Family+Life

Emily Dickinson's lifestyle created an aura which was often romanticised. She was very intelligent in school and was able to create many original writings of rhyming stories, which entertained her classmates. Her father was very strict with her and she was often kept isolated away from the outside world. Her poetry reflects her loneliness and the speakers of her poems generally live in the state of want. She enjoyed the company of her family but no one else. Her family was lower middle class. Her niece, Martha was also a poet. Her father was a lawyer as well as her older brother, they were also a treasurers’ at Amherst College. Her sister Lavinia was the chief house keeper and she remained home all her life, never getting married.