Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson was a 19th century American poet. Though she rarely ventured far from her home in Amherst, Massachusetts, Dickinson's poetry has traveled far. She began to be preoccupied with poetry in 1861, and though only two of her poems were published during her lifetime (and not by her own initiation), the poems discovered after her death filled three volumes published in 1890, 1891, and 1896 with a fourth appearing in 1914 and a fifth in 1929. According to the theory advanced by Thomas Johnson, an editor of Dickinson's work, in his letter to Lehigh's librarian, this poem may commemorate the death of Mrs. Norcross and may have been composed in May of 1863. Dickinson’s poetry was characterized by unconventional grammar that was often “corrected” by editors of her poetry. Scholars may gain new insight into her poetry by examining the original, uncorrected manuscript.
This letter is available on the digital library project I Remain.
