The White Election

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was born and died in the “Brick House” or “Homestead” her grandfather had built in his heyday as founder of Amherst Academy and Amherst College. Writing and family gave her enough to do. We know 1775 of her poems, and 1049 of her letters. The tone is playful, the language puzzling, the content profound. Only eleven of the poems were published in her lifetime. The survival of so many letters, even so, suggests that her gift had been recognized within her circle. The rest lay in a chest by her bed, or were mailed with her letters. Her sister Lavinia and a few other friends published some of these, at their own expense, beginning in 1890. Early editions sold out, and Emily’s fame was assured. Squabbles over rights delayed a complete and authentic printing until the 1959 Harvard Press Variorum, edited by Thomas Johnson.