There is a life in Emily Dickinson’s poems, readers have found. Although one may not completely understand her as a legend, a writer, or as a part of literature books, she is considered one of America’s greatest poets. While unknown answers may not be revealed about her, secrets may not be told, nor any new discoveries made, evidence from books and articles showing Emily Dickinson’s experiences and hardships exists. Critic Paul J. Ferlazzo describes her writings: “Many students and casual readers of her poetry have enjoyed hearing tales about her which remind them of storybook heroines locked in castles, of beautiful maidens cruelty relegated to a life of drudgery and obscurity, of genius so great that all the world’s suppression cannot deny its flowering.” 1 Many researchers ignore the bases of her writings, her life, and her dreams.Fascinated by many works examining the life and writings of Emily Dickinson, some may find that Dickinson’s trials at a young age are the basis of many assumptions today. The facts of her childhood and young adult life are few and simple,but the interpretations are many and complex. She was born in Amherst Massachusetts, a small farming town which had a college and a hat factory; she seldom left her home town. Even though she was claimed to be a high-spirited and active young woman, Dickinson began to withdraw from society in the 1850’s; virtually her only contact with her friends came to be made through letters.Wendy Martin, a critic of Emily Dickinson, discusses Dickinson’s choice of seclusion: “...as a young woman, Dickinson rejected these comforting traditions, [anxiety, helplessness, anger, confusion, desperation, fears, and frustrations] resisted male authority, and wrestled alone with her complex and often contrary emotions. Finally, she rejected all masters; God, father, potential husband, and literary preceptor, to devote her...
