Emily Dickinson

American poet

It is not perfect, but far it is not paradise, but it is far better than anything I know or want…

If we reach into the silence, then we cannot be afraid because there is nothing, there is God…

Emily Dickinson was a prolific writer during her lifetime. She was only published 10 times out of her 1800 poems and one letter. She was edited a lot in accordance to the conventional rules of the day. Her poems were very unique for the time, many of her poems dealt with death and immortality, Society, nature and spirituality. Although most of Dickinson‘s acquaintances were aware of her poetry, it wasn’t until she died in 1886 when her younger sister Lavinia discovered her poems and made them Public. Dickinson‘s first published work was in 1890 by Thomas Wentworth Hugginsum and Mabel Loomis Todd heavily edited,

the complete edition of her poems didn’t become published until 1955.

In 1998 the New York Times reported that Dickinson had been deliberately censored because her poems were dedicated to her sister-in-law Susan, it was thought because of the nature of Dickinson’s relationship with Susan, which was interpreted as romantic.

Dickinson was influence by Wordsworth, Emerson, Longfellow, Shakespeare, and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre…

In her adulthood, after losing many people close friends and family to death, she became a recluse, her high spirits turned to melancholy after losing so many people in her life.

The 1850s Emily became very close to her sister-in-law Susan who supported her work And play the role of muse and loving friend. In the Emily Dickinson journal she wrote Letters to Susan, expressing, strong, homoerotic feelings Here is an eccerpt from a letter written by Emily to Susan her sister-in-law

Susan, will you indeed come home next Saturday and be my own again and kiss me as you used to…

This relationship would have been accepted in today’s society, but not 170 years ago, marriage to Emily’s brother was not a happy one for Susan …

Because Emily‘s mother was chronically ill, Emily took on the position of being caregiver and not leaving the house or the Homestead and basically became a recluse and wouldn’t come down the stairs at times to even talk to visitors. It was at this time she began to withdraw from society, and the world, she began to comprise her lasting legacy assembling her manuscript books, nearly 1800 poems, that no one was aware of their existence until after her death.

Emily was an influenced by transcendentalism and dark Romanticism and bridged the gap of realism. Some publishers would not publish her saying that they were not suitable and where too ethereal and Emily‘s extreme secularism.

Some today say she suffered from agorphobia and epilesy as well she might have had autism spectrum disorder, These of course, are only speculation.

Fun facts, Emily loved to bake bread and won a few awards from fairs that she entered. She also pressed flowers from her extensive garden. She had Lily of the valley pansies, sweet peas, daffodils, peonies, marigold, cultivated exotic flowers, upon entering the house, the scent was very pronounced from the dining room to the conservatory where she had hanging baskets of flowers. Her garden was very extensive. She had a book of all her flowers she had pressed.

As succeeded death, Dickinson found her world upended and in the fall of 1884. She wrote The dyings have been so deep for me and before I could erase my heart from one another has come….

Dickinson poems use humor,puns, irony and satire …

Emily died at the age of 55 from Brights disease..

There was so much written about Emily Dickinson that it was a difficult task for me to make this into a blog formate, . I had to take what I thought was important to share so there was a small synopsis of what knowledge you could take away from this…

I do know she was for women’s equal rights. She stood up for women. She was a romantic and very outspoken about Justice for all.

the above pictures are of Emily and a friend Emily is on the left on the right is Kate Scott Turner .. the other is of Emily on a US postage stamp ..