Who was Emily Elizabeth Dickinson?

* Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (1830-1886), American poet, known as "the New England mystic"; innovator in the use of poetic language, forms, and rhythms; author of 1,775 poems, most published posthumously. * Born December 10, 1830 in Amherst, MA; her grandfather was founder of Amherst College; her father was treasurer of the college and U.S. Congressman; both of her parents were cold, distant, severe people. * Attended Amherst Academy, spent one year (1847-1848) at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley; …

…of which might have caused some of Emily's eccentricity. Being rooted in the puritanical Massachusetts of the 1800's, the Dickinson children were raised in the Christian tradition, and they were expected to take up their father's religious beliefs and values without argument. Later in life, Emily would come to challenge these conventional religious viewpoints of her father and the church, and the challenges she met with would later contribute to the strength of her poetry.