When annotating Dickenson’s poetry, it is easy to highlight her philosophies about loneliness. She seems averse to notoriety of any kind, and seems to find enlightenment with solitude that others might find suffocating. Her poems read like midnight confessions written from herself as “letters to the world” as she puts it, which creates her uniquely intimate poetry.
It is with this context that we examined the chronology of Dickenson’s writing career, if it can so be called. The very small fraction of her poems which were published during her lifetime were done so anonymously in small papers and magazines, always heavily edited from their original state which can be found in her original manuscripts, all the rest were kept only for herself or closer personal friends and family and only published after her death. These facts seem to indicate that Dickenson didn’t have much interest in being known for her writing by the public at large, reflective of her reclusive lifestyle and philosophy of her poetry.
This is a timeline of relevant events in poet Emily Dickinson's life.
Timeline
Table of Events
| Date | Event | Created by |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Dec 1830 | The Birth Of Emily DickinsonEmily Elizabeth Dickinson was born as the second child of her parents, Edward Dickinson and Emily Dickinson (née Norcross), she would eventually be the eldest daughter and middle child of her parents. She was born in Amherst, Pennsylvania, where her family home still resides.
Habegger, Alfred. "Emily Dickinson". Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 Dec. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Emily-Dickinson. Accessed 16 December 2021. |
Jordan Arnold |
| 2 Aug 1858 | The First Publication of a Dickenson Poem"Nobody knows this little Rose--" is the first of the twelve Dickenson poems that are known to have been published during Dickenson's lifetime. It was published anonymously in the Springfield Daily Republican under the title "To Mrs. ---- with a Rose." The poem was heavily edited compared to the original version in Dickenson's own writing found in her fascicle. There is no acknowledgement in any of Dickenson's letters that she approved of these edits, or even the poems publication, leading some scholars to theorize that these things may have been done via a third-party actor without her consent.
Dandurand, Karen. “Another Dickinson Poem Published in Her Lifetime.” American Literature, vol. 54, no. 3, Duke University Press, 1982, pp. 434–37, https://doi.org/10.2307/2925853. |
Alice Benson |
| circa. Winter 1866 | Carlo's DeathEmily's beloved Newfoundland dog, Carlo, passes away. Emily Dickinson recieved her dog as a gift, in fall 1849, from her father. It's assumed he did so because he wanted her to have a companion on her frequent walks in the woods. Carlo is mentioned in letters nad some poems by Dickinson, and she often discussed how intelligent she thought he was. Her inspiration for naming him Carlo came from Jane Eyre, her supposed favorite novel at the time. Emily Dickinson Museum. (n.d.). Carlo (1849-1866), dog. Emily Dickinson Museum. Retrieved December 16, 2021, from https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/carlo-1849-1866-dog/ |
Jordan Arnold |
| 1867 | Emily Dickenson Writes the Bulk of Her PoemsThough she had, for most of her life been considered reclusive by the standards of her society,1867 was the year that Dickenson withdrew from social life almost entirely. It is during this time that it is estimated by many scholars, most notably Thomas Johnson, that the majority of Dickenson’s poetry was written based on her original manuscripts. The isolation perhaps fostering the deep and profound introspection that is such a prevalent theme in so much of her work.
Franklin, R. W. “Introduction.” In The Poems of Emily Dickinson. Ed. R. W. Franklin. Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. |
Alice Benson |
| 16 Jun 1874 | Edward Dickinson - DeathWhile in Boston, away from his family, Edward Dickinson collapsed during a speech and later died. Edward was a Yale graduate with a Law degree and later served as a US congressman.
Emily Dickinson Museum. (n.d.). Edward Dickinson (1803-1874), father. Emily Dickinson Museum. Retrieved December 16, 2021, from https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/edward-dickinson-1803-1874-father/ |
Jordan Arnold |
| 15 Jun 1875 to 14 Nov 1882 | Emily Norcross Dickinson - Stroke and DeathEmily Dickinson's mother, also named Emily Dickinson, kept her house immacualtely clean and didn't have much care for the politics, or writing, her husband was invested in. She was well educated for a woman of her time, in part due to the fact that her father had helped a co-educational academy which she attended form seven to nineteen. After suffering a stroke in 1875, her two daughters took care of her until her death seven years later. Emily Dickinson Museum. (n.d.). Emily Norcross Dickinson (1804-1882), mother. Emily Dickinson Museum. Retrieved December 16, 2021, from https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/emily-norcross-dickinson-1804-1882… |
Jordan Arnold |
| 5 Oct 1883 | The Death of GilbertEmily Dickinson's self-proclaimed 'favourite' nephew died at an early age of eight after suffering from Typhoid Fever. The death of this young and brilliant boy seemed to be that cause of the start of Dickinson's decline in health. He was described as charming and everyone, even his siblings, only had positive and loving things to say about him. Emily took a rare 'excursion' from her home and isolationg to sit by his bed the night before he died. Emily Dickinson Museum. (n.d.). Thomas Gilbert (GIB) Dickinson (1875-1883), nephew. Emily Dickinson Museum. Retrieved December 16, 2021, from https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/thomas-gilbert-gib-dickinson-1875-… |
Jordan Arnold |
| 15 May 1886 | Emily Dickinson's DeathEmily Dickinson died after her long years of seclusion and a whole round of deaths within her close circle. It was stated that after her favourite nephew, Gib, died she became irritable and suffered from blackouts, which led her to be in a fragile state mentally and physically for about two and a half years. It's beleived that Emily died from heart failure due to hypertension. As she was bedridden for months before her death, she refused to have her doctor see her from her bedside due to her seclusion. Emily Dickinson Museum. (n.d.). Emily Dickinson and death. Emily Dickinson Museum. Retrieved December 16, 2021, from https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/emily-dickinson/biography/special-… |
Jordan Arnold |
| 15 May 1886 to 1965 | Amherst College Buys the HomesteadAfter Emily's death, Lavinia remained in the Homestead until her eventual death in 1899. The ownership of the house then fell into the daughter of William Austin Dickinson's hands, Martha Dickinson Bianchi. In 1916 the home was sold to the Parke Family, who eventualy sold it to Amherst College due to the growing popularity of Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson Museum. (n.d). The Homestead. Emily Dickinson Museum. Retrieved December 16, 2021, from www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/the-museum/our-site/the-homestead/. |
Nikul Patel |
| 1890 to 1955 | The Remainder of Poems are Posthumously PublishedFour years after the poet's death in 1886, her sister Lavinia pursued the publication of Dickenson's poetry, requesting help from a few confidants, until finally settling on associate of Amherst University, Mabel Loomis Todd. This volume did not contain all of Dickenson's poetry, and after a successful year in print, they published a second volume in 1891, and later a third volume in 1896. This was still not a comprehensive version of Dickenson's work as a legal disagreement estranged Loomis Todd from Lavinia Dickenson.
It was not until 1945, after several of Dickenson's descendants kept pushing for the project to be revived, that the collection 'Bolts of Melody' was published, releasing most of Dickenson's poems to the public. A complete compilation of all Dickenson's work was eventually edited together by Thomas H. Johnson and published in 1955.
Bingham, Millicent Todd. Ancestors’ Brocades: The Literary Debut of Emily Dickinson. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1945.
Franklin, R. W. “Introduction.” In The Poems of Emily Dickinson. Ed. R. W. Franklin. Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. |
Alice Benson |