Emily Dickinson, one of America?s most famous poets, was born in Amherst on December 10, 1830, to a very prominent family. Her parents were Edward Dickinson and Emily Norcross Dickinson. The family included three children: Austin, Emily, and Lavinia. Emily was educated at Amherst Academy, the institution her grandfather helped found. She spent a year at the Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary, but left because she did not like the religious environment and because her parents asked her to come home.
In her twenties, Emily led a busy social life, but she became more reclusive with each passing year. By her thirties, she stayed at home and withdrew when visitors arrived. She developed a reputation as a myth, because almost never seen and when
While Emily withdrew from physical contact with people she did not withdraw from them mentally. Emily kept in touch with her friends by writing them letters. Emily often included poetry with her letters to her friends. Her friends encouraged her to publish them but after an attempt to do so Emily did not try again. The eight poems that were published in her lifetime were primarily poems submitted by her friends without her permission.
After Emily died in 1886, her sister persuaded Mabel L. Todd to edit Emily?s poems, and some feminist scholars believe that female pronouns to some of her poems were edited out at this time. Mabel happened to be Austin?s mistress and as Susan?s direct rival she had every reason to down play Susan?s involvement in Emily?s work. Mabel Todd p
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