Emily Dickinson

Term Paper Title	Emily Dickinson
# of Words	662
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	2.65

Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson was born on December 10,
1830 in Amherst Massachusetts. She had a
younger sister named Lavina and an older
brother named Austin. Her mother Emily
Norcross Dickinson, was largely dependent
on her family and was seen by Emily as a
poor mother. Her father was lawyer,
Congressman, and the Treasurer for Amherst
College. Unlike her mother, Emily loved and
admired her father. Since the family was not
emotional, they lived a quiet secure life. They
rarely shared their problems with one another
so Emily had plenty of privacy for writing.

During her childhood, Emily and her family
attended The First Congregational Church on
a regular basis. Emily did not like going to
church because she didn't think of herself as
being very religious. She refused to believe
that Heaven was a better place than Earth
and eventually rebelled from the church.
Emily saw herself as a woman who had her
own way of thinking, a way of thinking
shaped neither by the church or society.

By the time she was twelve, her family moved
to a house on Pleasant Street where they
lived from 1840 to 1855. Emily was already
writing letters, but composed most of her
poetry in this home. Emily only left home to
attend Mount Holyoke Female Seminary for
two semesters.

Though her stay there was brief, she
impressed her teachers with her courage and
directness. They felt her writing was
sensational.

At the age of twenty-one, Emily and her family
moved to the Dickinson Homestead on Main
Street. This move proved to be very difficult
for Emily. This was difficult for Emily because
she became very attached to her old house,
which shaped her writing and personality for
fifteen years. They now lived next door to her
brother Austin and his wife Susan and their
daughter Martha. Emily and Susan became
so close that many people believe they may
have been lovers. A rumor perpetuated by the
fact that Emily was known to have written
many love letters and poems to Susan.
Martha attempted to protect both of their
images and suppress the rumors. It became
common knowledge that Emily had ...

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