancestors had arrived in the New World—in the Puritan GreatMigration—where they prospered.[6] Emily Dickinson's paternalgrandfather, Samuel Dickinson, had almost single-handedly foundedAmherst College.[7] In 1813, he built the homestead, a large mansionon the town's Main Street, that became the focus of Dickinson familylife for the better part of a century.[8] Samuel Dickinson's eldest son,Edward, was treasurer of Amherst College for nearly forty years,served numerous terms as a State Legislator, and represented theHampshire district in the United States Congress. On May 6, 1828, hemarried Emily Norcross from Monson. They had three children:

• William Austin (1829–1895), known as Austin, Aust or Awe•• Emily Elizabeth• Lavinia Norcross (1833–1899), known as Lavinia or Vinnie[9]

By all accounts, young Emily was a well-behaved girl. On an extended visit to Monson when she was two, Emily'sAunt Lavinia described Emily as "perfectly well & contented—She is a very good child & but little trouble."[10]

Emily's aunt also noted the girl's affinity for music and her particular talent for the piano, which she called "themoosic".[11]

Dickinson attended primary school in a two-story building on Pleasant Street. Her education was "ambitiouslyclassical for a Victorian girl".[12] Her father wanted his children well-educated and he followed their progress evenwhile away on business. When Emily was seven, he wrote home, reminding his children to "keep school, and learn,so as to tell me, when I come home, how many new things you have learned".[13] While Emily consistently describedher father in a warm manner, her correspondence suggests that her mother was regularly cold and aloof. In a letter toa confidante, Emily wrote she "always ran Home to Awe [Austin] when a child, if anything befell me. He was anawful Mother, but I liked him better than none."[14]

On September 7, 1840, Dickinson and her sister Lavinia started together at Amherst Academy, a former boys' schoolthat had opened to female students just two years earlier.[] At about the same time, her father purchased a house onNorth Pleasant Street.[15] Emily's brother Austin later described this large new home as the "mansion" over which heand Emily presided as "lord and lady" while their parents were absent.[16] The house overlooked Amherst's burialground, described by one local minister as treeless and "forbidding".

Teenage years

Emily Dickinson 3

They shut me up in Prose –As when a little GirlThey put me in the Closet –Because they liked me "still" –Still! Could themself have peeped –And seen my Brain – go round –They might as wise have lodged aBirdFor Treason – in the Pound –

Emily Dickinson, c. 1862[17]

Dickinson spent seven years at the Academy, taking classes in English and classical literature, Latin, botany,geology, history, "mental philosophy," and arithmetic.[18] Daniel Taggart Fiske, the school's principal at the time,would later recall that Dickinson was "very bright" and "an excellent scholar, of exemplary deportment, faithful inall school duties".[19] Although she had a few terms off due to illness—the longest of which was in 1845–1846,when she was enrolled for only eleven weeks[20]—she enjoyed her strenuous studies, writing to a friend that theAcademy was "a very fine school".Dickinson was troubled from a young age by the "deepening menace" of death, especially the deaths of those whowere close to her. When Sophia Holland, her second cousin and a close friend, grew ill from typhus and died in April1844, Emily was traumatized. Recalling the incident two years later, Emily wrote that "it seemed to me I should dietoo if I could not be permitted to watch over her or even look at her face."[21] She became so melancholic that herparents sent her to stay with family in Boston to recover.[] With her health and spirits restored, she soon returned toAmherst Academy to continue her studies.[22] During this period, she first met people who were to become lifelongfriends and correspondents, such as Abiah Root [23], Abby Wood [24], Jane Humphrey, and Susan Huntington Gilbert[25] (who later married Emily's brother Austin).In 1845, a religious revival took place in Amherst, resulting in 46 confessions of faith among Dickinson's peers.[26]

Dickinson wrote to a friend the following year: "I never enjoyed such perfect peace and happiness as the short timein which I felt I had found my savior."[27] She went on to say that it was her "greatest pleasure to commune alonewith the great God & to feel that he would listen to my prayers." The experience did not last: Dickinson never madea formal declaration of faith and attended services regularly for only a few years.[28] After her church-going ended,about 1852, she wrote a poem opening: "Some keep the Sabbath going to Church – / I keep it, staying at Home".[29]

During the last year of her stay at the Academy, Emily became friendly with Leonard Humphrey, its popular newyoung principal. After finishing her final term at the Academy on August 10, 1847, Dickinson began attending MaryLyon's Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (which later became Mount Holyoke College) in South Hadley, about tenmiles (16 km) from Amherst.[30] She was at the seminary for only ten months. Although she liked the girls atHolyoke, Dickinson made no lasting friendships there.[31] The explanations for her brief stay at Holyoke differconsiderably: either she was in poor health, her father wanted to have her at home, she rebelled against theevangelical fervor present at the school, she disliked the discipline-minded teachers, or she was simply homesick.[32]

Whatever the specific reason for leaving Holyoke, her brother Austin appeared on March 25, 1848, to "bring [her]home at all events".[33] Back in Amherst, Dickinson occupied her time with household activities.[34] She took upbaking for the family and enjoyed attending local events and activities in the budding college town.[35]

Emily Dickinson 4

Early influences and writingWhen she was eighteen, Dickinson's family befriended a young attorney by the name of Benjamin Franklin Newton.According to a letter written by Dickinson after Newton's death, he had been "with my Father two years, beforegoing to Worcester – in pursuing his studies, and was much in our family."[36] Although their relationship wasprobably not romantic, Newton was a formative influence and would become the second in a series of older men(after Humphrey) that Dickinson referred to, variously, as her tutor, preceptor or master.[37]

Newton likely introduced her to the writings of William Wordsworth, and his gift to her of Ralph Waldo Emerson'sfirst book of collected poems had a liberating effect. She wrote later that he, "whose name my Father's Law Studenttaught me, has touched the secret Spring".[38] Newton held her in high regard, believing in and recognizing her as apoet. When he was dying of tuberculosis, he wrote to her, saying that he would like to live until she achieved thegreatness he foresaw. Biographers believe that Dickinson's statement of 1862—"When a little Girl, I had a friend,who taught me Immortality – but venturing too near, himself – he never returned"—refers to Newton.[39]

Dickinson was familiar not only with the Bible but also with contemporary popular literature.[40] She was probablyinfluenced by Lydia Maria Child's Letters from New York, another gift from Newton (after reading it, she gushed"This then is a book! And there are more of them!"[]). Her brother smuggled a copy of Henry WadsworthLongfellow's Kavanagh into the house for her (because her father might disapprove)[41] and a friend lent herCharlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre in late 1849.[42] Jane Eyre's influence cannot be measured, but when Dickinsonacquired her first and only dog, a Newfoundland, she named him "Carlo" after the character St. John Rivers' dog.William Shakespeare was also a potent influence in her life. Referring to his plays, she wrote to one friend "Whyclasp any hand but this?" and to another, "Why is any other book needed?"[43]

Adulthood and seclusionIn early 1850 Dickinson wrote that "Amherst is alive with fun this winter ... Oh, a very great town this is!" Her highspirits soon turned to melancholy after another death. The Amherst Academy principal, Leonard Humphrey, diedsuddenly of "brain congestion" at age 25.[44] Two years after his death, she revealed to her friend Abiah Root theextent of her depression:

"... some of my friends are gone, and some of my friends are sleeping – sleeping the churchyard sleep –the hour of evening is sad – it was once my study hour – my master has gone to rest, and the open leafof the book, and the scholar at school alone, make the tears come, and I cannot brush them away; Iwould not if I could, for they are the only tribute I can pay the departed Humphrey".[45]

Emily Dickinson 5

The Evergreens, built by Edward Dickinson, wasthe home of Austin and Susan's family

During the 1850s, Emily's strongest and most affectionate relationshipwas with Susan Gilbert. Emily eventually sent her over three hundredletters, more than to any other correspondent, over the course of theirfriendship. Sue was supportive of the poet, playing the role of "mostbeloved friend, influence, muse, and adviser" whose editorialsuggestions Dickinson sometimes followed, Susan played a primaryrole in Emily's creative processes."[46] Sue married Austin in 1856after a four-year courtship, though their marriage was not a happy one.Edward Dickinson built a house for himself and Sue called theEvergreens, which stood on the west side of the Homestead.[47] Thereis controversy over how to view Emily's friendship with Sue;according to a point of view first promoted by Mabel Loomis Todd,Austin's longtime mistress, Emily's missives typically dealt withdemands for Sue's affection and the fear of unrequited admiration.Todd believed that because Sue was often aloof and disagreeable,Emily was continually hurt by what was mostly a tempestuousfriendship.[48] However, the notion of a "cruel" Sue—as promoted byher romantic rival—has been questioned, most especially by Sue and

Austin's surviving children, with whom Emily was close.[49]

Until 1855, Dickinson had not strayed far from Amherst. That spring, accompanied by her mother and sister, shetook one of her longest and farthest trips away from home.[50] First, they spent three weeks in Washington, whereher father was representing Massachusetts in Congress. Then they went to Philadelphia for two weeks to visit family.In Philadelphia, she met Charles Wadsworth, a famous minister of the Arch Street Presbyterian Church, with whomshe forged a strong friendship which lasted until his death in 1882.[51] Despite seeing him only twice after 1855 (hemoved to San Francisco in 1862), she variously referred to him as "my Philadelphia", "my Clergyman", "my dearestearthly friend" and "my Shepherd from 'Little Girl'hood".[52]

In September 2012, the Amherst CollegeArchives and Special Collections unveiled this

daguerreotype, proposing it to be Dickinson andher friend Kate Scott Turner (ca. 1859). It has not

been authenticated yet.[53]

From the mid-1850s, Emily's mother became effectively bedriddenwith various chronic illnesses until her death in 1882.[54] Writing to afriend in summer 1858, Emily said that she would visit if she couldleave "home, or mother. I do not go out at all, lest father will come andmiss me, or miss some little act, which I might forget, should I runaway – Mother is much as usual. I Know not what to hope of her".[55]

As her mother continued to decline, Dickinson's domesticresponsibilities weighed more heavily upon her and she confinedherself within the Homestead. Forty years later, Lavinia stated thatbecause their mother was chronically ill, one of the daughters had toremain always with her. Emily took this role as her own, and "findingthe life with her books and nature so congenial, continued to live it".

Withdrawing more and more from the outside world, Emily began inthe summer of 1858 what would be her lasting legacy. Reviewingpoems she had written previously, she began making clean copies ofher work, assembling carefully pieced-together manuscript books.[56]

The forty fascicles she created from 1858 through 1865 eventually heldnearly eight hundred poems. No one was aware of the existence ofthese books until after her death.

Emily Dickinson 6

In the late 1850s, the Dickinsons befriended Samuel Bowles, the owner and editor-in-chief of the SpringfieldRepublican, and his wife, Mary.[57] They visited the Dickinsons regularly for years to come. During this time Emilysent him over three dozen letters and nearly fifty poems.[58] Their friendship brought out some of her most intensewriting and Bowles published a few of her poems in his journal.[59] It was from 1858 to 1861 that Dickinson isbelieved to have written a trio of letters that have been called "The Master Letters". These three letters, drafted to anunknown man simply referred to as "Master", continue to be the subject of speculation and contention amongstscholars.[60]

The first half of the 1860s, after she had largely withdrawn from social life,[61] proved to be Dickinson's mostproductive writing period.[62] Modern scholars and researchers are divided as to the cause for Dickinson'swithdrawal and extreme seclusion. While she was diagnosed as having "nervous prostration" by a physician duringher lifetime,[63] some today believe she may have suffered from illnesses as various as agoraphobia[64] andepilepsy.[65]

Is "my Verse ... alive?"In April 1862, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a literary critic, radical abolitionist, and ex-minister, wrote a leadpiece for The Atlantic Monthly entitled, "Letter to a Young Contributor". Higginson's essay, in which he urgedaspiring writers to "charge your style with life", contained practical advice for those wishing to break into print.[66]

Dickinson's decision to contact Higginson suggests that by 1862 she was contemplating publication and that it mayhave become increasingly difficult to write poetry without an audience.[67] Seeking literary guidance that no oneclose to her could provide, Dickinson sent him a letter which read in full:[68]

Thomas Wentworth Higginson in uniform; hewas colonel of the First South Carolina

Volunteers from 1862 to 1864.

Mr Higginson,Are you too deeply occupied to say if my Verse is alive?The Mind is so near itself – it cannot see, distinctly – andI have none to ask –Should you think it breathed – and had you the leisure totell me, I should feel quick gratitude –If I make the mistake – that you dared to tell me – wouldgive me sincerer honor – toward you –I enclose my name – asking you, if you please – Sir – totell me what is true?That you will not betray me – it is needless to ask – sinceHonor is it's [sic] own pawn –

This highly nuanced and largely theatrical letter was unsigned, but shehad included her name on a card and enclosed it in an envelope, alongwith four of her poems.[69] He praised her work but suggested that shedelay publishing until she had written longer, being unaware that shehad already appeared in print. She assured him that publishing was asforeign to her "as Firmament to Fin", but also proposed that "If fame belonged to me, I could not escape her".[70]

Dickinson delighted in dramatic self-characterization and mystery in her letters to Higginson.[71] She said of herself,"I am small, like the wren, and my hair is bold, like the chestnut bur, and my eyes like the sherry in the glass that theguest leaves."[72] She stressed her solitary nature, stating that her only real companions were the hills, the sundown,and her dog, Carlo. She also mentioned that whereas her mother did not "care for Thought", her father bought herbooks, but begged her "not to read them – because he fears they joggle the Mind".[73]

Dickinson valued his advice, going from calling him "Mr. Higginson" to "Dear friend" as well as signing her letters, "Your Gnome" and "Your Scholar".[74] His interest in her work certainly provided great moral support; many years later, Dickinson told Higginson that he had saved her life in 1862.[75] They corresponded until her death, but her

Emily Dickinson 7

difficulty in expressing her literary needs and a reluctance to enter into a cooperative exchange left Higginsonnonplussed; he did not press her to publish in subsequent correspondence.[76] Dickinson's own ambivalence on thematter militated against the likelihood of publication.[77] Literary critic Edmund Wilson, in his review of Civil Warliterature, surmised that "with encouragement, she would certainly have published".[78]

The woman in whiteIn direct opposition to the immense productivity that she displayed in the early 1860s, Dickinson wrote fewer poemsin 1866.[79] Beset with personal loss as well as loss of domestic help, Dickinson may have been too overcome tokeep up her previous level of writing.[80] Carlo died during this time after providing sixteen years of companionship;Dickinson never owned another dog. Although the household servant of nine years, Margaret O Brien, had marriedand left the Homestead that same year, it was not until 1869 that her family brought in a permanent householdservant, Margaret Maher, to replace the old one.[81] Emily once again was responsible for chores, including thebaking, at which she excelled.

A solemn thing – it was – I said –A Woman – White – to be –And wear – if God should count me fit–Her blameless mystery –

Emily Dickinson, c. 1861[82]

Around this time, Dickinson's behavior began to change. She did not leave the Homestead unless it was absolutelynecessary and as early as 1867, she began to talk to visitors from the other side of a door rather than speaking tothem face to face.[83] She acquired local notoriety; she was rarely seen, and when she was, she was usually clothed inwhite. Dickinson's one surviving article of clothing is a white cotton dress, possibly sewn circa 1878–1882.[84] Fewof the locals who exchanged messages with Dickinson during her last fifteen years ever saw her in person.[85] Austinand his family began to protect Emily's privacy, deciding that she was not to be a subject of discussion withoutsiders.[86] Despite her physical seclusion, however, Dickinson was socially active and expressive through whatmakes up two-thirds of her surviving notes and letters. When visitors came to either the Homestead or theEvergreens, she would often leave or send over small gifts of poems or flowers.[87] Dickinson also had a goodrapport with the children in her life. Mattie Dickinson, the second child of Austin and Sue, later said that "AuntEmily stood for indulgence."[88] MacGregor (Mac) Jenkins, the son of family friends who later wrote a short articlein 1891 called "A Child's Recollection of Emily Dickinson", thought of her as always offering support to theneighborhood children.When Higginson urged her to come to Boston in 1868 so that they could formally meet for the first time, shedeclined, writing: "Could it please your convenience to come so far as Amherst I should be very glad, but I do notcross my Father's ground to any House or town".[89] It was not until he came to Amherst in 1870 that they met. Laterhe referred to her, in the most detailed and vivid physical account of her on record, as "a little plain woman with twosmooth bands of reddish hair ... in a very plain & exquisitely clean white pique & a blue net worsted shawl."[90] Healso felt that he never was "with any one who drained my nerve power so much. Without touching her, she drewfrom me. I am glad not to live near her."[91]

Emily Dickinson 8

Posies and poesiesScholar Judith Farr notes that Dickinson, during her lifetime, "was known more widely as a gardener, perhaps, thanas a poet". Dickinson studied botany from the age of nine and, along with her sister, tended the garden at Homestead.During her lifetime, she assembled a collection of pressed plants in a sixty-six page leather-bound herbarium. Itcontained 424 pressed flower specimens that she collected, classified, and labeled using the Linnaean system.[92] TheHomestead garden was well-known and admired locally in its time. It has not survived, and Dickinson kept nogarden notebooks or plant lists, but a clear impression can be formed from the letters and recollections of friends andfamily. Her niece, Martha Dickinson Bianchi, remembered "carpets of lily-of-the-valley and pansies, platoons ofsweetpeas, hyacinths, enough in May to give all the bees of summer dyspepsia. There were ribbons of peony hedgesand drifts of daffodils in season, marigolds to distraction—-a butterfly utopia".[93] In particular, Dickinson cultivatedscented exotic flowers, writing that she "could inhabit the Spice Isles merely by crossing the dining room to theconservatory, where the plants hang in baskets". Dickinson would often send her friends bunches of flowers withverses attached, but "they valued the posy more than the poetry".

Later lifeOn June 16, 1874, while in Boston, Edward Dickinson suffered a stroke and died. When the simple funeral was heldin the Homestead's entrance hall, Emily stayed in her room with the door cracked open. Neither did she attend thememorial service on June 28.[94] She wrote to Higginson that her father's "Heart was pure and terrible and I think noother like it exists."[95] A year later, on June 15, 1875, Emily's mother also suffered a stroke, which produced apartial lateral paralysis and impaired memory. Lamenting her mother's increasing physical as well as mentaldemands, Emily wrote that "Home is so far from Home".[96]

Though the great Waterssleep,That they are still the Deep,We cannot doubt –No vacillating GodIgnited this AbodeTo put it out –

Emily Dickinson, c. 1884[97]

Otis Phillips Lord, an elderly judge on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from Salem, in 1872 or 1873became an acquaintance of Dickinson's. After the death of Lord's wife in 1877, his friendship with Dickinsonprobably became a late-life romance, though as their letters were destroyed, this is surmised.[98] Dickinson found akindred soul in Lord, especially in terms of shared literary interests; the few letters which survived contain multiplequotations of Shakespeare's work, including the plays Othello, Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet and King Lear. In1880 he gave her Cowden Clarke's Complete Concordance to Shakespeare (1877).[99] Dickinson wrote that "Whileothers go to Church, I go to mine, for are you not my Church, and have we not a Hymn that no one knows butus?"[100] She referred to him as "My lovely Salem"[101] and they wrote to each other religiously every Sunday.Dickinson looked forward to this day greatly; a surviving fragment of a letter written by her states that "Tuesday is adeeply depressed Day".[102]

After being critically ill for several years, Judge Lord died in March 1884. Dickinson referred to him as "our latestLost".[103] Two years before this, on April 1, 1882, Dickinson's "Shepherd from 'Little Girl'hood", CharlesWadsworth, also had died after a long illness.

Emily Dickinson 9

Decline and deathAlthough she continued to write in her last years, Dickinson stopped editing and organizing her poems. She alsoexacted a promise from her sister Lavinia to burn her papers.[104] Lavinia, who also never married, remained at theHomestead until her own death in 1899.

Emily Dickinson's tombstone in the family plot

The 1880s were a difficult time for the remaining Dickinsons.Irreconcilably alienated from his wife, Austin fell in love in 1882 withMabel Loomis Todd, an Amherst College faculty wife who hadrecently moved to the area. Todd never met Dickinson but wasintrigued by her, referring to her as "a lady whom the people call theMyth".[105] Austin distanced himself from his family as his affaircontinued and his wife became sick with grief.[106] Dickinson's motherdied on November 14, 1882. Five weeks later, Dickinson wrote "Wewere never intimate ... while she was our Mother – but Mines in thesame Ground meet by tunneling and when she became our Child, theAffection came."[107] The next year, Austin and Sue's third andyoungest child, Gilbert—Emily's favorite—died of typhoid fever.[108]

As death succeeded death, Dickinson found her world upended. In thefall of 1884, she wrote that "The Dyings have been too deep for me,and before I could raise my Heart from one, another has come."[109]

That summer she had seen "a great darkness coming" and fainted whilebaking in the kitchen. She remained unconscious late into the night and

weeks of ill health followed. On November 30, 1885, her feebleness and other symptoms were so worrying thatAustin canceled a trip to Boston.[110] She was confined to her bed for a few months, but managed to send a finalburst of letters in the spring. What is thought to be her last letter was sent to her cousins, Louise and FrancesNorcross, and simply read: "Little Cousins, Called Back. Emily".[111] On May 15, 1886, after several days ofworsening symptoms, Emily Dickinson died at the age of 55. Austin wrote in his diary that "the day was awful ... sheceased to breathe that terrible breathing just before the [afternoon] whistle sounded for six."[112] Dickinson's chiefphysician gave the cause of death as Bright's disease and its duration as two and a half years.[113]

Dickinson was buried, laid in a white coffin with vanilla-scented heliotrope, a Lady's Slipper orchid, and a "knot ofblue field violets" placed about it.[114] The funeral service, held in the Homestead's library, was simple and short;Higginson, who had met her only twice, read "No Coward Soul Is Mine", a poem by Emily Brontë that had been afavorite of Dickinson's. At Dickinson's request, her "coffin [was] not driven but carried through fields of buttercups"for burial in the family plot at West Cemetery on Triangle Street.[]

PublicationDespite Dickinson's prolific writing, fewer than a dozen of her poems were published during her lifetime. After heryounger sister Lavinia discovered the collection of nearly eighteen hundred poems, Dickinson's first volume waspublished four years after her death. Until the 1955 publication of Dickinson's Complete Poems by Thomas H.Johnson, her poems were considerably edited and altered from their manuscript versions. Since 1890 Dickinson hasremained continuously in print.

Emily Dickinson 10

Contemporary

"Safe in their Alabaster Chambers –," entitled"The Sleeping," as it was published in the

Springfield Republican in 1862.

A few of Dickinson's poems appeared in Samuel Bowles' SpringfieldRepublican between 1858 and 1868. They were publishedanonymously and heavily edited, with conventionalized punctuationand formal titles.[115] The first poem, "Nobody knows this little rose",may have been published without Dickinson's permission.[116] TheRepublican also published "A narrow Fellow in the Grass" as "TheSnake"; "Safe in their Alabaster Chambers –" as "The Sleeping"; and"Blazing in the Gold and quenching in Purple" as "Sunset".[117] Thepoem "I taste a liquor never brewed –" is an example of the editedversions; the last two lines in the first stanza were completely rewrittenfor the sake of conventional rhyme.

Original wordingI taste a liquor never brewed –From Tankards scooped in Pearl–Not all the Frankfort BerriesYield such an Alcohol!

Republican versionI taste a liquor never brewed –From Tankards scooped in Pearl –Not Frankfort Berries yield thesenseSuch a delirious whirl!

In 1864, several poems were altered and published in Drum Beat, to raise funds for medical care for Union soldiersin the war.[118] Another appeared in April 1864 in the Brooklyn Daily Union.[119]

In the 1870s, Higginson showed Dickinson's poems to Helen Hunt Jackson, who had coincidentally been at theAcademy with Dickinson when they were girls.[120] Jackson was deeply involved in the publishing world, andmanaged to convince Dickinson to publish her poem "Success is counted sweetest" anonymously in a volume calledA Masque of Poets. The poem, however, was altered to agree with contemporary taste. It was the last poempublished during Dickinson's lifetime.

Emily Dickinson 11

PosthumousAfter Dickinson's death, Lavinia Dickinson kept her promise and burned most of the poet's correspondence.Significantly though, Dickinson had left no instructions about the forty notebooks and loose sheets gathered in alocked chest.[121] Lavinia recognized the poems' worth and became obsessed with seeing them published.[122] Sheturned first to her brother's wife and then to Mabel Loomis Todd, her brother's mistress, for assistance. A feudensued, with the manuscripts divided between the Todd and Dickinson houses, preventing complete publication ofDickinson's poetry for more than half a century.[123]

Cover of the first edition of Poems, published in1890

The first volume of Dickinson's Poems, edited jointly by MabelLoomis Todd and T. W. Higginson, appeared in November 1890.[124]

Although Todd claimed that only essential changes were made, thepoems were extensively edited to match punctuation and capitalizationto late 19th-century standards, with occasional rewordings to reduceDickinson's obliquity.[125] The first 115-poem volume was a criticaland financial success, going through eleven printings in two years.Poems: Second Series followed in 1891, running to five editions by1893; a third series appeared in 1896. One reviewer, in 1892, wrote:"The world will not rest satisfied till every scrap of her writings, lettersas well as literature, has been published".[126]

Nearly a dozen new editions of Dickinson's poetry, whether containingpreviously unpublished or newly edited poems, were publishedbetween 1914 and 1945.[127] Martha Dickinson Bianchi, the daughterof Susan and Edward Dickinson, published collections of her aunt'spoetry based on the manuscripts held by her family, whereas MabelLoomis Todd's daughter, Millicent Todd Bingham, publishedcollections based on the manuscripts held by her mother. Thesecompeting editions of Dickinson's poetry, often differing in order andstructure, ensured that the poet's work was in the public's eye.[128]

The first scholarly publication came in 1955 with a complete new three-volume set edited by Thomas H. Johnson.Forming the basis of later Dickinson scholarship, Johnson's variorum brought all of Dickinson's known poemstogether for the first time.[129] Johnson's goal was to present the poems very nearly as Dickinson had left them in hermanuscripts.[130] They were untitled, only numbered in an approximate chronological sequence, strewn with dashesand irregularly capitalized, and often extremely elliptical in their language.[131] Three years later, Johnson edited andpublished, along with Theodora Ward, a complete collection of Dickinson's letters, also presented in three volumes.In 1981, The Manuscript Books of Emily Dickinson was published. Using the physical evidence of the originalpapers, the poems were intended to be published in their original order for the first time. Editor Ralph W. Franklinrelied on smudge marks, needle punctures and other clues to reassemble the poet's packets. Since then, many criticshave argued for thematic unity in these small collections, believing the ordering of the poems to be more thanchronological or convenient.Dickinson biographer Alfred Habegger wrote in his 2001 work My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life of EmilyDickinson that "The consequences of the poet's failure to disseminate her work in a faithful and orderly manner arestill very much with us".[132]

Emily Dickinson 12

PoetrySee: Emily Dickinson at Wikisource for complete poetic works

Dickinson's poems generally fall into three distinct periods, the works in each period having certain generalcharacters in common.• Pre-1861. These are often conventional and sentimental in nature.[133] Thomas H. Johnson, who later published

The Poems of Emily Dickinson, was able to date only five of Dickinson's poems before 1858.[134] Two of theseare mock valentines done in an ornate and humorous style, and two others are conventional lyrics, one of which isabout missing her brother Austin. The fifth poem, which begins "I have a Bird in spring", conveys her grief overthe feared loss of friendship and was sent to her friend Sue Gilbert.

• 1861–1865. This was her most creative period—these poems are more vigorous and emotional. Johnsonestimated that she composed 86 poems in 1861, 366 in 1862, 141 in 1863, and 174 in 1864. He also believed thatthis is when she fully developed her themes of life and death.[135]

• Post-1866. It is estimated that two-thirds of the entire body of her poetry was written before this year.

Structure and syntax

Dickinson's handwritten manuscript of her poem"Wild Nights – Wild Nights!"

The extensive use of dashes and unconventional capitalization inDickinson's manuscripts, and the idiosyncratic vocabulary andimagery, combine to create a body of work that is "far more various inits styles and forms than is commonly supposed".[136] Dickinsonavoids pentameter, opting more generally for trimeter, tetrameter and,less often, dimeter. Sometimes her use of these meters is regular, butoftentimes it is irregular. The regular form that she most often employsis the ballad stanza, a traditional form that is divided into quatrains,using tetrameter for the first and third lines and trimeter for the secondand fourth, while rhyming the second and fourth lines (ABCB).Though Dickinson often uses perfect rhymes for lines two and four,she also makes frequent use of slant rhyme.[137] In some of her poems,she varies the meter from the traditional ballad stanza by using trimeterfor lines one, two and four, while only using tetrameter for line three.

Since many of her poems were written in traditional ballad stanzaswith ABCB rhyme schemes, some of these poems can be sung to fitthe melodies of popular folk songs and hymns that also use thecommon meter, employing alternating lines of iambic tetrameter andiambic trimeter.[138] Familiar examples of such songs are "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and "Amazing Grace'".

Dickinson scholar and poet Anthony Hecht finds resonances in Dickinson's poetry not only with hymns andsong-forms but also with psalms and riddles, citing the following example: "Who is the East? / The Yellow Man /Who may be Purple if he can / That carries the Sun. / Who is the West? / The Purple Man / Who may be Yellow ifHe can / That lets Him out again."Late 20th-century scholars are "deeply interested" by Dickinson's highly individual use of punctuation and lineation(line lengths and line breaks). Following the publication of one of the few poems that appeared in her lifetime – "Anarrow Fellow in the Grass", published as "The Snake" in the Republican – Dickinson complained that the editedpunctuation (an added comma and a full stop substitution for the original dash) altered the meaning of the entirepoem.

Emily Dickinson 13

Original wordingA narrow Fellow in the GrassOccasionally rides –You may have met Him – did younotHis notice sudden is –

Republican version[]

A narrow Fellow in the GrassOccasionally rides –You may have met Him – did younot,His notice sudden is.

As Farr points out, "snakes instantly notice you"; Dickinson's version captures the "breathless immediacy" of theencounter; and The Republican's punctuation renders "her lines more commonplace". With the increasingly closefocus on Dickinson's structures and syntax has come a growing appreciation that they are "aesthetically based".Although Johnson's landmark 1955 edition of poems was relatively unaltered from the original, later scholarscritiqued it for deviating from the style and layout of Dickinson's manuscripts. Meaningful distinctions, thesescholars assert, can be drawn from varying lengths and angles of dash, and differing arrangements of text on thepage.[139] Several volumes have attempted to render Dickinson's handwritten dashes using many typographicsymbols of varying length and angle. R. W. Franklin's 1998 variorum edition of the poems provided alternatewordings to those chosen by Johnson, in a more limited editorial intervention. Franklin also used typeset dashes ofvarying length to approximate the manuscripts' dashes more closely.

Major themesDickinson left no formal statement of her aesthetic intentions and, because of the variety of her themes, her workdoes not fit conveniently into any one genre. She has been regarded, alongside Emerson (whose poems Dickinsonadmired), as a Transcendentalist.[140] However, Farr disagrees with this analysis, saying that Dickinson's"relentlessly measuring mind ... deflates the airy elevation of the Transcendental".[141] Apart from the major themesdiscussed below, Dickinson's poetry frequently uses humor, puns, irony and satire.[142]

Flowers and gardensFarr notes that Dickinson's "poems and letters almost wholly concern flowers" and that allusions to gardensoften refer to an "imaginative realm ... wherein flowers [are] often emblems for actions and emotions".[143]

She associates some flowers, like gentians and anemones, with youth and humility; others with prudence andinsight. Her poems were often sent to friends with accompanying letters and nosegays. Farr notes that one ofDickinson's earlier poems, written about 1859, appears to "conflate her poetry itself with the posies": "Mynosegays are for Captives – / Dim – long expectant eyes – / Fingers denied the plucking, / Patient till Paradise– / To such, if they sh'd whisper / Of morning and the moor – / They bear no other errand, / And I, no otherprayer".

The Master poemsDickinson left a large number of poems addressed to "Signor", "Sir" and "Master", who is characterized asDickinson's "lover for all eternity".[144] These confessional poems are often "searing in their self-inquiry" and"harrowing to the reader" and typically take their metaphors from texts and paintings of Dickinson's day. TheDickinson family themselves believed these poems were addressed to actual individuals but this view isfrequently rejected by scholars. Farr, for example, contends that the Master is an unattainable compositefigure, "human, with specific characteristics, but godlike" and speculates that Master may be a "kind ofChristian muse".

MorbidityDickinson's poems reflect her "early and lifelong fascination" with illness, dying and death.[145] Perhaps surprisingly for a New England spinster, her poems allude to death by many methods: "crucifixion, drowning, hanging, suffocation, freezing, premature burial, shooting, stabbing and guillotinage". She reserved her sharpest insights into the "death blow aimed by God" and the "funeral in the brain", often reinforced by images of thirst and starvation. Dickinson scholar Vivian Pollak considers these references an autobiographical

Emily Dickinson 14

reflection of Dickinson's "thirsting-starving persona", an outward expression of her needy self-image as small,thin and frail. Dickinson's most psychologically complex poems explore the theme that the loss of hunger forlife causes the death of self and place this at "the interface of murder and suicide".

Gospel poemsThroughout her life, Dickinson wrote poems reflecting a preoccupation with the teachings of Jesus Christ and,indeed, many are addressed to him.[146] She stresses the Gospels' contemporary pertinence and recreates them,often with "wit and American colloquial language". Scholar Dorothy Oberhaus finds that the "salient featureuniting Christian poets ... is their reverential attention to the life of Jesus Christ" and contends that Dickinson'sdeep structures place her in the "poetic tradition of Christian devotion" alongside Hopkins, Eliot and Auden. Ina Nativity poem, Dickinson combines lightness and wit to revisit an ancient theme: "The Savior must havebeen / A docile Gentleman – / To come so far so cold a Day / For little Fellowmen / The Road to Bethlehem /Since He and I were Boys / Was leveled, but for that twould be / A rugged billion Miles –".

The Undiscovered ContinentAcademic Suzanne Juhasz considers that Dickinson saw the mind and spirit as tangible visitable places andthat for much of her life she lived within them.[147] Often, this intensely private place is referred to as the"undiscovered continent" and the "landscape of the spirit" and embellished with nature imagery. At othertimes, the imagery is darker and forbidding—castles or prisons, complete with corridors and rooms—to createa dwelling place of "oneself" where one resides with one's other selves. An example that brings together manyof these ideas is: "Me from Myself – to banish – / Had I Art – / Impregnable my Fortress / Unto All Heart – /But since myself—assault Me – / How have I peace / Except by subjugating / Consciousness. / And sinceWe're mutual Monarch / How this be / Except by Abdication – / Me – of Me?".

Reception

Dickinson wrote and sent this poem ("A Route toEvanescence") to Thomas Higginson in 1880.

The surge of posthumous publication gave Dickinson's poetry its firstpublic exposure. Backed by Higginson and with a favorable noticefrom William Dean Howells, an editor of Harper's Magazine, thepoetry received mixed reviews after it was first published in 1890.Higginson himself stated in his preface to the first edition ofDickinson's published work that the poetry's quality "is that ofextraordinary grasp and insight",[148] albeit "without the proper controland chastening" that the experience of publishing during her lifetimemight have conferred.[149] His judgment that her opus was "incompleteand unsatisfactory" would be echoed in the essays of the New Criticsin the 1930s.

Maurice Thompson, who was literary editor of The Independent fortwelve years, noted in 1891 that her poetry had "a strange mixture ofrare individuality and originality".[150] Some critics hailed Dickinson'seffort, but disapproved of her unusual non-traditional style. AndrewLang, a British writer, dismissed Dickinson's work, stating that "ifpoetry is to exist at all, it really must have form and grammar, andmust rhyme when it professes to rhyme. The wisdom of the ages andthe nature of man insist on so much".[151] Thomas Bailey Aldrich, apoet and novelist, equally dismissed Dickinson's poetic technique in

The Atlantic Monthly in January 1892: "It is plain that Miss Dickinson possessed an extremely unconventional and

Emily Dickinson 15

grotesque fancy. She was deeply tinged by the mysticism of Blake, and strongly influenced by the mannerism ofEmerson ... But the incoherence and formlessness of her — versicles are fatal ... an eccentric, dreamy, half-educatedrecluse in an out-of-the-way New England village (or anywhere else) cannot with impunity set at defiance the lawsof gravitation and grammar".[152]

Critical attention to Dickinson's poetry was meager from 1897 to the early 1920s.[153] By the start of the 20thcentury, interest in her poetry became broader in scope and some critics began to consider Dickinson as essentiallymodern. Rather than seeing Dickinson's poetic styling as a result of lack of knowledge or skill, modern criticsbelieved the irregularities were consciously artistic.[154] In a 1915 essay, Elizabeth Shepley Sergeant called the poet'sinspiration "daring" and named her "one of the rarest flowers the sterner New England land ever bore".[155] With thegrowing popularity of modernist poetry in the 1920s, Dickinson's failure to conform to 19th-century poetic form wasno longer surprising nor distasteful to new generations of readers. Dickinson was suddenly referred to by variouscritics as a great woman poet, and a cult following began to form.[156]

In the 1930s, a number of the New Critics – among them R. P. Blackmur, Allen Tate, Cleanth Brooks and YvorWinters – appraised the significance of Dickinson's poetry. As critic Roland Hagenbüchle pointed out, their"affirmative and prohibitive tenets turned out to be of special relevance to Dickinson scholarship".[157] Blackmur, inan attempt to focus and clarify the major claims for and against the poet's greatness, wrote in a landmark 1937critical essay: "... she was a private poet who wrote as indefatigably as some women cook or knit. Her gift for wordsand the cultural predicament of her time drove her to poetry instead of antimacassars ... She came... at the right timefor one kind of poetry: the poetry of sophisticated, eccentric vision."[158]

The second wave of feminism created greater cultural sympathy for her as a female poet. In the first collection ofcritical essays on Dickinson from a feminist perspective, she is heralded as the greatest woman poet in the Englishlanguage.[159] Biographers and theorists of the past tended to separate Dickinson's roles as a woman and a poet. Forexample, George Whicher wrote in his 1952 book This Was a Poet: A Critical Biography of Emily Dickinson,"Perhaps as a poet [Dickinson] could find the fulfillment she had missed as a woman." Feminist criticism, on theother hand, declares that there is a necessary and powerful conjunction between Dickinson being a woman and apoet.[160] Adrienne Rich theorized in Vesuvius at Home: The Power of Emily Dickinson (1976) that Dickinson'sidentity as a woman poet brought her power: "[she] chose her seclusion, knowing she was exceptional and knowingwhat she needed...She carefully selected her society and controlled the disposal of her time...neither eccentric norquaint; she was determined to survive, to use her powers, to practice necessary economics."[161]

Some scholars question the poet's sexuality, theorizing that the numerous letters and poems that were dedicated toSusan Gilbert Dickinson indicate a lesbian romance, and speculating about how this may have influenced herpoetry.[162] Critics such as John Cody, Lillian Faderman, Vivian R. Pollak, Paula Bennett, Judith Farr, Ellen LouiseHart, and Martha Nell Smith have argued that Susan was the central erotic relationship in Dickinson's life.[163]

LegacyIn the early 20th century, Dickinson's legacy was promoted in particular by Martha Dickinson Bianchi and MillicentTodd Bingham. Bianchi, who had inherited The Evergreens as well as the copyright for her aunt's poetry from herparents, published works such as Emily Dickinson Face to Face and Letters of Emily Dickinson, which stoked publiccuriosity about her aunt. Her books perpetrated the myths surrounding her aunt, while combining family tradition,personal recollections, and pieces of correspondence. In comparison, Millicent Todd Bingham's works provided amore distant and realistic perspective of the poet.[164]

Emily Dickinson is now considered a powerful and persistent figure in American culture.[165] Although much of the early reception concentrated on Dickinson's eccentric and secluded nature, she has become widely acknowledged as an innovative, pre-modernist poet.[166] As early as 1891, William Dean Howells wrote that "If nothing else had come out of our life but this strange poetry, we should feel that in the work of Emily Dickinson, America, or New England rather, had made a distinctive addition to the literature of the world, and could not be left out of any record of it."[167]

Emily Dickinson 16

Twentieth-century critic Harold Bloom has placed her alongside Walt Whitman, Wallace Stevens, Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot, and Hart Crane as a major American poet, and among the thirty greatest Western Writers of all time.[168]

The Dickinson Homestead as it appears today. In2003 it was made into the Emily Dickinson

Museum.

Dickinson is taught in American literature and poetry classes in theUnited States from middle school to college. Her poetry is frequentlyanthologized and has been used as texts for art songs by composerssuch as Aaron Copland, Nick Peros, John Adams and Michael TilsonThomas. Several schools have been established in her name; forexample, two Emily Dickinson Elementary Schools exist in Bozeman,Montana, and Redmond, Washington. A few literaryjournals—including The Emily Dickinson Journal, the officialpublication of the Emily Dickinson International Society—have beenfounded to examine her work. An 8-cent commemorative stamp inhonor of Dickinson was issued by the United States Postal Service onAugust 28, 1971 as the second stamp in the "American Poet" series. Aone-woman play entitled The Belle of Amherst first appeared on Broadway in 1976, winning several awards; it waslater adapted for television.[169]

Dickinson's herbarium, which is now held in the Houghton Library at Harvard University, was published in 2006 asEmily Dickinson's Herbarium by Harvard University Press. The original work was compiled by Dickinson duringher years at Amherst Academy, and consists of 424 pressed specimens of plants arranged on 66 pages of a boundalbum. A digital facsimile of the herbarium is available online. The Amherst Jones Library's Special Collectionsdepartment has an Emily Dickinson Collection consisting of approximately seven thousand items, including originalmanuscript poems and letters, family correspondence, scholarly articles and books, newspaper clippings, theses,plays, photographs and contemporary artwork and prints. The Archives and Special Collections at Amherst Collegehas substantial holdings of Dickinson's manuscripts and letters as well as a lock of Dickinson's hair and the originalof the only positively identified image of the poet. In 1965, in recognition of Dickinson's growing stature as a poet,the Homestead was purchased by Amherst College. It opened to the public for tours, and also served as a facultyresidence for many years. The Emily Dickinson Museum was created in 2003 when ownership of the Evergreens,which had been occupied by Dickinson family heirs until 1988, was transferred to the college.

Modern influence and inspirationEmily Dickinson's life and works have been the source of inspiration particularly to feminist orientated artists of avariety of mediums. A few notable examples are as follows:• The cello rock band Rasputina drew inspiration from Dickinson for their 2010 album Sister Kinderhook. The

songs Sweet Sister Temperance and My Porcelain Life are based specifically on the life of Dickinson. Dickinsonhas also played a role of inspiration for Rasputina's front woman Melora Creager for a number of years.

• Jane Campion's film the Piano and novel (co-authored by Kate Pullinger) were inspired by the poetry of EmilyDickinson as well as the novels by the Bronte Sisters. The soundtrack to the film, written and composed byMichael Nyman contained songs with titles directly extracted from Dickinson's poetry such as Big My Secret andmost famously the Heart Asks Pleasure First. The former being one of Nyman's most notable works to date and asignature piece of his repertoire.

Emily Dickinson 17

References

Notes[1][1] D'Arienzo (2006)[2][2] Sources differ as to the number of poems that were published, but most put it between seven and ten.[3][3] McNeil (1986), 2.[4][4] Bloom (1999), 9; Ford (1966), 122.[5][5] Sewall (1974), 321.[6] Sewall (1974), 17–18.[7] Sewall (1974), 337; Wolff (1986), 19–21.[8][8] Wolff (1986), 14.[9][9] Wolff (1986), 36.[10][10] Sewall (1974), 324.[11][11] Habegger (2001), 85.[12][12] Farr (2005), 1.[13][13] Sewall (1974), 335.[14][14] Wolff (1986), 45.[15][15] Habegger (2001), 129.[16][16] Sewall (1974) 322.[17][17] Johnson (1960), 302.[18][18] Habegger (2001). 142.[19][19] Sewall (1974), 342.[20][20] Habegger (2001), 148.[21][21] Habegger (2001), 172.[22][22] Ford (1966), 55.[23] http:/ / www. emilydickinsonmuseum. org/ abiah_root[24] http:/ / www. emilydickinsonmuseum. org/ abby_bliss[25] http:/ / www. emilydickinsonmuseum. org/ susan_dickinson[26] Ford (1966), 47–48.[27][27] Habegger (2001), 168.[28][28] Ford (1966), 37.[29][29] Johnson (1960), 153.[30][30] Ford (1966), 46.[31][31] Sewall (1974), 368.[32][32] Sewall (1974), 358.[33][33] Habegger (2001), 211.[34][34] Pickard (1967), 19.[35][35] Habegger (2001), 213.[36][36] Habegger (2001), 216.[37][37] Sewall (1974), 401.[38][38] Habegger (2001), 221.[39][39] Habegger (2001), 218.[40][40] Knapp (1989), 59.[41][41] Sewall (1974), 683.[42][42] Habegger (2001), 226.[43] Sewall (1974), 700–701.[44][44] Sewall (1974), 340.[45][45] Sewall (1974), 341.[46][46] Martin (2002), 53.[47][47] Habegger (2001), 338.[48][48] Pickard (1967), 21.[49] Longenbach, James. (June 16, 2010.) " Ardor and the Abyss (http:/ / www. thenation. com/ article/ ardor-and-abyss?page=full)". The Nation.

Retrieved June 29, 2010.[50][50] Sewall (1974), 444.[51][51] Sewall (1974), 447.[52][52] Habegger (2001), 330.[53] 'The World Is Not Acquainted With Us': A New Dickinson Daguerreotype? (https:/ / www. amherst. edu/ library/ archives/ holdings/

edickinson/ new_daguerreotype)" Amherst College Archives and Special Collections Website. September 6, 2012.

Emily Dickinson 18

[54][54] Walsh (1971), 87.[55][55] Habegger (2001). 342.[56][56] Habegger (2001), 353.[57][57] Sewall (1974), 463.[58][58] Sewall (1974), 473.[59][59] Habegger (2001), 376; McNeil (1986), 33.[60][60] Franklin (1998), 5[61][61] Ford (1966), 39.[62][62] Habegger (2001), 405.[63] McDermott, John F. 2000. " Emily Dickinson's 'Nervous Prostration' and Its Possible Relationship to Her Work (http:/ / muse. jhu. edu/

journals/ emily_dickinson_journal/ v009/ 9. 1mcdermott. html)". The Emily Dickinson Journal. 9(1). pp. 71–86.[64] Fuss, Diana. 1998. " Interior Chambers: The Emily Dickinson Homestead (http:/ / muse. jhu. edu/ journals/ differences/ v010/ 10. 3fuss.

html)". A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies. 10(3). pp. 1–46[65] " A bomb in her bosom: Emily Dickinson's secret life (http:/ / www. guardian. co. uk/ books/ 2010/ feb/ 13/

emily-dickinson-lyndall-gordon)". The Guardian. February 13, 2010. Retrieved August 20, 2010.[66][66] Johnson (1960), v.[67] Wolff (1986), 249–250.[68][68] Sewall (1974), 541.[69][69] Habegger (2001), 453.[70][70] Johnson (1960), vii.[71][71] Habegger (2001), 455.[72][72] Blake (1964), 45.[73][73] Habegger (2001), 456.[74] Sewall (1974), 554–555.[75][75] Wolff (1986), 254.[76][76] Wolff (1986), 188.[77][77] Wolff (1986), 188, 258.[78][78] Wilson (1986), 491.[79][79] Habegger (2001), 498.[80] Habegger (2001), 501; Murray (1996), 286–287.[81][81] Habegger (2001), 502; Murray (1996), 287.[82] Johnson (1960), 123–124.[83][83] Habegger (2001), 517.[84][84] Habegger (2001), 516.[85][85] Habegger (2001), 540.[86][86] Habegger (2001), 548.[87][87] Habegger (2001), 541.[88][88] Habegger (2001), 547.[89][89] Habegger (2001), 521.[90][90] Habegger (2001), 523.[91][91] Habegger (2001), 524.[92][92] Habegger (2001), 154.[93][93] Parker, G9.[94][94] Habegger (2001), 562.[95][95] Habegger (2001), 566.[96][96] Habegger (2001), 569.[97][97] Johnson (1960), 661.[98][98] Habegger (2001: 587); Sewall (1974), 642.[99][99] Sewall (1974), 651.[100][100] Sewall (1974), 652.[101][101] Habegger (2001), 592; Sewall (1974), 653.[102][102] Habegger (2001), 591.[103][103] Habegger (2001), 597.[104][104] Habegger (2001), 604.[105][105] Walsh (1971), 26.[106][106] Habegger (2001), 612.[107][107] Habegger (2001), 607.[108][108] Habegger (2001), 615.[109][109] Habegger (2001), 623.

Emily Dickinson 19

[110][110] Habegger (2001), 625.[111][111] Wolff (1986), 534.[112][112] Habegger (2001), 627.[113][113] Habegger (2001), 622.[114][114] Wolff (1986), 535.[115][115] McNeil (1986), 33.[116][116] Habegger (2001), 389.[117][117] Wolff (1986), 245.[118] Habegger (2001), 402–403.[119][119] Habegger (2001), 403.[120] Sewall (1974), 580–583.[121][121] Farr (1996), 3.[122][122] Pickard (1967), xv.[123][123] Wolff (1986), 6[124][124] Wolff (1986), 537.[125][125] McNeil (1986), 34; Blake (1964), 42.[126][126] Buckingham (1989), 194.[127][127] Grabher (1988), p. 243[128][128] Mitchell (2009), p. 75[129][129] Grabher (1988), p. 122[130][130] Martin (2002), 17.[131][131] McNeil (1986), 35.[132][132] Habegger (2001), 628.[133][133] Ford (1966), 68.[134][134] Pickard (1967), 20.[135][135] Johnson (1960), viii.[136] Hecht (1996), 153–155.[137][137] Ford (1966), 63.[138][138] Wolff (1986), 186.[139][139] Crumbley (1997), 14.[140][140] Bloom (1998), 18.[141][141] Farr (1996), 13.[142][142] Wolff (1986), 171.[143] Farr (2005), 1–7.[144] Farr (1996), 7–8.[145] Pollak (1996), 62–65.[146] Oberhaus (1996), 105–119[147] Juhasz (1996), 130–140.[148][148] Blake (1964), 12.[149][149] Wolff (1986), 175.[150][150] Blake (1964), 28.[151][151] Blake (1964), 37.[152][152] Blake (1964), 55.[153][153] Blake (1964), vi.[154] Wells (1929), 243–259.[155][155] Blake (1964), 89.[156][156] Blake (1964), 202.[157] Grabher (1998), 358–359.[158][158] Blake (1964), 223.[159][159] Juhasz (1983), 1.[160][160] Juhasz (1983), 9.[161][161] Juhasz (1983), 10.[162][162] Martin (2002), 58[163][163] Comment (2001), 167.[164][164] Grabher (1998), p. 31[165][165] Martin (2002), 1.[166][166] Martin (2002), 2.[167][167] Blake (1964), 24.[168][168] Bloom (1994), 226

Emily Dickinson 20

[169] " Belle of Amherst (http:/ / www. emilydickinsonmuseum. org/ node/ 250)". Emily Dickinson Museum. Retrieved September 23, 2010.

Editions of poetry• Franklin, R. W. (ed). 1999. The Poems of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge: Belknap Press. ISBN 0-674-67624-6• Johnson, Thomas H. (ed). 1960. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.

Secondary sources• Bianchi, Martha Dickinson. 1970. Emily Dickinson Face to Face: Unpublished Letters with Notes and

Reminiscences. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books.• Blake, Caesar R. (ed). 1964. The Recognition of Emily Dickinson: Selected Criticism Since 1890. Ed. Caesar R.

Blake. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.• Bloom, Harold. 1999. Emily Dickinson. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 0-7910-5106-4.• Bloom, Harold. 1994. The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages. New York: Harcourt Brace.• Buckingham, Willis J. (ed). 1989. Emily Dickinson's Reception in the 1890s: A Documentary History. Pittsburgh:

University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-3604-6.• Comment, Kristin M. 2001. "Dickinson's Bawdy: Shakespeare and Sexual Symbolism in Emily Dickinson's

Writing to Susan Dickinson". Legacy. 18(2). pp. 167–181.• Crumbley, Paul. 1997. Inflections of the Pen: Dash and Voice in Emily Dickinson. Lexington: The University

Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-1988-X.• D'Arienzo, Daria. 2006. "Looking at Emily" (http:/ / www3. amherst. edu/ magazine/ issues/ 06winter/ emily/ ),

Amherst Magazine. Winter 2006. Retrieved June 23, 2009.• Farr, Judith (ed). 1996. Emily Dickinson: A Collection of Critical Essays. Prentice Hall International Paperback

Editions. ISBN 978-0-13-033524-1.• Farr, Judith. 2005. The Gardens of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, England: Harvard

University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01829-7.• Ford, Thomas W. 1966. Heaven Beguiles the Tired: Death in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson. University of

Alabama Press.• Franklin, R. W. 1998. The Master Letters of Emily Dickinson. University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN

1-55849-155-4.• Gordon, Lyndall. 2010. Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family's Feuds. Viking. ISBN

978-0-670-02193-2.• Grabher, Gudrun, Roland Hagenbüchle and Cristanne Miller. 1998. The Emily Dickinson Handbook. Amherst:

University of Massachusetts Press.• Habegger, Alfred. 2001. My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life of Emily Dickinson. New York: Random

House. ISBN 978-0-679-44986-7.• Hecht, Anthony. 1996. "The Riddles of Emily Dickinson" in Farr (1996) 149–162.• Juhasz, Suzanne (ed). 1983. Feminist Critics Read Emily Dickinson. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

ISBN 0-253-32170-0.• Juhasz, Suzanne. 1996. "The Landscape of the Spirit" in Farr (1996) 130–140.• Knapp, Bettina L. 1989. Emily Dickinson. New York: Continuum Publishing.• Martin, Wendy (ed). 2002. The Cambridge Companion to Emily Dickinson. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press. ISBN 0-521-00118-8.• McNeil, Helen. 1986. Emily Dickinson. London: Virago Press. ISBN 0-394-74766-6.• Mitchell, Domhnall Mitchell and Maria Stuart. 2009. The International Reception of Emily Dickinson. New York:

Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-9715-2.• Murray, Aífe. 2010. Maid as Muse: How Domestic Servants Changed Emily Dickinson's Life and Language.

University Press of New England. ISBN 978-1-58465-674-6.

Emily Dickinson 21

• Murray, Aífe. 1996. "Kitchen Table Poetics: Maid Margaret Maher and Her Poet Emily Dickinson," The EmilyDickinson Journal. 5(2). pp. 285–296.

• Oberhaus, Dorothy Huff. 1996. " 'Tender pioneer': Emily Dickinson's Poems on the Life of Christ" in Farr (1996)105–119.

• Parker, Peter. 2007. "New Feet Within My Garden Go: Emily Dickinson's Herbarium" (http:/ / www. telegraph.co. uk/ gardening/ main. jhtml?xml=/ gardening/ 2007/ 06/ 29/ gemily29. xml), The Daily Telegraph, June 29,2007. Retrieved January 18, 2008.

• Pickard, John B. 1967. Emily Dickinson: An Introduction and Interpretation. New York: Holt, Rinehart andWinston.

• Pollak, Vivian R. 1996. "Thirst and Starvation in Emily Dickinson's Poetry" in Farr (1996) 62–75.• Sewall, Richard B.. 1974. The Life of Emily Dickinson. New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux. ISBN

0-674-53080-2.• Smith, Martha Nell. 1992. Rowing in Eden: Rereading Emily Dickinson. Austin, Texas: University of Texas

Press. ISBN 0-292-77666-7.• Stocks, Kenneth. 1988. Emily Dickinson and the Modern Consciousness: A Poet of Our Time. New York: St.

Martin's Press.• Walsh, John Evangelist. 1971. The Hidden Life of Emily Dickinson. New York: Simon and Schuster.• Wells, Anna Mary. 1929. "Early Criticism of Emily Dickinson", American Literature, Vol. 1, No. 3. (November

1929).• Wilson, Edmund. 1962. Patriotic Gore: Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War. New York: Farrar,

Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0-393-31256-9.• Wolff, Cynthia Griffin. 1986. Emily Dickinson. New York. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-54418-8.

Further reading

Archival sources• Emily Dickinson Papers, 1844-1891 (3 microfilm reels) are housed at the Sterling Memorial Library at Yale

University.

External links

Library resources

About Emily Dickinson

• Online books (http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ ftl/ cgi-bin/ ftl?st=viaf& su=31995584& library=OLBP)• Resources in your library (http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ ftl/ cgi-bin/ ftl?st=viaf& su=31995584)• Resources in other libraries (http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ ftl/ cgi-bin/ ftl?st=viaf& su=31995584& library=0CHOOSE0)

By Emily Dickinson

• Online books (http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ ftl/ cgi-bin/ ftl?at=viaf& au=31995584& library=OLBP)• Resources in your library (http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ ftl/ cgi-bin/ ftl?at=viaf& au=31995584)• Resources in other libraries (http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ ftl/ cgi-bin/ ftl?at=viaf& au=31995584& library=0CHOOSE0)

• Works by Emily Dickinson (http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ author/ Emily+ Dickinson) at Project Gutenberg• Works by or about Emily Dickinson (http:/ / worldcat. org/ identities/ lccn-n79-54166) in libraries (WorldCat

catalog)• Dickinson Electronic Archives (http:/ / www. emilydickinson. org/ )• Emily Dickinson Archive (http:/ / www. edickinson. org)

Emily Dickinson 22

• Profile and poems of Emily Dickinson, including audio files (http:/ / www. poetryfoundation. org/ bio/emily-dickinson), at the Poetry Foundation.

• Emily Dickinson Lexicon (http:/ / edl. byu. edu/ index. php)• Emily Dickinson at Modern American Poetry (http:/ / www. english. illinois. edu/ maps/ poets/ a_f/ dickinson/

dickinson. htm)• Emily Dickinson International Society (http:/ / www. emilydickinsoninternationalsociety. org/ )• Emily Dickinson Museum (http:/ / www. emilydickinsonmuseum. org/ ) The Homestead and the Evergreens,

Amherst, Massachusetts• Emily Dickinson at Amherst College (https:/ / www. amherst. edu/ mm/ 278804), Amherst College Archives and

Special Collections• Emily Dickinson Collection (http:/ / hcl. harvard. edu/ libraries/ houghton/ collections/ modern/ dickinson. cfm) at

Houghton Library (http:/ / hcl. harvard. edu/ libraries/ houghton/ ), Harvard University• Boston Public Library. Galatea Collection, Emily Dickinson Papers (http:/ / www. flickr. com/ photos/

boston_public_library/ sets/ 72157604466722178/ )

Article Sources and Contributors 23

Article Sources and ContributorsEmily Dickinson  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=581438987  Contributors: 21655, 28421u2232nfenfcenc, A Musing, AJR, AKeen, AMK152, ARW2250, Aashaa, Abh9h,Abie the Fish Peddler, Aboutmovies, AbsolutDan, Academic Challenger, According2buster, AdamBMorgan, AdamClarke, Adamahill, Adashiel, Addshore, Adeax, Adiamas, AdjustShift,Adolphus79, Adopp, AdultSwim, AerobicFox, AgnosticPreachersKid, Agreene175, Ahoerstemeier, Aim Here, Aitias, Alansohn, Alethiophile, Alex Cohn, Alex S, All Hallow's Wraith,Allstarecho, Alma Pater, Alphachimp, Amazinganin, Anaxial, Anbellofe, Andrew Gray, Andrew Norman, Andrew Parodi, AndrewLeeson, AndrewvdBK, Andybong, Andycjp, Angr, Animum,Ann Stouter, AnnaKucsma, Annabells, Annandale, Antandrus, Apeloverage, Arabhorse, Arbor to SJ, Arcadian, Ariadavid, Arjun01, Arniep, Art LaPella, Arthur Holland, Artibaton, Artimaean,Ashley Pomeroy, Aude, Averaver, Avicennasis, Avilian, AzaToth, BD2412, Badgernet, Balthazarduju, Bbarney, Bbsrock, Bcartolo, Bcorr, Beetstra, Beginning, Bellerophon, Bento00, Bevo74,Bibliomaniac15, Bidwellm, BinaryTed, Blahedo, Blakwyte, Blindguardian3210, Bluemoose, BobTheTomato, Bobchicken9, Bobo192, Boboboz, Bobzombi22, Bocaccio70s, Bokan, Bonadea,Bongwarrior, BorgHunter, Br'er Rabbit, Brandmeister (old), Bread machine, Brianga, Brighterorange, BrownHairedGirl, Bruce1ee, BryanG, C.Fred, C628, CIreland, CWY2190, Caitlin000,Calsicol, Caltas, Calton, Calvin 1998, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Canadian-Bacon, Cantras, CapitalR, CappiWil, Captain panda, Catgut, Cbrown1023, Cenarium, Centpacrr, CesarB, Cflm001,Championdante, Charles Matthews, CheckeredFlag200, Chenopodiaceous, Chester888, Chicagoisforlovers, Chingmiester, Chocowulf, Chodorkovskiy, Chris the speller, ChrisGriswold,Chrislk02, Chun-hian, Cimon Avaro, Classicalkid87, Classicfilms, Classicrives01, Clem cowsie, ClockworkSoul, Closedmouth, Cmachardy58, Coldpaws, Colin54, Cometstyles, Compensations,Computerjoe, Connorhalsell, Connormah, Copysan, Corpx, Courcelles, CrazyLegsKC, Critic11, Crotalus horridus, Cunninge, Curps, CutOffTies, Cyberrex7891, D6, DVD R W, DWPittelli, DaVynci, DaAverageJoe, Dabomb87, Daderot, Damicatz, Dancefev7, DancingPenguin, Dane Sorensen, DanielCD, Danno uk, Danny, Dante8, Dave6, Dave92patriot, Davidvonwitthel, DeckerG,Deew123123, Deli nk, Delirium, Delldot, Den fjättrade ankan, Deor, Derpymcherpus, Desmay, Desultor, Dharmabum420, Diatonix, Dimadick, Dino, Discospinster, Dlohcierekim, Don LePan,DonQuixote, Donreed, Dougperryjr, Download, Dr Default, Drmies, DroEsperanto, Dsp13, Dspradau, Durin, Dwarf Kirlston, Dwo, Dylan anglada, Dylancraig, Dylanpack, Dysepsion, E Wing,E. Fokker, ERcheck, ESkog, Eaifem, EarthPerson, Eatsallthetime2, Ed8r, Edward321, Ehardman80, Ehn, Ehoran, Eisfbnore, Eletzi, Elnumerocinco, Eloquence, Endlessdan, Endofskull,EnglishTea4me, Enviroboy, Epbr123, Escape Orbit, Esurnir, Eumolpo, Everything Inane, Evianboy, Excirial, Ezgeta, FF2010, Faithlessthewonderboy, Fajardojosh, Faygo lover, FeanorStar7,Femto, Ffirehorse, Fireheart7397, Fish and karate, FisherQueen, Floss800, Folantin, Fourthwit, Fred hanson, Froztbyte, Funhistory, Future Perfect at Sunrise, Fvasconcellos, Fvw, Gardenhistory,Gaylemadwin, Geniac, GeorgeStepanek, Gilabrand, Gilliam, Gilo1969, Ginkgo100, Girlygurl123, Glen, Gmaxwell, Gobonobo, Goethean, Gogo Dodo, GoingBatty, Golgofrinchian, Gomada,Good Olfactory, Goodnightmush, Grafen, Graham87, GregAsche, Gtg204y, Guanaco, Gurch, Gusgus621, Guy Harris, HOT L Baltimore, Hadal, Haham hanuka, HalfShadow, HamYoyo,Haunted summer, Heavenlylver48, Hellogervis, Hmains, HoodedMan, Horkana, Hquon19, Hullaballoo Wolfowitz, Husky, Hydrogen Iodide, Hydrokitty, Hyfen, ILovePlankton, INeverCry, IRP,IW.HG, Iachimo, Ian.thomson, IceKarma, Ierolli, Ifax108, Indopug, Infrogmation, Ink Falls, Inspire22, Intelligentsium, Ipatrol, Iqariar, Irfali, Irishguy, IronCrow, Ishokunaeppy, Ixfd64, Izehar,J.delanoy, JForget, JHunterJ, JLaTondre, JNW, JV Smithy, JYolkowski, JackDaniels1982, Jacklee, Jackollie, Jajhill, JakeVortex, Janeway216, Japanese Searobin, Jarble, Jareha, Jauerback, Jaxl,JayHenry, Jaydec, Jcx, Jdavidb, Jedi of pi, Jennica, Jensjayne, Jester5x5, Jhhymas, Jim, Jizzulh, Jmrowland, Jnol, JoanneB, Joe056, JoeBlogsDord, Joemoeboe, Joh777nny, John, John K, JohnVandenberg, Johnpacklambert, Jonathunder, Jorvik, Jossi, Josteinn, Josthomas, Jpcohen, Jperrylsu, Jredmond, Juliancolton, Justayankeefan, K.C. Tang, KF, KGasso, Kaldari, Kalki, Kasyapa,Katalaveno, Kcordina, Keilana, Kelsey16, Kerotan, Kerowyn, King Toadsworth, Kizor, Klio89, KnowledgeOfSelf, Kokoloko2k7, Krashlandon, Krellis, Kribbeh, Krich, Kristenandjaquie, Ktr101,KudzuVine, Kukini, Kumioko (renamed), Kuru, Kyle1278, LC137, LGagnon, La goutte de pluie, Lanapopp, Landcamera900, Languagehat, Lecen, Lectonar, Leilear, LeonardoRob0t,Lepidoteromy, Lesaellen, Lestrade, LibLord, Libroman, Ligeti42, Lightmouse, Lights, Lilspiker, Liteditor, Liveste, Locos epraix, Londonlondonlondon, Lordjazz, Lotje, Lquilter, Lubin5792,LucyK1, Lugnuts, Luigi30, Luna Santin, Luxdormiens, Lysanzia, M2545, MSGJ, MZMcBride, Mac Davis, Maelnuneb, Magioladitis, Magister Mathematicae, Magnus Manske, Malo, Mandarax,Maralia, Mareino, MarmadukePercy, Martial75, Martin451, Mary Mark Ockerbloom, Masamage, Maschorr, Master of Puppets, Masterjamie, Mato, Matth05, Mav, Maximilianklein, Mechanicaldigger, Meco, Merope, Metropolitan90, Mgreason, Micahsergey, Michael Devore, Michellebryan, Midnightdreary, Mifter, Mig77, MikeLynch, Mikm, Milesthang, Miquonranger03, Mjpieters,Mnellsmith, Modernist, Moe94, Mojo Hand, Monsooner, Mountlovcen8, Mr.Z-man, MrWhich, Msikma, MuZemike, Multixfer, Mygerardromance, Myosotis Scorpioides, Mysweetoldetc.,Mzacher, N1ghtcrawl3r, Nakon, Nancy, Nareek, Naturenet, Naval Scene, NawlinWiki, Ncosmob, Nephron, Neutrality, NewEnglandYankee, Newmanbe, Nhjoavi, Nick Drake, Nickptar,Nikkimaria, Nk, Nlu, No substitute for you, Noctibus, Noharrypotter, Nolelover, Noob4sure, Northumbrian, Notahippie76, Nsaa, Nunh-huh, Nwwaew, O.o-Spectre, OCarcasso, ONEder Boy, OdMishehu AWB, OfficeBoy, Omicronpersei8, Omnipaedista, Onceuponastar, Ondenc, One Night In Hackney, Onemoreoption, Onorem, Ortensia, Oscarthecat, Outriggr, Oxymoron83, P. S.Burton, PDH, Packers1665, Paladin656, Pammalamma, Pascal666, Patstuart, Paul August, PaulStatt, Pavel Vozenilek, Perdita, Persian Poet Gal, PeterSymonds, Peterklevy, Pharaoh of theWizards, Phenz, Philip Trueman, PhnomPencil, PhotoBox, Piano non troppo, Pigsonthewing, Piledhigheranddeeper, Pilotguy, Pirateray, PoetryForEveryone, Prolog, Protonk, PseudoSudo,Pseudomonas, Puchiko, Qp10qp, Quiddity, Quietlying, Qwfp, Qwyrxian, Qxz, R3m0t, RA0808, RB972, Radon210, Raghith, Rajah, Randomblue, Randor1980, RapidR, Raquel del norte,Rasputina, Ravenscroft32, Rbbloom, Rbellin, Rdanjenkins, Red Darwin, Red Director, Redmarkviolinist, Redthoreau, Reinarman, RekishiEJ, Repku, Res2216firestar, Rettetast, RexNL, Richaraj,Richard D. LeCour, Richsantorum, Risker, Rjd0060, Rjwilmsi, RobertG, Rockhurst singer, Rockk3r, Rodney Boyd, Roger Davies, RomanLady, Ronda1, RossF18, RoyBoy, Rppeabody, Rror,Ruakh, Ruby.red.roses, Rubyelizabethlee, Rudoleska, Ryan Postlethwaite, RyanCross, Ryulong, Ryūkotsusei, SFTVLGUY2, Sadads, Sahasrahla, Sam Francis, Sampi, Sango123, Sanjay Tiwari,SarahStierch, Saschameinrath, Sbharris, Scarian, Scartol, Sceptre, SchfiftyThree, Schzmo, Scientizzle, Scott Mingus, Screw U ALL, Scribe711, Sean Whitton, Sebaldusadam, Semper15, SerAmantio di Nicolao, Shaka, Shanes, SheepNotGoats, Shinmawa, Shirik, Shoessss, Shreevatsa, Silverhand, Simmaren, Sir Paul, Sketchmoose, SkyWalker, Snigbrook, Snowolf, Solipsist,Soumyasch, SouthernNights, Soveirgn of Darkness, Spangineer, Spellcast, Spellmaster, Spondoolicks, Sprocketboy, Ssd, Starsat, Stedder, SteinbDJ, Stephenb, SteveRamone, Stevenmg,Steventity, Strangerer, Sumoeagle179, Superjo1, SweetNeo85, Sweetness46, Swollib, Syrthiss, Taikohediyoshi, Tangotango, Tanthalas39, Taranah, Tbhotch, Tcconway, TedE, Tempodivalse,The Earwig, The Rambling Man, The Thing That Should Not Be, The little neutrino, The stuart, The wub, TheBigE ND, TheKMan, Theirishpianist, Thernlund, Therunescapemaster, Thingg,ThinkBlue, Thuresson, Tide rolls, TidyCat, Timberframe, Tjmayerinsf, Tksgk262, Tlesher, Tnxman307, ToddFincannon, Tom harrison, Tom87020, Tombomp, Tony1, Tpbradbury, TreasuryTag,Tree Biting Conspiracy, Treisijs, Treyt021, Triwbe, Troels Nybo, Truthanado, Turlo Lomon, Turtlens, Twas Now, Tyrenius, Ucanlookitup, Unctions Unit, UniverSoul, Useight, Valermos,Vaxxxo, VegDisc41, Veronique50, Victoriaearle, Vigilius, Vim10, Viriditas, Vsmith, WCFrancis, WODUP, Wadewitz, Walton One, Wayne Slam, Weasel extraordinaire, Wegesrand,Welostclyde, Werdan7, Werdna, WesleyDodds, Wesrobking, West.andrew.g, Wiki Raja, Wiki alf, Wikiuser100, WillMcC, Willie Stark, WillowW, Wimt, Wiseguy007, Wjejskenewr, Wmahan,WobblyFuzz, Woohookitty, Wtmitchell, Wtshymanski, XLiquidIceX, Xaosflux, Xcentaur, Xgrimreapahx, Xlemur, Yamamoto Ichiro, YellinYee, Yllosubmarine, Yoursvivek, Yousou,Yuyudevil, ZX95, Zach1243, Zachary, Zafiroblue05, Zandperl, Zargulon, ZeWrestler, Zhunter, Zmftimelord, Zuloon, 1999 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and ContributorsFile:Emily Dickinson daguerreotype.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Emily_Dickinson_daguerreotype.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Centpacrr,Deerstop, INeverCry, JMCC1, MarmadukePercy, Yllosubmarine, 1 anonymous editsFile:Dickinson children painting.jpeg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dickinson_children_painting.jpeg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Ehardman80, FuturePerfect at SunriseFile:Emily Dickinson Homestead, Amherst, Massachusetts (from left).JPG  Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Emily_Dickinson_Homestead,_Amherst,_Massachusetts_(from_left).JPG  License: GNU Free Documentation License  Contributors: Daderot.File:Dickinson and Turner 1859 (cleaned).jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dickinson_and_Turner_1859_(cleaned).jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: User:ZX95File:Thomas Wentworth Higginson.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Thomas_Wentworth_Higginson.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Original uploaderwas Robinhood at de.wikipediaFile:EmilyDickinsonGrave-color.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:EmilyDickinsonGrave-color.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0  Contributors:MidnightdrearyFile:Emilyrepublican.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Emilyrepublican.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Eamezaga, Man vyi, MuFile:Emily Dickinson Poems.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Emily_Dickinson_Poems.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Emily DickinsonFile:Emily Dickinson "Wild nights" manuscript.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Emily_Dickinson_"Wild_nights"_manuscript.jpg  License: Public Domain Contributors: EamezagaFile:Emily Dickinson´s (1830-1886) manuscript of "A route of evanescence" (1880).jpg  Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Emily_Dickinson´s_(1830-1886)_manuscript_of_"A_route_of_evanescence"_(1880).jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Eamezaga, Manvyi, Mu, 2 anonymous editsFile:DickinsonHomestead oct2004.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:DickinsonHomestead_oct2004.jpg  License: GNU Free Documentation License  Contributors: HJMitchell, Howcheng, Yllosubmarine

License 24

LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/