EMILY DICKINSONDecember 10, 1830 –

May 15, 1886

“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and

sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all.”

Dickinson Children

Austin was her brother, and Lavinia (Vinnie) was her sister.

Her parents were Edward and Emily Norcross Dickinson

Emily Norcross Dickinson was mentally ill and often depressed and unable to care for her family.

Edward Dickinson was a Puritan and very strict. He was also a Yale graduate, successful lawyer,

Treasurer for Amherst College and a United States Congressman.

Spoken by Emily about her Father

"I never knew how to tell time by the clock till I was 15. My father thought he had taught me but I did not understand & I was afraid to say I did not & afraid to ask anyone else lest he should know"

Grandparent- Samuel F. Dickinson

Her grandfather Samuel Fowler Dickinson (1775-1838) was a Dartmouth graduate, accomplished lawyer and one of the founders of Amherst College.

He also built one of the first brick homes in the New England town on Main Street, which is now a National Historic Landmark ‘The Homestead’ and one of the now preserved Dickinson homes in the Emily Dickinson Historic District.

Adult Pictures of her brother, sister, and brother’s wife

Austin and Sue

Vinnie

The Homestead

Place where the Dickinson Family raised their children and grandchildren

Austin and Sue’s House Next Door

The Evergreens

Although Emily was a recluse, she wrote to Sue on a regular basis. Often her letters included poetry and riddles. They were not personal and seemed to be more of a way to share her work.

Emily and Sue were very close friends.

Emily’s Personal Life

She fell in love with a married man and couldn’t see him because it was against her religion.

She a great deal of pressure to do what her parents expected.

She stood on her own and had her own set of beliefs no matter how difficult it was or her family.

She enjoyed being alone to work but did see certain people fairly regularly.

Emily’s Schooling She attended Mount

Holyoke- a religious school.

Three groups- the believers, the ones who have hope and can be converted, and those who have no hope.

Emily was a member of the last group

Emily left school to come home and take care of her mother.

Unusual Family Facts

Emily had to take care of the family when her mother was having a depressive episode

Her father would not eat unless it was Emily cooking his food

Her father was very heavy handed and controlling

Emily did not follow Puritan beliefs like her family.

Interesting Facts about Emily

She wore white to mock the institution of marriage

The “lover” in many of her poems is not a husband/master, but death and eternity

People believe that she chose to be in “her own society”

She would write poetry and bake the poetry strips into muffins and cookies. She would lower these in a basket out her window to the neighborhood kids.

Interesting Facts about Emily

Emily had many of her childhood friends die of Tuberculosis

The Homestead had a cemetery across the path

She watched many of her friends die, and the reality of death was an everyday part of her life.

Emily was true to her own personal beliefs no matter what friends or family said.

She was a tiny woman whom people called “exhausting” sometimes when they visited with her.

Emily’s Work

She was influenced by Emerson She wrote over 1700 poems She never put her poems together to be

published At least 10 of her poems appeared during

her lifetime without her permission Forty years after her death friends and

family collected and published her poetry Seventy years after her poems were

published, the original dashes were added back

Emily’s Death Emily had a Kidney disease called

Bright’s Disease that had affected her eye sight and body for some time.

Emily Dickinson died on 15 May 1886, at the age of fifty-six.

She now rests in the West Cemetery of Amherst, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. Not wishing a church service, a gathering was held at The Homestead.

She was buried in one of the white dresses she had taken to wearing in her later years, violets pinned to her collar by Lavinia.