Dickinson, Emily Elizabeth (1830–1886)

US poet. She wrote most of her poetry between 1850 and the late 1860s and was particularly prolific during the Civil War years. She experimented with poetic rhythms, rhymes, and forms, as well as language and syntax. Her work is characterized by a wit and boldness that seem to contrast sharply with the reclusive life she led. Very few of her many short, mystical poems were published during her lifetime, and her work became well known only in the 20th century. The first collection of her poetry, Poems by Emily Dickinson, was published in 1890.

Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, she lived there in near seclusion and spent most of her adult life caring for her invalid mother. However, Dickinson also carried on lengthy correspondences with a number of friends and acquaintances, including a clergyman, Charles Wadsworth, and Samuel Bowles. Many of her letters are extraordinary artistic achievements in themselves, full of cryptic literary allusions; in some cases she used a fully-developed code based on a novel by English writer Charles Dickens. In 1859 she had begun to keep systematic copies of her verse and later a journalist, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, encouraged her writing. To almost everyone else it remained a secret. After Dickinson's death a collection of manuscripts was discovered by her sister, and some, according to her own orders, were destroyed.