Family & Friends
Born on December 10, 1830 in Amherst in Massachusetts, where her deathbed was on May 15, 1886, Emily Dickinson remained unmarried her whole life. Her family and the small circle of friends were weightily important throughout her life.
A. Family – Emily Dickinson was born as a second child in the family
1. Father – Edward Dickinson, a prominent figure in the community of Amherst, he was an influential citizen in Amherst. His influence on Emily makes her dropped out of school and stayed with the family at all times.
2. Mother – Emily Norcross Dickinson, a submissive and reticent wife mainly involved in domestic life
3. Elder Brother – William Austin Dickinson, like his father, served as a lawyer and a treasurer in Amherst, who married Susan Gilbert
4. Younger Sister – Lavinia Dickinson, remained unmarried like Emily and took care of the family after Edward’s death and Austin married.
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B. Circle of Friends – the small circle of friends seem to be extremely important for Emily Dickinson and strongly connected with her life
1. Early Connections with friends
Sophia Holland and Abiah Root were close friends to Emily. They corresponded with Emily until Holland’s death at 14 and Root married.
2. Susan Huntington Gilbert—After Emily left Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, Emily developed a steady friendship with Susan. Their closeness was interrupted by Susan’s marriage with Austin.
3. Helen Hunt Jackson—Emily and Helen knew each other for long when they grew up in Amherst, but only later in her life in 1870s that she corresponded with Helen.
4. Samuel Bowles—Editor of Springfield Republican that Emily first met in1858. Bowles encouraged Emily to write, but his neglect toward Emily’s submission and contribution of her poetry. People speculated that it was this indifference toward her contribution of works to Bowles that makes Emily gradually withered and retreated her contact with the outside world.
5. Thomas Wentworth Higginson—an essayist that encouraged Emily to write and send him her poetry, and yet, like Bowles, he did not intend to publish her poems as Emily had hoped.
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