Becoming Emily

The Life of Emily Dickinson

Krystyna Poray Goddu

• Publisher: Chicago Review Press
• eBook ISBN:
  9780914091196
• Year: 2019

Emily Dickinson wrote short, often enigmatic poems that are widely read and quoted by people of every age. Yet, as well known as her poetry is, Dickinson as a person is considered to have been a mysterious recluse—a silent figure who wore only white, wrote in secret, never left her home, and had no interest in sharing her poetry. In Becoming Emily, young readers will learn how as a child, an adolescent, and well into adulthood, Dickinson was a lively social being with a warm family life. Highly educated for a girl of her era, she actively engaged in both the academic and social aspects of the schools she attended until she was nearly eighteen. Her family and friends were important to her, and she was a prolific, thoughtful, and witty correspondent who shared many poems with her closest friends and relatives. This indispensable resource includes photos, full-length poems, letter excerpts, a time line, source notes, and a bibliography to present a vivid portrait of this singular American poet.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Author’s Note
• 1 Early Childhood at the Homestead
• 2 A Beloved School with Beloved Friends
• 3 Science, Nature, and Religion
• 4 Higher Education
• 5 A Merry Life in Amherst
• 6 Emily at Twenty
• 7 A Budding Poet
• 8 A Second Sister
• 9 Back to the Homestead
• 10 The Poet in Full Bloom
• 11 Shunning Society, Seeking Seclusion
• 12 The Final Years—Love, and Much Loss
• Epilogue: Discovering and Publishing the Poems
• Acknowledgments
• Time Line
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Image Credits