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Why do we love Emily?
The woman who would come to be known as the eccentric Belle of Amherst was born in her family home near the campus of Amherst College, an institution her grandfather founded. Raised by a loving family and given an excellent education, the happy, lively girl began to withdraw from society and public gatherings in her 30s. Around the same time, she also began penning some of the greatest poems ever written. Her style was unique--practically single-handedly introducing the dash to punctuation--terse statements filled with powerful words and evocative images. She never married and remained in the family home her entire life. Though many of her poems are filled with loneliness, they also show hope, sharing inspirational moments that promise future happiness. She never published during her lifetime, only showing occasional poems to close friends in letters. But she was prolific. When Emily died, her sister discovered over 1,700 completed poems in her desk. Along with Walt Whitman, Emily is considered the first charge of truly American poetry.
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Biography:
Born - December 10, 1830
Amherst, Mass.
Died - May 15, 1886
Amherst, Mass.
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In her own words -- The hidden poet:
XXXII
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.
LXXX
Low at my problem bending,
Another problem comes,
Larger than mine, serener,
Involving statelier sums;
I check my busy pencil,
My ciphers slip away,
Wherefore, my baffled fingers,
Time Eternity?
XXVII
I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you--Nobody--Too?
Then there's a pair of us?
Don't tell! they'd advertise--you know!
How dreary--to be--Somebody!
How public--like a Frog--
To tell one's name--the livelong June--
To an admiring Bog!
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