Themes in Dickinson's Bedroom

POETRY

Across 30 years and 1,789 revolutionary poems, Emily Dickinson’s bedroom was a private space affording the freedom to think and write expansively.

CORRESPONDENTS

Dickinson relied on letter-writing to forge and sustain a far-reaching, if highly mediated, social network.

PERSONA

Dickinson lived a life apart from the norm, withdrawing from society such that by the 1870s, she no longer left her “father’s ground for any house or town.” Yet the reputation Dickinson acquired as a recluse stands in stark contrast to the powerful humanity of her writing.

SOCIAL POSITION

Dickinson’s privilege as a part of a prosperous white family afforded her the time and space to write, and shaped her perceptions of the world.