When life restricts our flow of happiness with tragedy and heartbreak, another
door is opened up. It is the door of creativity, of art, of flowing insights. And although for
the individual this experience is void of smiles and full of tears, it provides the rest of us
with a small glimpse into the inner self. Emily Dickinson's poetry is the symbolic keyhole
to the depths of her tormented soul. Her despair seeped through in the form of poetry.
Emily Dickinson's poetry was an expression of the isolation and seclusion she felt as a
result of her relationships and deaths of family members and friends.
"Home was always dear to me", Emily would write in letters to her brother
(Steffens 13) . Emily was extremely close to her family, especially to her father. She had
a brother, Austin, and a sister Lavinia. Emily Norcross Dickinson, Emily 's mother, did
not appear as though she was a strong motherly figure to Emily. The family lived in
Amherst, a small community of about 40 houses and 4 dirt roads (Olsen 20).
The close friends that Emily had were very dear to her. Susan Gilbert, her closest
female friend, attended school with Emily. "In 1856 Susan married Emily's brother,
Austin Dickinson. This union brought Emily both delight and despair"(Steffens 47). At
first Emily rejoiced that Susan becoming a part of her family. As the years past she
felt as she needed to compete with her brother for the attention of her beloved friend.
Susan and Austin lived in a house next door to the Homestead for the rest of Emily's life.
Emily had acquired another strong bond with Ben Newton. Ben, a law student at the time
of meeting, attended school with Austin. He paid many visits to the Dickinson home and
had long conversations with Emily. "When I was a little girl, I had a friend, who taught
me immorality", Emily wrote in a letter referring to ...