Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (1830–86) was an American lyric poet. She played a leading role in redefining modern verse. She wrote 1775 short lyrics; only seven were published during her life, none with her consent.
Particulars of Dickinson’s life are as perplexing as some of her poems. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, Dickenson was vigorous, witty, and outgoing during her early years. However, in her mid-twenties, she gradually withdrew into an inner world and ultimately refused to leave her home. She lived with her unmarried sister Lavinia in “The Homestead.” Emily read voraciously and exchanged letters with a small circle of friends.
Dickinson’s reclusive life and her inner struggles are reflected in her mystical poems. She referred to herself as “The Queen of Calvary” and wrote in an elliptical language, with great stress on assonance and alliteration than rhyme. Her verse is full of references to storms, shipwrecks, volcanoes, funerals, imprisonments, and other expressions of natural and human ferocity.
Today, Dickenson’s lyrical poetry ranks among the most significant works in American literature. Poems by Emily Dickinson appeared in 1890. A complete scholarly edition of her works first appeared only in 1955. A facsimile of her manuscripts was published in The Manuscript Books of Emily Dickinson (1982.)
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Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest sea,
Yet never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
—Emily Dickinson
Topics: Hope
Finite to fail, but infinite to venture.
—Emily Dickinson
Topics: Failure, Bravery
That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.
—Emily Dickinson
Topics: Carpe-diem
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
—Emily Dickinson
Topics: Giving, Living, Meaning, Service, Purpose, Kindness, Helpfulness
Unable are the loved to die. For love is immortality.
—Emily Dickinson
Topics: Sympathy
Truth is such a rare thing, it is delightful to tell it.
—Emily Dickinson
Topics: Honesty, Truth
Success is counted sweetest by those who ne’er succeed.
—Emily Dickinson
We never know how high we are till we are called to rise. And then, if we are true to plan, our statures touch the skies.
—Emily Dickinson
Topics: Possibilities, Potential, Hope
Prayer is the little implement through which men reach; where presence is denied them.
—Emily Dickinson
Topics: Prayer
Superiority to fate is difficult to gain; ’tis not conferred of any, but possible to earn.
—Emily Dickinson
Topics: Luck
Faith is the pierless bridge supporting what we see unto the scene that we do not.
—Emily Dickinson
Topics: Faith
His labour is a chant,
His idleness a tune;
Oh, for a bee’s experience
Of clovers and of noon.
—Emily Dickinson
Topics: Wisdom, Idleness, Failure, Action
We turn, not older with years, but newer every day.
—Emily Dickinson
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