Emily Dickinson: A Life in Letters

I chanced upon the works of Emily Dickinson, while reading a random paragraph on some website. 

Being partial to 18th and 19th century women writers (Bronte sisters, Jane Austen, Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Evans), I had an instinctive need to read her work. After a few searches and few dollars spent on my kindle, I had complete access to over 1800 poems and hundreds of letters written over the course of her life. 

I held the kindle reverently in my hand, the new downloaded content somehow making it feel much heavier, perhaps a 'transferred epithet' of the added burden on my conscience.

My conscience pricks me when I read such letters, letters that never were meant to be read by eyes other than those of their intended recipient. Though long gone now, if ever the reclusive Emily were to somehow learn that her closest thoughts expressed in confidence to her dearest friends are being circulated publicly, how aghast would she be! In today's terms, it would be akin to someone selling your Gmail password on Amazon and anyone with a couple of dollars to spare could browse through all your emails and chats, learning in the process, every fear you hid and every hope you harbored. How deeper would be your embarrassment, if you were so shy and reserved a person by nature, that you had lived 26 years of your life in absolute seclusion from the outside world?

That was Emily and this unfortunately is the plague of those who are no longer here in this world and someday it will very well be ours, if we are fortunate enough to be remembered by any. Irony?

With utmost respect to her, I must write a few words, only to exalt her life in the highest way that I am capable of, for I find nothing in her communication or dedication to art that is not worthy of my greatest admiration.

Though largely remembered by her poems, Emily Dickinson was a fascinating writer. Every letter of hers is melodic, suffused with the warmest regard and love for its recipients  - her siblings, her relatives and her friends.

In the early letters there is no sign of a future recluse. Emily comes across as a cheerful young girl happily anticipating all the innocent joys of womanhood. The first dark shades appear in her letters when her mother is bedridden and Emily is charged with the running of the household. As a young girl, she is acutely sensitive about this sudden change in her situation. The letters written during this period hint at the personality traits that will deepen with the years.

As she becomes older, Emily is deeply affected by the the mortality of human life. A being who found even physical separation from her friends so intense, must have found the idea death terrible. However, she matures to treat death with a solemnity, finding solace that it is but a journey to Heaven, where her Father will receive all his beloved children.

Emily's letters contain beautiful descriptions of nature. In fact, I can boldly assert that never have I found nature so well rendered on paper. Also one finds the tenderest expressions of sisterly love, biblical solace - all embedded in a skein of verse.

Any student of rhyme or prose will find much delight in her works.