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66-400: While poetaster has always been a negative appraisal of a poet's skills, rhymester (or rhymer ) and versifier have held ambiguous meanings depending on the commentator's opinion of a writer's verse . Versifier is often used to refer to someone who produces work in verse with the implication that while technically able to make lines rhyme they have no real talent for poetry. Rhymer on

132-501: A religious revival took place in Amherst, resulting in 46 confessions of faith among Dickinson's peers. Dickinson wrote to a friend the following year: "I never enjoyed such perfect peace and happiness as the short time in which I felt I had found my Savior." She went on to say it was her "greatest pleasure to commune alone with the great God & to feel that he would listen to my prayers." The experience did not last: Dickinson never made

198-575: A British poet laureate , is nevertheless regarded as greatly inferior to his predecessor, Alfred Lord Tennyson . Austin was frequently mocked during his career and is little read today. The American poet Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918), known for his 1913 poem "Trees" , is often criticized for his overly sentimental and traditional verse written at the dawn of Modernist poetry , although some of his poems are frequently anthologized and retain enduring popular appeal. "Trees" has been parodied innumerable times, including by Ogden Nash . Musician Joanna Newsom on

264-543: A clear impression can be formed from the letters and recollections of friends and family. Her niece, Martha Dickinson Bianchi, remembered "carpets of lily-of-the-valley and pansies , platoons of sweetpeas , hyacinths , enough in May to give all the bees of summer dyspepsia . There were ribbons of peony hedges and drifts of daffodils in season, marigolds to distraction—a butterfly utopia". In particular, Dickinson cultivated scented exotic flowers, writing that she "could inhabit

330-405: A few of her poems in his journal. It was from 1858 to 1861 that Dickinson is believed to have written a trio of letters that have been called "The Master Letters". These three letters, drafted to an unknown man simply referred to as "Master", continue to be the subject of speculation and contention amongst scholars. "Hope" is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings

396-775: A formal declaration of faith and attended services regularly for only a few years. After her church-going ended, about 1852, she wrote a poem opening: "Some keep the Sabbath going to Church – I keep it, staying at Home". During the last year of her stay at the academy, Dickinson became friendly with Leonard Humphrey, its popular new young principal. After finishing her final term at the Academy on August 10, 1847, Dickinson began attending Mary Lyon 's Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (which later became Mount Holyoke College ) in South Hadley , about ten miles (16 km) from Amherst. She stayed at

462-607: A gardener, perhaps, than as a poet". Dickinson studied botany from the age of nine and, along with her sister, tended the garden at Homestead. During her lifetime, she assembled a collection of pressed plants in a sixty-six-page leather-bound herbarium . It contained 424 pressed flower specimens that she collected, classified, and labeled using the Linnaean system. The Homestead garden was well known and admired locally in its time. It has not survived, but efforts to revive it have begun. Dickinson kept no garden notebooks or plant lists, but

528-509: A lead piece for The Atlantic Monthly titled, "Letter to a Young Contributor". Higginson's essay, in which he urged aspiring writers to "charge your style with life", contained practical advice for those wishing to break into print. Dickinson's decision to contact Higginson suggests that by 1862 she was contemplating publication and that it may have become increasingly difficult to write poetry without an audience. Seeking literary guidance that no one close to her could provide, Dickinson sent him

594-446: A letter written by Dickinson after Newton's death, he had been "with my Father two years, before going to Worcester – in pursuing his studies, and was much in our family". Although their relationship was probably not romantic, Newton was a formative influence and would become the second in a series of older men (after Humphrey) that Dickinson referred to, variously, as her tutor, preceptor, or master. Newton likely introduced her to

660-520: A letter, which read in full: Mr Higginson, Are you too deeply occupied to say if my Verse is alive? The Mind is so near itself – it cannot see, distinctly – and I have none to ask – Should you think it breathed – and had you the leisure to tell me, I should feel quick gratitude – If I make the mistake – that you dared to tell me – would give me sincerer honor – toward you – I enclose my name – asking you, if you please – Sir – to tell me what

726-644: A little Girl They put me in the Closet ;– Because they liked me "still" – Still! Could themself have peeped – And seen my Brain – go round – They might as wise have lodged a Bird For Treason – in the Pound ;– Emily Dickinson, c. 1862 Dickinson spent seven years at the academy, taking classes in English and classical literature, Latin , botany, geology, history, "mental philosophy," and arithmetic . Daniel Taggart Fiske,

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792-477: A parasite or sycophant, in his play Parasitaster, or The Fawn (1604). Later in the 17th century (the earliest cited use is from 1684) appeared the term criticaster for an inferior and pretentious critic. Verse (poetry) A verse is formally a single metrical line in a poetic composition . However, verse has come to represent any grouping of lines in a poetic composition, with groupings traditionally having been referred to as stanzas . Verse in

858-402: A reluctance to enter into a cooperative exchange left Higginson nonplussed; he did not press her to publish in subsequent correspondence. Dickinson's own ambivalence on the matter militated against the likelihood of publication. Literary critic Edmund Wilson , in his review of Civil War literature, surmised that "with encouragement, she would certainly have published". In direct opposition to

924-481: A study in which infrared technology revealed that certain poems of Dickinson's had been deliberately censored to exclude the name "Susan". At least eleven of Dickinson's poems were dedicated to her sister-in-law Susan Huntington Gilbert Dickinson , and all the dedications were later obliterated, presumably by Todd. This censorship serves to obscure the nature of Emily and Susan's relationship, which many scholars have interpreted as romantic. Emily Elizabeth Dickinson

990-399: Is a book! And there are more of them!" ). Her brother smuggled a copy of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 's Kavanagh into the house for her (because her father might disapprove) and a friend lent her Charlotte Brontë 's Jane Eyre in late 1849. Jane Eyre ' s influence cannot be measured, but when Dickinson acquired her first and only dog, a Newfoundland , she named him "Carlo" after

1056-446: Is a very good child and but little trouble." Dickinson's aunt also noted the girl's affinity for music and her particular talent for the piano, which she called "the moosic ". Dickinson attended primary school in a two-story building on Pleasant Street. Her education was "ambitiously classical for a Victorian girl". Wanting his children to be well-educated, her father followed their progress even while away on business. When Dickinson

1122-602: Is an accepted version of this page Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry . Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts , into a prominent family with strong ties to its community. After studying at the Amherst Academy for seven years in her youth, she briefly attended

1188-445: Is historically the most commonly used form of verse in English. It generally has a discernible meter and an end rhyme.     I felt a Cleaving in my Mind –     As if my Brain had split –     I tried to match it – Seam by Seam –     But could not make them fit.     The thought behind, I strove to join     Unto

1254-750: Is poetry written in regular, metrical, but unrhymed, lines, almost always composed of iambic pentameters .     Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit     Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste     Brought death into the world, and all our woe,     With loss of Eden, till one greater man     ....                                               — John Milton (from Paradise Lost ) Free verse

1320-449: Is true? That you will not betray me – it is needless to ask – since Honor is it's own pawn – This highly nuanced and largely theatrical letter was unsigned, but she had included her name on a card and enclosed it in an envelope, along with four of her poems. He praised her work but suggested that she delay publishing until she had written longer, being unaware she had already appeared in print. She assured him that publishing

1386-739: Is usually defined as having no fixed meter and no end rhyme. Although free verse may include end rhyme, it commonly does not.     Whirl up, sea—     Whirl your pointed pines     Splash your great pines     On our rocks,     Hurl your green over us,     Cover us with your pools of fir.                                               — H.D. Emily Dickinson This

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1452-465: The 33rd U.S. Congress (1853–1855). On May 6, 1828, he married Emily Norcross from Monson, Massachusetts . They had three children: She was also a distant cousin to Baxter Dickinson and his family, including his grandson, the organist and composer Clarence Dickinson . By all accounts, young Dickinson was a well-behaved girl. On an extended visit to Monson when she was two, Dickinson's Aunt Lavinia described her as "perfectly well and contented—She

1518-516: The Mount Holyoke Female Seminary before returning to her family's home in Amherst. Evidence suggests that Dickinson lived much of her life in isolation. Considered an eccentric by locals, she developed a penchant for white clothing and was known for her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, even to leave her bedroom. Dickinson never married, and most of her friendships were based entirely upon correspondence. Although Dickinson

1584-575: The Spice Isles merely by crossing the dining room to the conservatory, where the plants hang in baskets". Dickinson would often send her friends bunches of flowers with verses attached, but "they valued the posy more than the poetry". On June 16, 1874, while in Boston, Edward Dickinson suffered a stroke and died. When the simple funeral was held in the Homestead's entrance hall, Dickinson stayed in her room with

1650-509: The 1860s, after she had largely withdrawn from social life, proved to be Dickinson's most productive writing period. Modern scholars and researchers are divided as to the cause for Dickinson's withdrawal and extreme seclusion. While she was diagnosed as having "nervous prostration" by a physician during her lifetime, some today believe she may have suffered from illnesses as various as agoraphobia and epilepsy . Julie Brown, writing in Writers on

1716-448: The Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes by Thomas Gray , others merely produce bizarre poems on bizarre subjects, an example being James McIntyre , who wrote mainly of cheese. Other poets often regarded as poetasters are William Topaz McGonagall , Julia A. Moore , Edgar Guest , J. Gordon Coogler , Dmitry Khvostov , and Alfred Austin . Austin, despite having been

1782-653: The Homestead that same year, it was not until 1869 that the Dickinsons brought in another permanent household servant, Margaret Maher , to replace their former maid-of-all-work. Emily once again was responsible for the kitchen, including cooking and cleaning up, as well as the baking at which she excelled. A solemn thing – it was – I said – A Woman – White – to be – And wear – if God should count me fit – Her blameless mystery – Emily Dickinson, c. 1861 Around this time, Dickinson's behavior began to change. She did not leave

1848-570: The Homestead unless it was absolutely necessary, and as early as 1867, she began to talk to visitors from the other side of a door rather than speaking to them face to face. She acquired local notoriety; she was rarely seen, and when she was, she was usually clothed in white. Dickinson's one surviving article of clothing is a white cotton dress, possibly sewn circa 1878–1882. Few of the locals who exchanged messages with Dickinson during her last fifteen years ever saw her in person. Austin and his family began to protect Dickinson's privacy, deciding that she

1914-645: The Homestead. Forty years later, Lavinia said that because their mother was chronically ill, one of the daughters had to remain always with her. Dickinson took this role as her own, and "finding the life with her books and nature so congenial, continued to live it". Withdrawing more and more from the outside world, Dickinson began in the summer of 1858 what would be her lasting legacy. Reviewing poems she had written previously, she began making clean copies of her work, assembling carefully pieced-together manuscript books. The forty fascicles she created from 1858 through 1865 eventually held nearly eight hundred poems. No one

1980-451: The Spectrum (2010), argues that Dickinson had Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) , but this is generally regarded as being more speculation than a retrospective diagnosis, and although the theory has been echoed on the internet especially, it has not been advanced by Dickinson scholars. In April 1862, Thomas Wentworth Higginson , a literary critic, radical abolitionist , and ex-minister, wrote

2046-446: The album The Milk-eyed Mender uses the term to refer to a struggling narrator wracked with ambition to create beautiful poetry in a verse from "Inflammatory Writ": Rapper Big Daddy Kane uses an adjectival form as an insult in his song "Uncut, Pure": The band Miracle Fortress has a song entitled "Poetaster". In the sense that a poetaster is a pretended poet, John Marston coined the term parasitaster, for one who pretends to be

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2112-565: The character St. John Rivers' dog. William Shakespeare was also a potent influence in her life. Referring to his plays, she wrote to one friend, "Why clasp any hand but this?" and to another, "Why is any other book needed?" In early 1850, Dickinson wrote, "Amherst is alive with fun this winter ... Oh, a very great town this is!" Her high spirits soon turned to melancholy after another death. The Amherst Academy principal, Leonard Humphrey, died suddenly of "brain congestion" at age 25. Two years after his death, she revealed to her friend Abiah Root

2178-494: The departed Humphrey. During the 1850s, Dickinson's strongest and most affectionate relationship was with her sister-in-law, Susan Gilbert . Dickinson eventually sent her over three hundred letters, more than to any other correspondent, over the course of their relationship. Susan was supportive of the poet, playing the role of "most beloved friend, influence, muse, and adviser" whose editorial suggestions Dickinson sometimes followed. In an 1882 letter to Susan, Dickinson said, "With

2244-426: The door cracked open. Neither did she attend the memorial service on June 28. She wrote to Higginson that her father's "Heart was pure and terrible and I think no other like it exists." A year later, on June 15, 1875, Dickinson's mother also suffered a stroke, which produced a partial lateral paralysis and impaired memory. Lamenting her mother's increasing physical as well as mental demands, Dickinson wrote that "Home

2310-483: The exception of Shakespeare, you have told me of more knowledge than any one living." The importance of Dickinson's relationship with Susan Gilbert has widely been overlooked due to a point of view first promoted by Mabel Loomis Todd, who was involved for many years in a relationship with Austin Dickinson and who diminished Gilbert's role in Dickinson's life due to her own poor relationship with her lover's wife. However,

2376-484: The expectation once more to see your face again, makes me feel hot and feverish, and my heart beats so fast ( ... ) my darling, so near I seem to you, that I disdain this pen, and wait for a warmer language. The relationship between Emily and Susan is portrayed in the film Wild Nights with Emily and explored in the TV series Dickinson . Susan Gilbert married Austin in 1856 after a four-year courtship, though their marriage

2442-421: The extent of her sadness: ... some of my friends are gone, and some of my friends are sleeping – sleeping the churchyard sleep – the hour of evening is sad – it was once my study hour – my master has gone to rest, and the open leaf of the book, and the scholar at school alone , make the tears come, and I cannot brush them away; I would not if I could, for they are the only tribute I can pay

2508-514: The greatness he foresaw. Biographers believe that Dickinson's statement of 1862—"When a little Girl, I had a friend, who taught me Immortality – but venturing too near, himself – he never returned"—refers to Newton. Dickinson was familiar with not only the Bible but also contemporary popular literature. She was probably influenced by Lydia Maria Child 's Letters from New York , another gift from Newton (after reading it, she gushed "This then

2574-660: The hills, the sundown, and her dog, Carlo. She also mentioned that whereas her mother did not "care for Thought", her father bought her books, but begged her "not to read them – because he fears they joggle the Mind". Dickinson valued his advice, going from calling him "Mr. Higginson" to "Dear friend" as well as signing her letters, "Your Gnome" and "Your Scholar". His interest in her work certainly provided great moral support; many years later, Dickinson told Higginson that he had saved her life in 1862. They corresponded until her death, but her difficulty in expressing her literary needs and

2640-442: The immense productivity that she displayed in the early 1860s, Dickinson wrote fewer poems in 1866. Beset with personal loss as well as loss of domestic help, Dickinson may have been too overcome to keep up her previous level of writing. Carlo died during this time after having provided sixteen years of companionship; Dickinson never owned another dog. Although the household servant of nine years, Margaret O'Brien, had married and left

2706-555: The mid-1850s, Dickinson's mother became effectively bedridden with various chronic illnesses until she died in 1882. Writing to a friend in the summer of 1858, Dickinson said she would visit if she could leave "home, or mother. I do not go out at all, lest father will come and miss me, or miss some little act, which I might forget, should I run away – Mother is much as usual. I Know not what to hope of her". As her mother continued to decline, Dickinson's domestic responsibilities weighed more heavily upon her and she confined herself within

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2772-726: The notion of a "cruel" Susan—as promoted by her romantic rival—has been questioned, most especially by Dickinson's nieces and nephews (Susan and Austin's surviving children), with whom Dickinson was close. Many scholars interpret the relationship between Emily and Susan as a romantic one. In The Emily Dickinson Journal Lena Koski wrote, "Dickinson's letters to Gilbert express strong homoerotic feelings." She quotes from many of their letters, including one from 1852 in which Dickinson proclaims, Susie, will you indeed come home next Saturday, and be my own again, and kiss me as you used to? (...) I hope for you so much and feel so eager for you, feel that I cannot wait, feel that now I must have you—that

2838-460: The other hand is usually impolite. The faults of a poetaster frequently include errors or lapses in their work's meter, badly rhyming words which jar rather than flow, oversentimentality, too much use of the pathetic fallacy and unintentionally bathetic choice of subject matter. Although a mundane subject in the hands of some great poets can be raised to the level of art, such as On First Looking into Chapman's Homer by John Keats or Ode on

2904-494: The reasons for leaving Mount Holyoke, her brother Austin appeared on March 25, 1848, to "bring [her] home at all events". Back in Amherst, Dickinson occupied her time with household activities. She took up baking for the family and enjoyed attending local events and activities in the budding college town. When she was eighteen, Dickinson's family befriended a young attorney by the name of Benjamin Franklin Newton. According to

2970-416: The school's principal at the time, would later recall that Dickinson was "very bright" and "an excellent scholar, of exemplary deportment, faithful in all school duties". Although she took a few terms off due to illness—the longest of which was in 1845–1846, when she was enrolled for only eleven weeks —she enjoyed her strenuous studies, writing to a friend that the academy was "a very fine school". Dickinson

3036-580: The second child of Austin and Susan, later said that "Aunt Emily stood for indulgence. " MacGregor (Mac) Jenkins, the son of family friends who later wrote a short article in 1891 called "A Child's Recollection of Emily Dickinson", thought of her as always offering support to the neighborhood children. When Higginson urged her to come to Boston in 1868 so they could formally meet for the first time, she declined, writing: "Could it please your convenience to come so far as Amherst I should be very glad, but I do not cross my Father's ground to any House or town". It

3102-420: The seminary for only ten months. Although she liked the girls at Mount Holyoke, Dickinson made no lasting friendships there. The explanations for her brief stay at Mount Holyoke differ considerably: either she was in poor health, her father wanted to have her at home, she rebelled against the evangelical fervor present at the school, she disliked the discipline-minded teachers, or she was simply homesick. Whatever

3168-706: The ten poems published in her lifetime, the Springfield Republican published five (all unsigned), with Sam Bowles and Josiah Holland as editors, between 1852 and 1866. Some scholars believe that Bowles promoted her the most; Dickinson wrote letters and sent her poems to both men. Later, as editor of Scribner's Monthly beginning in 1870, Holland told Dickinson's childhood friend Emily Fowler Ford that he had "some poems of [Dickinson's] under consideration for publication [in Scribner's Monthly ]—but they really are not suitable—they are too ethereal." The first half of

3234-446: The thought before –     But Sequence ravelled out of Sound     Like Balls – upon a Floor.                                               — Emily Dickinson Blank verse

3300-620: The tune without the words – And never stops – at all –   And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard – And sore must be the storm – That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm – I've heard it in the chillest land – And on the strangest Sea – Yet – never – in Extremity, It asked a crumb – of me. Emily Dickinson, c. 1861 Dickinson also became friends with Springfield Republican Assistant Editor J. G. Holland and his wife and frequently corresponded with them. She

3366-406: The uncountable ( mass noun ) sense refers to poetry in contrast to prose . Where the common unit of verse is based on meter or rhyme , the common unit of prose is purely grammatical, such as a sentence or paragraph . Verse in the second sense is also used pejoratively in contrast to poetry to suggest work that is too pedestrian or too incompetent to be classed as poetry. Rhymed verse

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3432-422: The writings of William Wordsworth , and his gift to her of Ralph Waldo Emerson 's first book of collected poems had a liberating effect. She wrote later that he, "whose name my Father's Law Student taught me, has touched the secret Spring". Newton held her in high regard, believing in and recognizing her as a poet. When he was dying of tuberculosis , he wrote to her, saying he would like to live until she achieved

3498-528: Was a guest at their Springfield home on numerous occasions. Dickinson sent more than ninety letters to the Hollands between 1853 and 1886 in which she shares "the details of life that one would impart to a close family member: the status of the garden, the health and activities of members of the household, references to recently-read books." Dickinson was a poet "influenced by transcendentalism and dark romanticism ," and her work bridged "the gap to Realism ." Of

3564-618: Was a prolific writer, her only publications during her lifetime were one letter and 10 of her nearly 1,800 poems. The poems published then were usually edited significantly to fit conventional poetic rules. Her poems were unique for her era; they contain short lines, typically lack titles, and often use slant rhyme as well as unconventional capitalization and punctuation. Many of her poems deal with themes of death and immortality (two recurring topics in letters to her friends), aesthetics, society, nature, and spirituality. Although Dickinson's acquaintances were most likely aware of her writing, it

3630-688: Was an awful Mother, but I liked her better than none." On September 7, 1840, Dickinson and her sister Lavinia started together at Amherst Academy, a former boys' school that had opened to female students just two years earlier. At about the same time, her father purchased a house on North Pleasant Street. Dickinson's brother Austin later described this large new home as the "mansion" over which he and Dickinson presided as "lord and lady" while their parents were absent. The house overlooked Amherst's burial ground, described by one local minister as treeless and "forbidding". They shut me up in Prose ;– As when

3696-444: Was as foreign to her "as Firmament to Fin", but also proposed that "If fame belonged to me, I could not escape her". Dickinson delighted in dramatic self-characterization and mystery in her letters to Higginson. She said of herself, "I am small, like the wren, and my hair is bold, like the chestnut bur, and my eyes like the sherry in the glass that the guest leaves." She stressed her solitary nature, saying her only real companions were

3762-439: Was aware of the existence of these books until after her death. In the late 1850s, the Dickinsons befriended Samuel Bowles , the owner and editor-in-chief of the Springfield Republican , and his wife Mary. They visited the Dickinsons regularly for years to come. During this time Dickinson sent him over three dozen letters and nearly fifty poems. Their friendship brought out some of her most intense writing and Bowles published

3828-544: Was born at the family's homestead in Amherst, Massachusetts , on December 10, 1830, into a prominent, but not wealthy, family. Her father, Edward Dickinson , was a lawyer in Amherst and a trustee of Amherst College . Two hundred years earlier, her patrilineal ancestors had arrived in the New World—in the Puritan Great Migration —where they prospered. Emily Dickinson's paternal grandfather, Samuel Dickinson,

3894-507: Was not a happy one. Edward Dickinson built a house for Austin which Gilbert named the Evergreens , a stand of which was located on the west side of the Homestead. Until 1855, Dickinson had not strayed far from Amherst. That spring, accompanied by her mother and sister, she took one of her longest and farthest trips away from home. First, they spent three weeks in Washington , where her father

3960-416: Was not to be a subject of discussion with outsiders. Despite her physical seclusion, Dickinson was socially active and expressive through what makes up two-thirds of her surviving notes and letters. When visitors came to either the Homestead or the Evergreens, she would often leave or send over small gifts of poems or flowers. Dickinson also had a good rapport with the children in her life. Mattie Dickinson,

4026-504: Was not until after she died in 1886—when Lavinia, Dickinson's younger sister, discovered her cache of poems—that her work became public. Her first published collection of poetry was made in 1890 by her personal acquaintances Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd , though they heavily edited the content. A complete collection of her poetry first became available in 1955 when scholar Thomas H. Johnson published The Poems of Emily Dickinson . In 1998, The New York Times reported on

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4092-553: Was not until he came to Amherst in 1870 that they met. Later he referred to her, in the most detailed and vivid physical account of her on record, as "a little plain woman with two smooth bands of reddish hair ... in a very plain & exquisitely clean white piqué & a blue net worsted shawl." He also felt that he never was "with any one who drained my nerve power so much. Without touching her, she drew from me. I am glad not to live near her." Scholar Judith Farr notes that Dickinson, during her lifetime, "was known more widely as

4158-602: Was one of the founders of Amherst College . In 1813, he built the Homestead, a large mansion on the town's main street, that became the focus of Dickinson family life for the better part of a century. Samuel Dickinson's eldest son, Edward, was treasurer of Amherst College from 1835 to 1873, served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1838–1839; 1873) and the Massachusetts Senate (1842–1843), and represented Massachusetts's 10th congressional district in

4224-716: Was representing Massachusetts in Congress , after which they would travel to Philadelphia for two weeks to visit family. While in Philadelphia, she met Charles Wadsworth, a famous minister of the Arch Street Presbyterian Church, with whom she forged a strong friendship that lasted until he died in 1882. Despite seeing him only twice after 1855 (he moved to San Francisco in 1862), she variously referred to him as "my Philadelphia", "my Clergyman", "my dearest earthly friend" and "my Shepherd from 'Little Girl'hood". From

4290-409: Was seven, he wrote home, reminding his children to "keep school, and learn, so as to tell me, when I come home, how many new things you have learned". While Dickinson consistently described her father warmly, her correspondence suggests that her mother was regularly cold and aloof. In a letter to a confidante, Dickinson wrote she "always ran Home to Awe [Austin] when a child, if anything befell me. She

4356-937: Was troubled from a young age by the "deepening menace" of death, especially the deaths of those who were close to her. When Sophia Holland, her second cousin and a close friend, grew ill from typhus and died in April 1844, Dickinson was traumatized. Recalling the incident two years later, she wrote that "it seemed to me I should die too if I could not be permitted to watch over her or even look at her face." She became so melancholic that her parents sent her to stay with family in Boston to recover. With her health and spirits restored, she soon returned to Amherst Academy to continue her studies. During this period, she met people who were to become lifelong friends and correspondents, such as Abiah Root, Abby Wood, Jane Humphrey, and Susan Huntington Gilbert (who later married Dickinson's brother Austin). In 1845,

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