Becoming Emily
The Life of Emily Dickinson
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
Emily Dickinson wrote short, often enigmatic poems that are widely read and quoted by people of every age. Yet, as well known as her poetry is, Dickinson as a person is considered to have been a mysterious recluse—a silent figure who wore only white, wrote in secret, never left her home, and had no interest in sharing her poetry. In Becoming Emily, young readers will learn how as a child, an adolescent, and well into adulthood, Dickinson was a lively social being with a warm family life. Highly educated for a girl of her era, she actively engaged in both the academic and social aspects of the schools she attended until she was nearly eighteen. Her family and friends were important to her, and she was a prolific, thoughtful, and witty correspondent who shared many poems with her closest friends and relatives. This indispensable resource includes photos, full-length poems, letter excerpts, a time line, source notes, and a bibliography to present a vivid portrait of this singular American poet.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this slim, vivifying biography of the poet Emily Dickinson, Goddu (A Girl Called Vincent) endeavors to "let the poet speak for herself" by interweaving numerous quotations. While the narrative spans Dickinson's life in Amherst, Mass. from her birth in 1830 to her death in 1886 it concentrates on her childhood, her strong sibling relationships, and her early friendships, and it highlights her high level of education, unusual for a girl at the time, which included a stint at nearby Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (now Mount Holyoke College). In chronicling the poet's life, Goddu (a PW reviewer) succeeds in sketching the intellectual underpinnings that would emerge in her poetry for example, science and religion were "not seen as conflicting; rather science was seen as proof of religion" as well as the interests that fueled her art, such as her lifelong love of gardening ("I pull a flower from the woods"). Though the book's design feels somewhat institutional, an array of photographs, paintings, reproductions of envelopes on which the subject scribbled poems, and even a page from her "herbarium" enhance the biography. This is a lively and effective introduction to Dickinson's life and work. Ages 10 up.
