Biography of Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson was like so many other poets, or artists altogether; her success was not found until after her death. During her life time, she aspired for nothing but to be a poet. But, the public was unprepared for her style and her ideas.

Emily was born into a prestigious family in Amherst, Massachusetts on December 10, 1830. Her grandfather founded the university there, and over fifty-nine years her father and later her brother served as the treasurer there. Her father, Edward, was a well known lawyer and moderator of the Town Meeting for sixteen years. He was responsible for bringing both the railroad and the telegraph to Amherst, and in later years state senator from 1842-43, and then United States Congress representative from 1854-55. He practiced law before the Supreme Court, and in 1873 he was elected to serve on the General Court of Massachusetts. While he was there, he died suddenly and alone in his hotel room.

When Emily's brother Austin married Susan Gilbert, Emily's friend, their father coerced the young couple into staying in Amherst by building them a house next door on the Homestead, and making Austin a partner in his law firm, much to Emily's delight. Susan was a natural hostess and entertained many people of note in their home, including Emerson, Wendell Phillips, Dr. Josiah Holland, the founder and editor of Scribner's Magazine, Samuel Bowles (the editor of the Springfield Republican) and Judge Otis P. Lord, who Emily later considered marrying. Bowles and Holland became life long friends of Emily's; though she was somewhat resentful that Bowles never published any of the poems that she had sent him along with her letters. Her poetry was quite different than what he preferred to publish. For example, in the 2 July 1857 Springfield Republican, he published this poem, titled A Tender Lay:

Be gentle to the new laid egg,

For eggs are brilliant things;
They cannot fly until they're hatched,

And have a pair of wings:

Compared to one of Emily's poems about an egg:

956

What shall I do when the Summer troubles--
What, when the Rose is ripe--
What when the Eggs fly off in Music
From the Maple Keep? (34-45)