Emily Dickinson

“If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry.”

— Emily Dickinson

Life & Background:

Born in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, Dickinson lived most of her life in seclusion. After her death, over 1,800 poems were discovered, revealing a voice of immense depth and innovation.

Inspirations:

Death, nature, religion, immortality, and the mind’s contradictions. Influenced by Puritan thought and Romanticism.

Themes in Her Work:

• Death and immortality

• Nature’s mystery and power

• Inner life vs. outer world

• Doubt, faith, and revelation

• Language and compression

Notable Works:

• Because I could not stop for Death

• I heard a Fly buzz – when I died

• Hope is the thing with feathers