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Emily Dickinson was a recluse. She was
born in 1830 and died in 1886 and in
that time wrote volumes of insightful
and sensitive poetry, none of which were
published until after her death. Her
father was a successful attorney which
allowed her to live a comfortable life
financially. She started to seriously write
poetry in her 20's and as her withdrawal
from public grew more pronounced the
events of her later life could increasingly
be drawn only from inferences from the
extensive poetry of her later years. In
these years she dressed only in white,
rarely left her house, and kept sporadic
contact with only a few friends. During
the fifteen year period of 1878 and 1883
she was believed to have fallen in love.
There is much speculation as to who this
man, or as some suggest woman, could
have been. However, this love, and an
increasing obsession with death,
occupied much of her later writings. The
rest of her poetry is a mix of
observations on life and what she saw
outside her window of the passing life of
the little village of Amherst. |
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