Emily Dickinson (Questions-Answers & Interesting facts)

Emily Dickinson

(Questions-Answers & Interesting facts)

 

1.               When and where was Emily Dickinson born?

-    Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States on December 10, 1830

 

2.               How many poems had Dickinson written, during her lifetime?

-    Dickinson had written nearly 1,800 poems and one letter, during her lifetime.

 

3.               What are the dominant themes in many of her poems?

-    The dominant themes in many of her poems are of death and immortality, aesthetics, society, nature and spirituality.

 

4.               What is special about her poetic-style?

-    Her poems were unique for her era. They follow conventional poetic rules, contain short lines, lack titles, and often use slant rhyme as well as unconventional capitalization and punctuation.

 

5.               Who was Lavinia?

-    Lavinia was Emily’s younger sister, who after Emily’s death in 1886, discovered her cache of poems and made them public.

Interesting facts:

-    Dickinson spent much of her life in isolation.

-    She had an inclination for white clothing.

-    Most of her friendships with others depended entirely upon correspondence.

-    Her first collection of poetry was published in 1890.

-    Eleven of Dickinson's poems were dedicated to her sister-in-law, Susan Huntington Gilbert Dickinson.

-    A complete, and mostly unaltered, collection of her poetry made available, for the first time by Thomas H. Johnson, in 1955.

-    Her brother, Austin and her younger sister, Lavinia were intellectual companions for Dickinson during her lifetime.  

-    Dickinson’s poetry was heavily influenced by the Metaphysical poets of seventeenth-century England, her reading of the Book of Revelation and her upbringing in a Puritan New England town.

-    Emily was a well-behaved girl and had affinity for music, particularly for the piano.

-    Dickinson studied English, classical literature, Latin, botany, geology, history, "mental philosophy," and arithmetic at the Amherst Academy.

-    Emily's strongest and most affectionate relationship was with her sister-in-law, Susan Gilbert.

-    Susan played the role of "most beloved friend, influence, muse, and adviser" for Dickinson.

-    The relationship between Emily and Susan is portrayed in the film Wild Nights with Emily and explored in the TV series Dickinson.