Emily Dickinson

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts. A secluded and introverted poet, Dickinson spent most of her time in her room, and wrote about 1800 poems in her lifetime, though less than a dozen were published before her death on May 15, 1886 (age 56).

Dickinson strongly feared death (especially of loved ones) from early on in her life, especially after the traumatizing death of Sophia Holland, her second cousin and best friend, in 1844. Throughout the rest of her early years, two more of her dear friends died. These deaths shaped her poetry style: dark metaphors surrounding nature. All of her poems lack a title, most are iambic, and contain dashes at the end of her lines–

Dickinson’s poetry is compact but rich; characterized by short lines, subtle word-play, and more.

She is the polar opposite of the other great American poet of her time, Walt Whitman.

Howard Nemerov famously wrote of American poets:

“Strange Metamorphosis of Poets
From epigram to epic is the course
For riders of the American winged horse.
They change both size and sex over the years,
The voice grows deeper and the beard appears;
Running for greatness they sweat away their salt,
They start out Emily and wind up Walt.”