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Emily Dickinson
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Emily Dickinson, c. 1847 American poetry portal Portrait of young Emily Dickinson at left with her brother Austin in the center and sister Lavinia at right, all dressed formally and facing forward. Amherst home of Emily Dickinson
Listen to the letters of poet Emily Dickinson and Col. Thomas Higginson to glimpse her unique character
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Emily Dickinson summary
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Illustration of "The Lamb" from "Songs of Innocence" by William Blake, 1879. poem; poetry
A Study of Poetry
4:043 Dickinson, Emily: A Life of Letters, This is my letter to the world/That never wrote to me; I'll tell you how the Sun Rose/A Ribbon at a time; Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul
Famous Poets and Poetic Form
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) only confirmed photograph of Emily Dickinson. 1978 scan of a Daguerreotype. ca. 1847; in the Amherst College Archives. American poet. See Notes:
Poetry: First Lines
Emily Dickinson, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing right
Emily Dickinson
Photograph of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, Acme newspicture 1939.
Women in Art and Literature: Who Said It?
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Emily Dickinson: Quotes

  • Books and Reading
    There is no Frigate like a Book
    To take us Lands away
    Nor any Coursers like a Page
    Of prancing Poetry.
    Emily Dickinson
  • Death
    Because I could not stop for Death,
    He kindly stopped for meā€”
    The Carriage held but just Ourselves
    And Immortality.
    Emily Dickinson
  • Fame
    Fame is a bee.
    It has a songā€”
    It has a stingā€”
    Ah, too, it has a wing.
    Emily Dickinson
  • Fortune and Chance
    Luck is not chanceā€”
    It's Toilā€”Fortune's expensive smile
    Is earnedā€”.
    Emily Dickinson
  • Greatness
    How drearyā€”to beā€”Somebody!
    How publicā€”like a Frogā€”
    To tell one's nameā€”the livelong Juneā€”
    To an admiring Bog!
    Emily Dickinson
  • Help
    If I can stop one Heart from breaking
    I shall not live in vain
    If I can ease one life the Aching
    Or cool one Pain

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    Or help one fainting Robin
    Unto his Nest again
    I shall not live in Vain.
    Emily Dickinson
  • Hope
    ā€œHopeā€ is the thing with feathersā€”
    That perches in the soulā€”
    And sings the tune without the wordsā€”
    And never stopsā€”at allā€”
    Emily Dickinson
  • Imagination
    To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
    One clover, and a bee,
    And revery.
    The revery alone will do,
    If bees are few.
    Emily Dickinson
  • Medicine and Doctors
    Surgeons must be very careful
    When they take the knife!
    Underneath their fine incisions
    Stirs the Culpritā€”Life!
    Emily Dickinson
  • Pain and Suffering
    Painā€”has an Element of Blankā€”
    It cannot recollect
    When it begunā€”or if there were
    A time when it was notā€”.
    Emily Dickinson
  • Parting
    Parting is all we know of heaven,
    And all we need of hell.
    Emily Dickinson
  • Privacy
    I'm Nobody! Who are you?
    Are youā€”Nobodyā€”Too?
    Then there's a pair of us?
    Don't tell! they'd advertiseā€”you know!
    Emily Dickinson
  • Seasons
    There's a certain Slant of light,
    Winter Afternoonsā€”
    That oppresses, like the Heft
    Of Cathedral Tunes.
    Emily Dickinson
  • Speech and Speakers
    A word is dead
    When it is said,
    Some say.
    I say it just
    Begins to live
    That day.
    Emily Dickinson
  • Success and Failure
    Success is counted sweetest
    By those who ne'er succeed.
    Emily Dickinson
  • Time
    Time is a Test of Troubleā€”
    But not a Remedyā€”
    If such it prove, it prove too
    There was no Maladyā€”.
    Emily Dickinson