Emily Dickinson

Dickinson, Emily 

Born Dec. 10, 1830, in Amherst, Mass.; died May 15, 1886, also in Amherst. American poet.

Emily Dickinson was brought up in the religious traditions of Puritanism. During her lifetime only seven of her 2,000 poems were published; these seven were published anonymously. Her first book of poems (1890) was not received well by the public. However, at the beginning of the 20th century interest in Dickinson’s work grew.

The influences of both a puritanical Weltanschauung and the “cult of nature” as espoused by Thoreau, Emerson, and the English romantic writers can be discerned in her poetry. Emily Dickinson’s work is marked by intensity of lyrical feeling, fantasy, irony, and a tense searching quality of thought.

WORKS

The Poems, vols. 1–3. Cambridge (Mass.), 1955.

REFERENCES

Kashkin, I. A. “Emili Dikinson.” In his book Dlia chitateliasovremennika. Moscow, 1969.
Brooks, V. V. Pisate’ iamerikanskaia zhizn’, vol. 2. Moscow, 1971.
Miller, R. The Poetry ofE. Dickinson. Middletown, 1968.
Clendenning, S. T. Emily Dickinson. A Bibliography: 1850–1966. [Kent, 1968.]