by Paul Lines

Created on: July 31, 2007

I'm Nobody! Who are you? So reads the title of a poem from one of the most prolific American poets of the nineteenth century, Emily Dickinson, but the sentiment is far from true. During her relatively short lifetime, 1830 1886, Emily is reputed to have written over seventeen hundred poems, many of which remained unpublished until after her dealt.

Emily has become known for her innovative style of prose. She was considered by some to be an extreme introvert and many of her works revealed her sensitivity and an inbuilt need to explore her deep soul and spirituality in a questioning manner. The details of Emily Dickinson's life have also been subjected to speculation as to her sexuality, romantic interests and reclusive years, which has been based upon verses such as the following.

Wild Nights! Wild Nights!
Were I with thee,
Wild Nights should be
our luxury!

Which was written to a female friend, and
I felt a funeral in my brain,
and mourners, to and fro,
Kept treading, treading, till it seemed
that sense was breaking through.

And when they all were seated,
a service like a drum
Kept beating, beating, till I thought
my mind was going numb

A poem that some consider expresses her feelings of loneliness.

Emily was born on the 18 December 1830 into a family of three siblings. She had an older brother William, who was later to marry her most intimate friend Susan Gilbert and a younger sister Lavinia.

By all accounts Emily was an exceptional student, although her later education in Massachusetts was unexpectedly cut short, some saying because of homesickness, others because she refused to sign an oath committing her life to Christ. There has been a lot of speculation about Emil's romantic attachments in her late teens and twenties. Some historians say that she had feelings for two men during that time, Samuel Bowels and Thomas Higginson, both of whom were publication editors. Whilst there is little doubt that she had a fondness for these two, other feel that her romantic leanings were in another direction altogether, towards her friend Susan Gilbert for whom she wrote many poems. However, the truth about these differing opinions will always remain a mystery.

Although Emily was always considered a private and home-loving person, these attributes became even more pronounced following a sight scare in the mid 1860's. Following hr return from seeing an eye-specialist in Boston, Emily became more and more reclusive. After the death of her father in 1874 she stopped going out in public completely, retaining contact with friends through correspondence and poetry, although her own kidney disease and the pain it caused may have contributed to seclusion.

Emily died in the spring of 1886, 15 Nay, and it was only after her death. Perhaps this verse of Emily's poem of the same title best sums up how her words blossomed following her death.

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
the carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality

For her words have truly become immortal. Similarly her request in the poem "My letter to the World," where the last line beseeches us to "judge tenderly of me, has been fulfilled, because she is truly held in affection.
Source: http://www.online-literature.com/dickinson/

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