Emily Elizabeth Dickinson is an American lyric poet of the Nineteenth century who has also been referred to as "The New England mystic" and is considered one of the greatest masters of the short poem. Emily was born in Amherst Massachusetts on December 10th, 1830. Born into a family well known for educational and political activity, her father, Edward Dickinson was an orthodox Calvinist who was lawyer and treasurer of Amherst College, and also served in Congress. Emily's mother was kept at the house due to a long-term illness, and Emily and her younger sister Lavinia, cared for her. Emily also had an older brother, Austin Dickinson. Interestingly, Emily's grandfather Samuel Fowler Dickinson was one of the founders of Amherst College.
As for Emily's education, she attended a primary school for four year and then attended Amherst Academy for seven more years. After Amherst she attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary for a short-lived year, leaving because of the pressure of forced Christianity. When it came to religion, Emily was a skeptic and felt uncomfortable around it. Emily had a small group of close friends consisting of the famous poets Emily Bronte and Ralph Waldo Emerson, who are said to be inspirations and mentors for her poetry. She also was very close to Benjamin Franklin Newton, who was responsible for guiding her in the development of her poetry, Reverend Charles Wadsworth who she referred to as her "dearest earthly friend", and Thomas Wentworth Higginson who she sent her poems to for literary criticism.
At the young age of 23, Dickinson withdrew from social contact and devoted herself in secret to writing. Usually staying in her room at all times, Emily wore only white, saw very few visitors, and only had contact with the outside world through letters. There is some speculation about a failed love affair, but because of her very private life and personal nature it is hard to be sure of. Emily also wrote many poems for her close friend, Susan, many of them expressing love towards her, which leads to speculations of Emily possibly leaning towards a lesbian tendency. During the later part of her life, Dickinson struggled with eye trouble and soon after never again left her home or traveled. Emily wrote around 1500 to 2000 poems throughout her life, most of them kept personal, and only six of them published when she was still alive.
After Dickinson's death in 1886, her sister Lavinia co-edited three volumes of her poems from 1891 to 1896. Despite its imperfections, the first volume became popular with the public. In the early years of the twentieth century, Martha Dickinson Bianchi, the poet's niece, transcribed and published more poems and completed the task of bringing Dickinson's poems to the public. The publication of Thomas H. Johnson's 1955 edition of Emily Dickinson's poems finally gave readers a complete and accurate text and brought the amazing poet into the light where she belongs with the best of them.
