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The Moth of Amherst

© Megan Drummond

Emily Dickinson was born to Edward an Emily Norcross Dickinson on December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was the middle child in a family of three children, with an older brother named Austin and a younger sister named Lavinia.

Emily’s family belonged to the Congregational Church in Amherst, though Emily herself never became a member. The fact that Emily did not subscribe to any organized religion was apparent in her poems. She does not reject God or the idea of a supreme being in her poetry; she simply strays quite a bit from her time period’s traditional religious views and expectations.

The Dickinson’s were also a very well educated family. Both Edward and Austin were college graduates, leaders in the community and leaders of Amherst College. Emily’s father was a Whig (later a Republican) representative to the state and national legislatures.

Emily herself was well educated. Although she did not graduate from college, she had a strong secondary education and attended college for a year at South Hadley Female Seminary (later renamed Mount Holyoke College).

The house that Emily was born in became the house in which she lived most of her life. The Homestead, the family home built by her grandfather in 1813, played a major role in most of her poems. Since the house was sold out of the family shortly after Emily’s birth and did not regain its place in the Dickinson family until Emily was 25, the poet’s younger years were spent in different homes.

After her years at school, Emily moved back into her family home and stayed there for the remainder of her life. She remained at home and cared for her parents in their declining years. Emily also became a companion to her sister Lavinia, who also stayed home. Neither sister ever married.

Most people would like to attribute Emily Dickinson’s life as a recluse to some deep, romantic mystery in her past. The reality of her reclusive life is more mundane, however. In 19th century Massachusetts, especially among relatively wealthy families, it was not unusual for grown women to keep house as a primary occupation and never marry. The only reason that society sees Emily Dickinson differently is because of her poetic gift, which can more likely be attributed to nature and culture than to some deep seeded emotional trauma.

Emily remained at The Homestead until her death, save for the few occasions of illness, which required her to make an extended stay in Cambridge. She died on May 15, 1886.

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