Emily Dickinson

Sources corroborate that Emily Dickinson’s health began to deteriorate after the untimely death of her youngest nephew in 1883. She became extremely fragile and was bedridden; but even during severe illness she continued to write.

At the age of 55, on 15May 1886, she died of a kidney disorder called ‘Bright’s Disease’. As per her last wish, she was carried through a blooming field of buttercups to her burial site, where her coffin was laid in the family cemetery.

Because of the wide heritage that stood in the ‘Homestead’ especially contributing to the proliferous work of Emily Dickinson, the mansion has now been preserved as a museum.

She was born as Emily Elizabeth Dickinson on 10December 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, into a literate, respectable and prominent family. Her grandfather, Samuel Dickinson was the founder of the reputed Amherst College.

She was born to the learned lawyer and trustee of Amherst College, Edward Dickinson and Emily Norcross, a former student of ‘Monson Academy.’ Emily was named after her mother.She lived with her parents and two siblings – her elder brother William Austin and her younger sister Lavinia Norcross, at their homestead.

The family moved to Pleasant Street after the birth of Lavinia in order to accommodate Edward’s prospering political and legal career and for providing a bigger house for his children.

Edward wanted to provide his children with refined education. The education catered to Emily was not one that was usually provided to girls during the Victorian age. She received classical education that only the elite could afford.

Emily went to a primary school in Amherst before she was enrolled at the Amherst Academy. Along with being a brilliant and observant student, she took keen interest in piano and domestic chores, especially gardening.

Benjamin Franklin Newton, a student of Edward Dickinson and Emily’s tutor had deep regard for her and introduced her to the work of William Wordsworth. In 1848 he giftedher the collected works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, that she described as written to “touch a secret spring.”

When she was 20, she read everything from ‘The Holy Bible’ to contemporary literature, she wrote a letter to her brother, in which she expressed her growing interest and desire to write. She also referred to the aspect of individuality and stressed on how different she felt from others.

The years from 1858 to 1865, saw a steady leap in her work. She based her writings, especially her poems on a few themes – she wrote several poems on nature and flora; some ballads venerating a ‘Master’ or ‘Sire’ that was conjectured to be her love; gospel poems based on the parables of the Bible; and poetry on death and mortality.

Her family moved back to the homestead, and her brother married Susan and had three children. Susan, now a mother, had to devote the bulk of her time to her children,slowly creating a gulf between herself and Emily Dickinson.