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Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson. English 11 “Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.”. Early Life . Born December 10, 1830 Lived in Amherst, Massachusetts Attended Amherst Academy Also attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. Father served in US House of Representatives.

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Emily Dickinson

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  1. Emily Dickinson English 11 “Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.”

  2. Early Life • Born December 10, 1830 • Lived in Amherst, Massachusetts • Attended Amherst Academy • Also attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. • Father served in US House of Representatives.

  3. Going Into Seclusion • Emily had an active social life as a teenager. • Gradually became reclusive. • Didn’t leave her house much after age 30. • Died May 15, 1886 of a degenerative kidney disease.

  4. Dickinson’s Poetry • Only seven of her poems were published during her lifetime. • Her sister found over 1, 000 of her poems in her dresser after her death. • Dickinson’s instructions were for her family to destroy her poems, but they overrode her wishes.

  5. Dickinson’s Themes • The Individual’s Struggle With God • Lived during a time of Christian Revival • Refused to subscribe to an organized religion. • Would not sign a document professing her faith in Christianity while a student at Amherst.

  6. Dickinson’s Themes • The Assertion of Self • Believed that the “self” was defined by how one makes sense of the world. • The “self” was expressed through writing and art.

  7. Dickinson’s Themes • The Power of Words and Poetry • Stayed attuned to the world around her, even though she was reclusive. • Believed in linking material things to abstract concepts to make them clearer.

  8. Dickinson’s Themes • Nature as a haunted house • The natural world was full of mystery • It is the job of the poet to figure out God’s power in the world.

  9. Dickinson’s Themes • Death and Immortality • Dickinson wrote many poems in which she personified death. • Many poems fixated on the ideas of death and immortality. • Dickinson dealt with a lot of tragedy in her life.

  10. Fun Fact! Dickinson’s works all have the same rhythm and meter, and can thus be sung to this tune: TRY IT: She died at play, Gambolled away Her lease of spotted hours, Then sank as gaily as a Turk Upon a couch of flowers. Her ghost strolled softly o’er the hill Yesterday and today, Her vestments as the silver fleece, Her countenance as spray.

  11. Fun Fact! • Dickinson’s writing desk overlooked a graveyard, where she often witnessed funerals and burials. It is suggested that she wrote many poems about death because of this. • Despite the fact that she was a recluse, it is rumored that Dickinson developed strong emotional attachments to several men.

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