Emily Dickinson was born and lived in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was born on December 10, 1830. She was the second of three children born to Edward and Emily Dickinson. Edward received his law degree from Yale University and was one of Amherst’s most highly regarded community leaders and one of it’s leading attorneys. He served in the Massachusetts State Senate, the United States House of Representatives and was both the treasurer and attorney of Amherst College. He was a very religious, hardworking man and was also a strict father figure. Edward tried to keep Emily away from books that would “joggle” her mind, especially her religious faith. He died in 1874.

Emily’s mother, Emily Norcross, was a quiet woman. Her daughter wrote of

Although Emily never married, a few of her poems talked about first-hand experience with love, especially lost love. The man that these poems talk about is unknown but there are a few candidates that she may be talking about. It is believed that the Reverend Charles Wadsworth was the focus of Emily’s love. In 1855, on a visit to Philadelphia, she met Wadsworth who was a highly successful well-known Presbyterian who was 41, married and a father of three. Emily one said that Wadsworth was her “dearest earthly friend”. They exchanged numerous letters of a period of decades. Other than Emily meeting Wadsworth in Philadelphia she only saw him two other times. He visited her in Amherst in 1860 and again in 1880. Many believe that these brief reunions were the basis of her love lyrics. He died in 1882 when she was 52.

On June 14, 1884, Emily suffered from the first attack of her terminal illness, Brights disease, a kidney ailment. During the following year she was confined to bed, staying in her family’s home and being nursed by her younger sister, Lavinia Dickinson. She died on May 15, 1886 at the age of 56. She had specifically requested that a traditional funeral service in a church not to be held for her. Complying with her wishes, a small group of friends and family gathered in her home where Higginson of the “Atlantic Monthly” spoke briefly. She was buried in the West Street Cemetery in Amherst. She wrote her own epitaph.

Emily received a lot more education than what was usual for a female at that time. It’s most likely because she was the daughter of a highly successful attorney who was involved with local and state politics. She had a strong secondary education at Amherst Academy from 1840 to 1847 where she studied botany and horticulture. At the age of 17, she entered South Hadley Female Seminary where she only stayed for one term, which was seven months. A few of the reasons she didn’t stay long were her health, unhappiness with the teachers, homesickness and her father’s wishes. It was around this time that Emily showed skepticism ab

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