WILD nights! Wild nights!
Were I with thee,
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!
Futile the winds
To a heart in port, --
Done with the compass,
Done with the chart.
Rowing in Eden!
Ah! the sea!
Might I but moor
To-night in thee!
It seems a contradiction that the author of this adventuresome poem should be Emily Dickinson, a woman who spent most of her adult life scarcely leaving her home. She was born on December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, a tiny farming village at the time. Her father was a successful lawyer, treasurer of Amherst College, and politician. She attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, but returned home after one year. Some writers speculate that she was homesick.
She remained in her family home until her death at 1886. She once was a bright and social being who started to withdraw from society in the 1850s. This was the beginning of her trend toward solitude. It was during this time that Emily found her poet's voice.
"Dickinson's poetry reflects her loneliness and the speakers of her poems generally live in a state of want." While she was an extremely prolific poet, and often enclosed poems in her letters to friends, it wasn't until after her death that she received recognition.
CDPL has several books of poems and biographies of this significant American poet.
Sources:
Benet, Laura. The mystery of Emily Dickinson, NY: Dodd, 1974
Emily Dickinson, Poets.org, http:www.poets.org/poet-php/prmPID/155, 11/17/2010.
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