Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, and was a poet. I read a lot of her poetry and wanted to know more about the person behind these fascinating poems. I got to know Emily Dickinson through documentaries and research, and little did I know that we had similarities that made me love her even more. I had never heard of her until I came across a quote that struck a chord with me.
"Hope is the thing with feathers"
Hope is the thing with feathers
that preaches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.
At first, I did not understand but somehow what my mind couldn't my soul did. I read it again and I kept it in my heart. Hope is a thing with feathers that perches in the soul.
I love poetry and as it turns out Emily Dickinson was a good poet. Although she wasn't recognized during her existence because most of her poetry wasn't published until she passed away at the age of 55 in the year 1886. When she passed her family discovered forty handbound volumes containing almost a thousand poems. The first volume of her work was published in the late 1890s.
She spent most of her time at home specifically in her room -- in isolation. She lived in seclusion as all introverts wish they could. If I were born in 1830 and lived in Amherst Massachusetts I think me and Emily would've been very good friends. She too was obsessed with death. Honestly speaking although not knowing Emily personally I think she was a remarkable, extraordinary woman.
Dickinson's family
Her father, Edward Dickinson, was a vigorous and prosperous lawyer who worked as a college treasurer and was eventually elected to a one-term term in Congress.
Emily Norcross Dickinson, her mother, was an introverted wife and meticulous housekeeper. Both of her parents adored her but were reserved in their expressions of affection. They were strict and austere.
The Dickinson children (Emily on the left), ca. 1840. From the Dickinson Room at Houghton Library, Harvard University.
Emily Dickinson grew up in the middle of the family. Austin and Lavinia were her two siblings. Emily never married, so she lived with her sister Lavinia (who was also unmarried) in their modest home. Her brother Austin married and moved in next door with his wife Sue, Emily's best friend who appears to be more than "just friends" in theory.
Susan Gilbert
Susan Huntington Gilbert was born on December 19, 1830, in Deerfield, Massachusetts, to Thomas and Harriet Arms Gilbert. She was the youngest of seven children. Her aunt Sophia van Vranken reared her and her sisters in Geneva, New York when her mother died in 1835. During the summer of 1847, she visited Amherst, where her elder sister lived, and attended Amherst Academy.
Susan was a vivacious, intelligent, and sophisticated woman who was a voracious reader, a lively communicator, and a diverse book collector. She traveled to Europe numerous times in her later years before dying of heart illness on May 12, 1913.
Emily & Sue
Hailee Steinfeld & Ella Hunt from the series Dickinson (since I found no picture of the real Emily and Sue together)
Susan Gilbert, the poet's first love, met her months before her twentieth birthday. Susan was the poet's muse, mentor, primary reader, and editor, her deepest lifelong devotion, her "Only Woman in the World" during her lifetime.
Their story began in the summer of 1850, which Emily remembers as the season “when love first began, on the step at the front door, and under the Evergreens.”
This is just a rumor, a theory shared by many readers of Emily's poems. I'm not sure if this is true because it hasn't been proven that Emily and Sue had more than "just friends" relations. They believe Emily and Sue were lovers because of the poems Emily sent to Sue, which numbered in the hundreds. Yes, Emily did send over a hundred poems and letters to Sue (well, I guess she was a romantic then) Enough of the slander; I'll let you make your own decision.
Emily's poems to Sue
She and her brother (Austin) found themselves in an unusual bewitchment of figures, placing Susan at one point of a triangle. But Emily’s was no temporary infatuation. Approximately two decades after Susan entered her heart, Emily wrote with unblunted desire:
A letter to Sue, from Emily:
Susie, will you indeed come home next Saturday, and be my own again, and kiss me as you used to?… I hope for you so much and feel so eager for you, feel that I cannot wait, feel that now I must have you — that the expectation once more to see your face again makes me feel hot and feverish, and my heart beats so fast — I go to sleep at night, and the first thing I know, I am sitting there wide awake, and clasping my hands tightly, and thinking of next Saturday… Why, Susie, it seems to me as if my absent Lover was coming home so soon — and my heart must be so busy, making ready for him.
Emily would compose her most emotional letters and dedicate her most adored poems to Susan; she would steady herself, returning to her shore time and time again, writing in her dying years:
Dickinson's body of work, which radicalized its era and forever changed the landscape of literature, would become the pulse-beat of their uncommon love, brightness, and sadness — a gleaming testament to the fact that love, longing, and the restlessness of the human heart are the catalysts for every creative revolution.
So what do you think about this one?
Cause that's about it for today
hope you enjoyed this just as I enjoyed writing and researching on this one😂
Well, hope you have a great day ahead hivers
Peace out😎✌️
Info:
Resources
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Picture resources:
Emily Dickinson
Edward Dickinson
Norcross Dickinson
Dickinson siblings
Susasn Gilbert
Emily & Sue