Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson, in full Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, (born December 10, 1830, Amherst, Massachusetts, U.S.—died May 15, 1886, Amherst), American lyric poet who lived in seclusion and commanded a singular brilliance of style and integrity of vision. With Walt Whitman, Dickinson is widely considered to be one of the two leading 19th-century American poets.

Notable Works - I’m Nobody! Who Are You, “Hope” is the thing with feathers, Because I could not stop for death

Enclyclopedia Britannica

Dickinson Line Drawing

Because I could not stop for death

"Because I could not stop for death" is one of Emily Dickinson's most celebrated poems and was composed around 1863. In the poem, a female speaker tells the story of how she was visited by "Death"—personified as a "kindly" gentleman—and taken for a ride in his carriage. This ride appears to take the speaker past symbols of the different stages of life, before coming to a halt at what is most likely her own grave—indeed, it seems she herself is already dead. Much of the poem's power comes from its refusal to offer easy or simplistic answers to life's greatest mystery—what happens when people die—and the poem can be read both as the anticipation of a heavenly Christian afterlife and as something altogether more bleak and down-to-earth.

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I'm Nobody! Who Are You?

"I'm Nobody! Who are you?" is a short poem by American poet, Emily Dickinson, who wrote during the mid-19th century (though most of her poems were not published until the 1890s, after Dickinson had died). In the poem, a speaker introduces themselves—perhaps to the reader—as "Nobody," before excitedly realizing that the addressee is "Nobody" too. The poem is one of a number of Dickinson poems that questions the value of public admiration—something which eluded Dickinson in her own lifetime.

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