Is there a modern day E.E. Cummings?

E.E. Cummings is well known for his unorthodox writing. He chose to ignore the parameters set forth by most poets before him. His poems lack punctuation, organized stanzas, and they are also seemingly random. They require a certain amount of decoding so that the reader can fully understand his intentions. As I was reading poems by E.E. Cummings one really stood out to me: When God Lets My Body Be.

when god lets my body be

from each brave eye shall sprout a tree
fruit that dangles therefrom

the purpled world will dance upon
between my lips which did sing

a rose shall beget the spring
that maidens whom passion wastes

will lay between their little breasts
my strong fingers beneath the snow

into strenuous birds shall go
my love walking in the grass

their wings will touch with her face
and all the while shall my heart be
with the bulge and nuzzle of the sea

[http://hellopoetry.com/poem/when-god-lets-my-body-be/]

Parts of this poem did not quite make sense to me until I did some research;however, some parts are obvious. I feel that when Cummings writes: “when god lets my body be/ from each brave eye shall sprout a tree/ fruit that dangles therefrom”, he is talking of new life following a death. Much of the rest of the poem I did not understand.

I did find one analysis of the poem that gave a good explanation for the meaning behind this poem. The poem is explained to symbolize “life’s never ending cycle.” The article points out that this is a poem about death, but from the point of view that even after your own death, life does go on for the rest of the world. “We die, yet others continue to strive.”

[http://www.poemofquotes.com/eecummings/when-god-lets-my-body-be.php]

[http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/michael58/images/31006856/title/eminem-quotes-fanart]

Cummings had a complete disregard for all poetic devices set forth by other poets. Is there a modern day E.E Cummings? There is a very popular music artist today named Marshall Mathers, more commonly known as Eminem. Eminem ignores the typical profile for his title of a rapper. He does not conform to the style of many other modern day music artists. Instead he makes music based upon his own very personal life, not caring who he insults or offends along the way. I admire him for staying true to his own style and idea of music. Eminem has been hugely successful throughout his career simply because he set aside standards put in place by former music artists and did things his own way, much like E.E. Cummings did with his poetry.

Is a film version of a story helpful or harmful to the reader’s understanding of the author’s purposes?

Some books made into movies are beneficial to a reader’s understanding of the work and the author’s intentions; however, others leave the reader confused or frustrated with the motion picture outcome. For example, who wants to fall in love with a book and the characters in it just to build up expectations for a movie they end up strongly disliking? This has happened to me several times and it is always frustrating to go see a movie that poorly represents a written work you really enjoyed reading. And what about the author’s intentions? Did the movie really turn out how they wanted? Did the motion picture convey what they intended when they spent all that time writing and perfecting the original piece?

The Snows of Kilimanjaro is a short story published by Ernest Hemingway in 1936. The story is of a man who travels to Mount Kilimanjaro of the Eastern African mountains with a woman he has been with for years.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kilimanjaro] While there he cuts his leg and contracts a serious life threatening infection and is mostly delirious for the duration of the story. Throughout the story the man, Harry, is reflecting upon his life events and all that he intended to write about. He regrets not writing about various things, saying he put his writing off for too long and now he will never get the chance. I believe Hemingway’s intentions were to evoke the thought in his readers, “What happens before you die?” The way the story is written leads me to think that Ernest Hemingway believed you spend your dying moments thinking of things that have happened throughout your life and the things you wish you had done while the opportunity was still there. In the end of the written story, the man does die. When the written work is compared to the movie The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), several things are different. First of all, Harry’s life events are played without his thought-for-thought commentary. You do not get a clear picture of what he his thinking and feeling as you do in the written story. Secondly, the movie is very different for that same reason; it is very hard to understand what I believe was Hemingway’s original message: the thought process and regrets you feel before death. Lastly, the movie has a completely different ending than the short story. Instead of dying as Harry originally did in the written version, he is alive at the end of the movie. I do not think Ernest Hemingway would have liked this ending, as it takes away from the initial feeling of the whole story.  Overall I personally do not like this fiction to movie translation. I feel as if the movie could be interpreted far differently than Hemingway originally intended.[http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/h/hemingways-short-stories/summary-and-analysis/the-snows-of-kilimanjaro]

On the other hand there are movie series such as Harry Potter. The seven Harry Potter books were written by J.K. Rowling starting in the 1990’s. There are eight movies, one each for books 1-6 and a two-part motion picture for book 7. The first movie was released in 2001 and the last in 2011. The Harry Potter book series already had a huge fan base that only increased with the release of each movie. I was an avid reader of the Harry Potter novels beginning in elementary school, and the movies really helped me connect the characters I had created with my imagination to something even more realistic. J.K. Rowling even said in one of her commentaries that she was very satisfied with the outcome of the movie productions and could not have imagined her characters coming to life in such a remarkable way. The movies included as much accurate detail from the books as possible. They were done in such a way that even if one had not read the books they could understand the progression of the story throughout all eight movies. The movies also increased the number of people reading the books, as there are some people who have to be really interested in something in order to read about it.

In my opinion there is no yes or no answer as to whether a motion picture based upon a written work is helpful or harmful to a reader’s understanding of the author’s intentions. There will always be movies produced that are based on a book. That book may be wonderful and the movie still be terrible. Or they could both be great. The movie could completely stray from the author’s original intentions, or it could portray precisely what the author meant. I think it depends on how much time and effort is out in to ensure that the movie promptly follows the written work. As for me, I’ll always prefer the written word directly from the author.

As I was reading some extra information on A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, I realized that Stella Kowalski reminds me of Spencer Hastings from Pretty Little Liars . Spencer, like Stella, was raised in a very aristocratic environment in an upper class family. Both characters meet someone just as or right after their families fall on hard times. Stella’s family was having financial problems where Spencer’s family was simply at war and falling apart. Stella moves to New Orleans to find a job and meets Stanley, a second class war veteran who seems to have a problem with alcohol. On the other hand Spencer turns to Toby during her family’s hardship. Toby is a middle class boy that Spencer meets at her local high school. Her parents spend a great deal of time trying to drive them apart because of Toby’s bad reputation, and they just flat out do not believe he is good enough for their daughter.[http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/streetcar/characters.html]

Here is a video that will give you a good idea of what kind of character Spencer Hastings is.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYHuevdQhb4]

I also found another strong resemblance between Spencer and Stella; their older sisters. Stella’s older sister Blanche comes to stay with her for a time during A Streetcar Named Desire. Blanche is appalled by her sister’s situation and tries to convince Stella to leave Stanley. Spencer also has an older sister, named Melissa. Throughout the TV show Melissa does everything in her power to manipulate Spencer into leaving Toby. Spencer always refuses and chooses Toby over her sister’s selfish needs, much like Stella does to Blanche.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_Kowalski

The final resemblance I found is the type of men Stella and Spencer choose. Stanley is an alcoholic who abuses Stella and Toby has been accused of murder. Both Stella and Spencer choose less than ideal men, but despite everything neither of them choose to end their relationship. Both girls insist they are in love and could never leave Toby or Stanley.

Overall Stella and Spencer are very similar characters. They come from the same environment, have an older sister trying to rule their relationships, and wind up falling for a guy who could potentially ruin their lives.

T.S. Eliot and Langston Hughes are both commonly known as modernist poets. Both men were born in Missouri; Hughes in Joplin on February 1, 1902 and Eliot in St. Louis on September 26, 1888. With both poets being from the same state and likely writing in and of the same time period, were they very similar or different?

[http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/323]

Langston’s parents divorced  when he was very young and he was mostly raised by his grandmother. His father, an African American tired of the racism present in America, moved to Mexico. Langston moved to Lincoln, Illinois and it is here that he began to write poetry. Following his high school graduation Hughes took a year off to stay a year in Mexico with his father. During this year he travelled a considerable amount internationally. The following year he began studying at Columbia University. In 1924 he moved to Washington, D.C., where his first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, was published. His first novel, Not without Laughter, followed 6 years later in 1930. “Hughes… is primarily known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties.” [http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83] Many of his works reflect racism issues that were prominent during his lifetime. He refused to distinguish if he was writing of personal encounters or of the lives of other colored individuals. Hughes is also known for allowing the world of jazz to have an impact on his writing, as seen in Montage of a Dream Deferred. “His life and work were enormously important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s.”[http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83] Today, The City College of New York offers a Langston Hughes Medal in honor of his accomplishments. [http://www.poemhunter.com/langston-hughes/biography/]

Below is a link of an analysis of Langston’s A Dream Deferred, to give you an idea of his writing style and what he wrote about.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZhhRCQPuVA]

[http://therumpus.net/2012/01/a-peaceful-but-very-interesting-pursuit/]

Thomas Stearns Eliot did not move around throughout his early adult life like Langston Hughes. Instead he remained in Missouri, the state he was born in, for the first eighteen years of his life. When he did move away it was to attend Harvard University. In 1910, after earning a masters degree at the age of twenty-two, he began to travel. He went to places such as Sorbonne and London. In London Eliot met Ezra Pound, who at once recognized Eliot’s poetic genius and assisted in having his works published in various magazines. T.S. Eliot’s most noted work at the time was The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. His first book of poems was published in 1917, Prufrock and Other Observations. ” His poems in many respects articulated the disillusionment of a younger post-World-War-I generation with the values and conventions—both literary and social—of the Victorian era.” [http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/18]  T.S. Eliot became a British citizen in 1927 after spending much of his life and writing career there. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948.[http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/18]

Below is a link to a video of a reading of T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, which was one of his earliest publications.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l-EV6wVZu0&list=PLB24478423773BFB5]

Both T.S. Eliot and Langston Hughes were very successful in their writing careers; but, while Langston Hughes was writing on racial issues, T.S. Eliot wrote of death, loss, and religion. Even though both men were very influential during their time period, they also differed greatly; however, they both impacted modernist poetry with their works and accomplishments.[http://voices.yahoo.com/ts-eliots-genre-writing-style-issues-their-relevance-2067229.html]

Robert Frost: Fire and Ice

Fire and Ice by Robert Frost is one of my all time favorite poems. It is one of those few poems that, to me, really gives you something to think about.

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vB5E8yHSoQ] Here is a link to a narration of the poem.

In this poem Frost is debating how the world will end. He starts out by saying people say it will end in either fire or ice, then states from what he has known of desire that he himself would choose fire. I think the way he relates fire and desire is very accurate. For example, if you are close to achieving something you desire you are figuratively on fire. It is an amazing feeling to finally reach a goal you have been working for; whether it be success, a promotion, etc. Then Frost turns to ice, comparing it to hate. Ice, he says, would also be great for destruction and would work just as well as fire. I admire the use of words and speech in this poem.

[Google Images]

I found another great summary of the poem. It says that in the poem Robert Frost is questioning the fate of the world, wondering if it will end in fire and ice. He definitely believes it will end in one of the two. Fire is compared to passion and desire, “which can be terribly destructive if left to grow unhindered.” Ice is said to represent hate and disdain. “The world could easily fall into disorder if everyone is ruled by hate.” I feel that both of these comparisons make a good point and may very well be what Frost intended to say. At the end of the poem Frost decides that either fire or ice could equally end the world and that the two are “remarkably similar.”[http://www.ask.com/question/robert-frost-fire-and-ice-meaning]

“Only nine lines long, this little poem is a brilliant example of Frost’s concisely ironic literary style”, says a source from gradesaver.com. The article goes on to say that the poem answers the common question of how the world will end. It also says the fire relates to passion and ice to hatred, and that Frost concludes his poem with saying one is just as destructive as the other.[http://www.gradesaver.com/the-poetry-of-robert-frost/study-guide/section14/]

No matter where I looked I got the same answers. This seems to be one of Robert Frost’s more easily interpreted poems. Even so, it is still my favorite poem by Frost and poses a very interesting question with an equally interesting answer.

 

Mark Joseph Stern: The Man Who Protests Everything.

As I searched for a protest writer to do my assignment on, I found Mark Joseph Stern. He is a freelance writter based in Washington, D.C. Most of his writing can be found in online blogs, but he does have one publication in The Wall Street Journal. He is a protest writer who writes about the most controversial of issues such as: gay rights, abortion, and circumcision. The link below goes to a complete list of his writings. [http://www.slate.com/authors.mark_stern.html]

One of his blogs really interested me. It is titled Rolling Stone’s Boston Bomber Cover is Brilliant. He is referring to The Rolling Stone magazine featuring Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the cover of the magazine in July of this year. Stern calls it “brilliant”, while companies across America were boycotting it insisting it “depicts Tsarnaev as a kind of celebrity.” Stern justifies himself by saying the magazine was simply reminding people that a “terrorist” does not have to appear intimidating or alarming, but can simply appear like any normal individual.  “By depicting a terrorist as sweet and handsome rather than ugly and terrifying, Rolling Stone has subverted our expectations and hinted at a larger truth.” Stern states that the larger truth is “we aren’t as good as we’d like to believe at spotting the evil beneath the surface.” [http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/07/17/boston_bomber_rolling_stone_cover_with_dzokhar_tsarnaev_is_good_journalism.html]

 

[http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/07/17/boston_bomber_rolling_stone_cover_with_dzokhar_tsarnaev_is_good_journalism.html]

This is just one example of Mark Joseph Stern’s protest writing. In another blog titled No, Private Discrimination Against Gays Does Not Count as “Religious Liberty”. Here he argues that private businesses should not be able to turn away same-sex couples and plea religious liberty as an excuse. “It’s important to remember a fundamental point about the purported clash between the right to discriminate and the right to be free from discrimination.” From this statement we can concur that Stern has looked at the issue from both the business owner’s and the same-sex couple’s point-of-view, has chosen a standpoint, and now argues for it through his writing.

[http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2013/09/09/religious_liberty_and_homophobia_how_far_should_the_law_go_to_protect_gays.html]

I did notice that Mark Stern writes mostly about gay rights. He has blogs titled: Are Gay People Smarter Than Straight People, Can Being Gay Get You Out of Jury Duty?, America’s Anti-Gay Blood Donation Ban is Based on Bad Science and Homophobia- Which is Why Russia’s Adopting It, and many many more.[http://www.slate.com/authors.mark_stern.html] In the five or more I read, he defends the rights of homosexuals and advocates equal marriage rights. This is a very controversial issue within America today, yet Mark Stern writes about it and asserts his opinion strongly. He protests marriage inequality and does so tastefully by presenting his opinions and beliefs with facts and opposing opinions. I admire his writing style as well as his determination to protest what he does not believe is right.

Below is a link of the website that has a complete collection of his blogs. I found several of them very interesting.

[http://www.slate.com/authors.mark_stern.html]

[Google Images]

“Ida B. Wells has been described as a crusader for justice, and as a defender of democracy. Wells was characterized as a militant and uncompromising leader for her efforts to abolish lynching and establish racial equality. Wells challenged segregation decades before Rosa Parks, ran for congress and attended suffrage meetings with the likes of Susan B. Anthony and Jane Addams, yet most of her efforts are largely unknown due to the fact that she is African American and female.”

[http://www2.webster.edu/~woolflm/idabwells.html]

After reading some of the works by Ida B. Wells- Barnett I wondered  what sort of impact she had on the issues that she felt so strongly about. I was most interested in her influence on suffrage and racial equality. I noticed she wrote very passionately about both. During her time period she was considered a minority, being first an African American and secondly a woman. She had very few rights. She could not vote because she was a woman, she could not even sit or eat where she wanted in public because she was African American; however, all of that was going to change, and over 150 years later she would be recognized as one of the people who set these changes into motion.[http://www.infoplease.com/spot/womenstimeline1.html]

Born as a slave, Ida B. Wells had always known the burden of racial issues. But in May 1884, on a train going from Memphis to Nashville, she took a stand. She had purchased a first- class ticket and rightfully refused to move to the designated African American car when told by the train crew to do so. A man then tried to drag her from her seat and in turn she bit him. He returned with two other men and of course they succeeded in dragging her from her seat and removing Ida from the train altogether. Ida sued the railroad, winning a $500 settlement in circuit court. Sadly the ruling was overturned by the Tennessee Supreme Court.[http://www.biography.com/people/ida-b-wells-9527635] But from that point on she rallied to overcome injustices against African Americans and women. She wrote several editorials about the lynching of three black men and also conducted interviews and a full informal investigation to find out why they were lynched. These editorials led to the boycott of businesses owned by whites and threats against her life. Still, she pursued equal rights. She soon after published Southern Horrors: Lynch Laws in All Its Phases, which was about the lynchings in America. She continued to write and fight for equal rights, and eventually became one of the founders of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). [http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/ida-b-wells]

Ida B. Wells not only stood up for the rights of African Americans, but also for those of women. Ida was very active in the beginnings of the suffrage movement that was sweeping the United States shortly after equal rights were granted to African American men. She founded the Alpha Suffrage Club of Chicago, the first black women’s suffrage organization. She marched in several national suffrage parades, but one in particular made an impact. Although black men now had equal civil rights, racism still played a huge role in the lives of African Americans. Ida planned to march with thousands of other women through Chicago during a suffrage parade before she was discouraged by several of the rally leaders, who said many of the white women refused to march with a woman of color. Ida agreed, but secretly fell into step with the other women mid-parade. Several white women surrounded her so that Ida could march the whole parade while going mostly unnoticed. [http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/rightsforwomen/WellsBarnett.html & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_B._Wells#Later_public_career]

Below is a link to a YouTube video that points out a few interesting things about Ida B. Wells- Barnett’s role in the suffrage movement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUMKFP4p2Lo

Ida B. Wells used her gift of writing as well as her strong will to make an impact on the fight for equal rights, whether it be for African Americans or for women. She is a historical figure and has schools across the country named after her. In 1988 she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Overall, she did have a great impact on the equal rights movement for women and especially for African Americans. [http://www.greatwomen.org/women-of-the-hall/search-the-hall/details/2/166-Wells-Barnett]

Did Walt Whitman reach his goal of becoming “The American Poet?”

As I was reading information on Walt Whitman, I began to wonder if he reached his aspiration of becoming “The American Poet.” After some research, I discovered that Whitman’s passion for writing began when he was young. When he was only twelve, Whitman began to learn the printer’s trade and “fell in love with the written word.” He worked as a printer until the industry collapsed as a result of a fire; then, at the age of 17, he began to teach. He continued to teach for five years in a one-room school house until he turned to journalism as a full-time career. After turning to writing as a full-time career, did Walt Whitman become “The American Poet?’ [http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/126]

“Walt Whitman, arguably Americas’s most influential and innovative poet…”

[http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/whitman/bio.htm]

Walt Whitman is “of the first generation of Americans who were born in the newly formed United States and grew up assuming the stable existence of the new country.” [http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/whitman/bio.htm] Whitman was mostly self-educated, and by the age of eleven, he had received more of an education than either his parents or his eight other siblings. At the age of fourteen, Whitman’s family moved away. This left young Walt alone in the city of Manhattan to gain skills, experience, and independence that would influence his entire career. At the age of seventeen, Walt became a teacher for five short years, and at twenty-one he turned to journalism as his full-time career. At first, he only wrote fiction; then he became chief editor of a newspaper in New York City. Finally, as a result of a brief trip to New Orleans, Whitman began writing poetry. [http://www.egs.edu/library/walt-whitman/biography/]

I am the poet of the body 
And I am the poet of the soul 
And I am 
I go with the slaves of the earth equally with he masters 
And I will stand between the masters and the slaves, 
Entering into both so that both will understand me alike.

This poem is a prime example of Whitman’s writing style. In this poem he writes about slavery without choosing a side between master and slave. Instead he puts himself between master and slave. He wrote many poems such as this one where he steps outside the typical thinking of this time period and takes his own standpoint on political issues. Does this make him “The American Poet?”[http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/whitman/bio.htm] Walt Whitman is claimed to be the first American “poet of democracy,” referring to his pure American style. Many critics pointed to the close relation between the America of this period and his poetry. [http://www.egs.edu/library/walt-whitman/biography/]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej2sCmesYEU

Above is a link to a video that talks of what Walt Whitman’s goals were and his journey of becoming “The American Poet.”

I personally would have to say Walt Whitman is definitely “The American Poet.” He witnessed and wrote about the beginning of America as we know it today. He took his own standpoint on political and controversial issues, no matter how unpopular his opinion was. Writing anything from fiction, to newspaper articles, to poetry, Whitman’s true passion was the printed word.

Did Walt Whitman reach his goal of becoming “The American Poet?”

     As I was reading information on Walt Whitman, I began to wonder if he met his goal of becoming “The American Poet.” After some research I discovered that Whitman’s passion for writing began when he was young. When he was only twelve, Whitman began to learn the printer’s trade and fell in love with the written word. He worked as a printer until a fire destroyed the industry; then, at the age of 17 he began to teach. He continued to teach for five years until he turned to journalism as a full-time career. After turning to writing as a full-time job, did Walt Whitman become “The American Poet?’ [http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/126]

 

     “Walt Whitman, arguably  Americas’s most influential and innovative poet…”

[http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/whitman/bio.htm]

    Walt Whitman is one of the first generations of Americans who were born in the newly formed United States and grew up assuming the stable existence of the new country. Whitman was mostly self-educated, and by the age of eleven had received more of an education than either his parents or his eight other siblings. At the age of fourteen Whitman’s family moved away. This left young Walt alone in the city of Manhattan to gain skills, experience, and independence that would influence his entire career. At the age of seventeen Walt became a teacher for five short years, and at twenty-one he turned to journalism as his full-time career. At first he only wrote fiction, then he became chief editor of a newspaper in New York City. Finally, as a result of a brief trip to New Orleans, Whitman began writing poetry.[http://www.egs.edu/library/walt-whitman/biography/]

I am the poet of the body 
And I am the poet of the soul 
And I am 
I go with the slaves of the earth equally with he masters 
And I will stand between the masters and the slaves, 
Entering into both so that both will understand me alike.

This poem is a prime example of Whitman’s writing style. In this poem he writes about slavery without choosing a side between master and slave. Instead he puts himself between master and slave. He wrote many poems such as this one, where he steps outside the box and takes his own standpoint on political issues of his time. Does this make him “The American Poet?” [http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/whitman/bio.htm] Walt Whitman is claimed to be the first American “poet of democracy”, referring to his pure American style. Many critics pointed to the close relation between the America of this period and his poetry. [http://www.egs.edu/library/walt-whitman/biography/]

     I personally would have to say Walt Whitman is definitely “The American Poet.” He witnessed and wrote about the beginning of America as we know it today. He took his on standpoint on political and controversial issues, no matter how unpopular his opinion was. Writing anything from fiction, to newspaper articles, to poetry, Whitman’s true passion was the printed word. 

Who Was Emily Dickinson?

   

  Emily Dickinson was an American poet who was born in Amherst, Massachusetts on December 10th, 1830. She never lived anywhere except Amherst and lived the last years of her life as a recluse; most of her poems were written during this time. After her death, her sister discovered her near 1800 poems and had them published. Dickinson’s reputation grew from there, and today she is one of American literature’s most renowned poets.[http://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/emilys_biography]

      “Viny and I both go to school this term. We have a very fine school. There are 36 scholars. I have four studies. They are Mental Philosophy, Geology, Latin, and Botany. How large they sound, don’t they? I don’t believe you have such big studies.” – Emily Dickinson to Abiah Root, May 7th, 1845. Dickinson wrote this in a letter about Amherst Academy. Little is known of her childhood up until she began her studies at the academy. Amherst Academy was founded in 1814 by a group of town leaders, which included Dickinson’s grandfather. Amherst Academy quickly became known as one of the best private academies in the state of Massachusetts. Dickinson attended the academy from 1840-1847.[http://www.biography.com/people/emily-dickinson-9274190] After Amherst Academy Dickinson attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary for only a year between 1847 and 1848. After taking the three day entrance exam Dickinson was placed in the school’s middle class. When the girls at the seminary were not in class they were likely doing chores to pay for their tuition, as they only paid sixty dollars per year to attend.[http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/dickinson/section1.rhtml]

     During much of this time in her life Dickinson was sickly. By March 1848 She had developed a severe cough. Once her father heard of her being ill he sent for her immediately, despite Emily’s pleads to finish the school year. After resting at home for a few weeks Emily did complete the term, but never returned for another school year. Once she was permanently back at home her health did improve.

     Soon after Dickinson returned from school her father introduced her to a man named Benjamin Franklin Newton. Emily and Benjamin immediately began spending a great deal of time together. Dickinson even consented to show Benjamin some of her poetry. He was impressed with her work, but told her she would have to work hard to become great. She began to see him as a tutor and read nearly every book he recommended to her. Dickinson had written poetry on and off for the majority of her life, but  now that she had someone to share her work with she began to write more intensely; However, in 1848 Benjamin Newton told Dickinson of his plans to move back to Worcester, Massachusetts, his childhood home. After his departure Dickinson began to withdraw from what little social life she had, and her health began to decline.

     Dickinson suffered her first blackout in the spring of 1884. She began to lose her strength. In April of the same year she was diagnosed with Bright’s Disease, or nephritis- an inflammation of the kidney. For the next two years Emily was a recluse; rarely leaving her bed and no longer writing poetry. By the winter of 1885 she refused to undergo anymore medical examinations. As she lay in bed, weak and very ill, Dickinson composed her last poem, “So Give Me Back Death.” During the first weeks of May 1886 Emily seemed to sense her impending death and wrote a short, bizarre note to her cousins. It simply said: “Little Cousins, Called Back, Emily.”

     On May 13, 1886 Dickinson complained that she felt especially ill and that it was becoming difficult to breathe. Later that same day she fell into a coma. The family gathered around her bedside for sixty hours. On the evening of May 16, Emily Dickinson died. Dickinson’s nearly 1800 poems were discovered shortly after her death by her sister. Many of the poems were published and Emily Dickinson’s fame began to grow. Today she is one of the most known and celebrated American poets.[http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/dickinson/section1.rhtml]