Emily Dickinson was raised in a traditional New England home in
             the mid 1800's. Her father along with the rest of the family had
             become Christians and she alone decided to rebel against that and
             reject the Church. She like many of her contemporaries had rejected
             the traditional views in life and adopted the new transcendental
             outlook. Massachusetts, the state where Emily was born and raised in,
             before the transcendental period was the epicenter of religious
             practice. Founded by the puritans, the feeling of the avenging had
             never left the people. After all of the "Great Awakenings" and
             religious revivals the people of New England began to question the
             old ways. What used to be the focal point of all lives was now under
             speculation and often doubted. People began to search for new
             meanings in life. People like Emerson and Thoreau believed that
             answers lie in the individual. Emerson set the tone for the era when
             he said, "Whoso would be a [hu]man, must be a non-conformist." Emily
             Dickinson believed and practiced this philosophy. When she was young
             she was brought up by a stern and austere father. In her childhood
             she was shy and already different from the others. Like all the
             Dickinson children, male or female, Emily was sent for formal
             education in Amherst Academy. After attending Amherst Academy with
             conscientious thinkers such as Helen Hunt Jackson, and after reading
             many of Emerson's essays, she began to develop into a free willed
             person. Many of her friends had converted to Christianity, her family
             was also putting enormous amount of pressure for her to convert. No
             longer the submissive youngster she would not bend her will on such
             issues as religion, literature and personal associations.
             She maintained a correspondence with Rev. Charles Wadsworth over
             a substantial period of time. Even though she rejected the Church as
             a entity she never di...