Emily's+Education+and+Religious+Beliefs

Emily Dickinson was a very successful student. She had an early education in classic literature. She attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley. Also, she graduated from Amherst Academy in 1847. She was not very religious but her family was Calvinist, which means she believes that men were inherently sinful and most humans were doomed to hell. Emily never joined the "saved," of which only a few were saved.



**Religion** She refused to sign an oath professing her faith in Christ. She never joined those who were "saved". Dickinson could never accept the doctrine of “original sin”. There is frequent reference to “being shut out of heaven” written in her poetry. Dickinson felt that it could be more accurately reflected in the beauty of nature, and the experiences of ecstatic joy.

**Education** Emily Dickinson had early education in classic literature. She studied writings from Virgil and Latin mathematics, history and botany. She entered the Amherst Academy. Later she went on to Mount Holyoke Female Seminary for a little less than a year. Dickinson left because she was homesick and she also became relatively ill so her father pulled her out.

Picture: Mount Holyoke Female Seminary

Charlotte Dorsey, Chris Pondolfino, Emily Ham, Louis Neth