The Death of The Great Emily Dickinson

Now that we have talked about Emily Dickinson’s life, and her poems I would like to discuss, the end of Emily Dickinson’s life. Emily Dickinson Died on May 15, 1886, in Amherst Massachusetts from Bright's disease. Emily Dickinson now rests in the West Cemetery of Amherst Massachusetts. Emily had one wish when she passed away that there was no church service. There was a gathering at the homestead. Ms. Dickinson was buried in an all white dress and violets pinned on her collar. (Merriman) When Dickinson died at the age of 55 she left behind an astonishing body of work, found in 40 hand-sewn volumes in a locked chest. Spare and unsentimental, her poems wrestled with the great questions of human life and death. (Matthews) Throughout Emily’s life she didn’t consider herself as a person, she wrote this poem that explains how she feels, and why she kept herself locked away in her parents’ house her whole life.

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
     Are you nobody too?
     Then there's a pair of us.
     Don't tell--they'd banish us, you know.
     How dreary to be somebody.
     How public--like a frog --
     To tell your name the livelong June
     To an admiring Bog.

All of Emily Dickinson’s friends and family encouraged her to publish her work only very few were published while she was alive. It wasn’t until after Emily had died that her poems were release. Emily’s sister Lavinia found them after her death, and got assistance from Higginson and Mabel Loomis to edit the poems and publish them for her. The first book was published in 1890, the second in 1891, and the last one was in 1896.  (Merriman) None of Emily Dickinson’s poems were named they all where titled by numbers. I hope this has given you a little more insight to who Emily Dickinson was and how her poems came out into this world.

Matthews, Glenna. "Dickinson, Emily." American Women's History: A Student Companion. Dec. 1 2000: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 09 Dec 2010.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), American poet. Early portrait. Miniature painting in the possession of the Dickinson family. (Credit: (c) Bettmann/CORBIS)

The Literary Network.  C.D. Merriman. 2006. Jalic Inc. 2010 http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:QDpux0kRadoJ:www.online-literature.com/dickinson/+how+emily+dickinson+died&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us