Emily Dickinson was born December 10th, 1830. And although unknown in her time she grew to be one of today’s greatest poets. Emily lived a somewhat of an isolated and introverted lifestyle. She was not affected by outward influences (this could have been the cause for all of her success). 

Emily lived a vast majority of her life in Amherst. Nearby she went to school at the Amherst academy which was an all boy’s school that opened enrollment to girls two years earlier. There she learned such subjects as religion, history, mathematics, geology, ect... but her major studies were English and Classical Literature. She even learned Latin. The home in which Emily once lived in Amherst is now the Emily Dickinson museum.

When Emily was 17, she attended Mary Lyon's Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. About a year after attending this school, Emily’s brother was sent to get her and she did not return. Some say she missed home while others say she refused to give an oath giving her life to Jesus Christ.  When Emily returned home, the only time she traveled was to visit relatives in Boston.  Emily Dickinson died on May 15, 1886 from Bight’s disease.  After she had died her family found 40 books that had over 1,700 poems.

  Emily’s father was named Edward Dickinson, and he worked for the court system, the senate and the U.S House of Representatives.  He mother was named Norcross and she was shy and she was sick a lot of the time.  Emily’s older brother Dick married Dickinson’s closest friend Susan Gilbert and they lived next door to the house Emily spent most of her time in. Emily also had a younger sister named Vinnie who edited and published most of Emily’s poetry.

Even though the war was such a big influence on Americans, it did not have an influence on Emily Dickinson’s poems.  She thought of having her poems published, she asked Thomas Higginson to help her. He saw that she was very talented and he tried to make her poems more romantic and cheery, but then Emily lost interest. When Emily died only ten of her poems were published. Some people think that Susan Dickinson was the one who gave Emily's poetry to editors, by 1890's three collections of her poems were published, not until the 20th century she was an appreciated poet.     

After Emily Dickinson died Higginson and Mable Loomis Todd, edited her poems and published them into volumes.  Various volumes were published in the 1890’s.  This was the first time her poems were exposed to the public, and the public immediately liked them. Her poems were very popular from 1890-1892, and then critics started to say negative things about them. Then later on in the early 20^th century her niece published more volumes of her poems, and because of the rise of modern poetry was liked by many readers. The rise of feminism helped give her cultural sympathy as a female poet.

        Emily Dickinson was more known for her gardening then her poetry when she was alive. She studied gardening from a young age and when she was in her teens she made a herbarium that had 424 different types of flowers. In her hometown her family’s garden was very popular. When she died, they put vanilla scented heliotrope, a lady’s slipper orchid and a knot of blue field violets