38 Inspirational Quotes By Emily Dickinson

‘Because I could not stop for death; He kindly stopped for me’

This famous line says a lot about Emily Dickinson’s brilliance that she could not stop for death; Despite her obscurity at the time of her death, she is now considered one of the greatest American poets of all time.

After her death, she became known for her unconventional use of syntax and form.

Dickinson was a reclusive individual who lived a life of solitary confinement and simplicity. Despite this, she was able to write some of the most powerful and beautiful poetry ever written. Immortality and death were prevalent themes in her work.

This prolific poet was known for his use of succinct, concise language to convey complex ideas. Her words have the power to move and provoke the reader, leaving a lasting impression.

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Who Is Emily Dickinson?

Emily Dickinson, the now-renowned American poet, was unknown in her era. She had to because the writing was a major part of her mission on this planet, and she needed to do it in such a unique way that it has now influenced our lives to this very day.

Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, on December 10, 1830. In South Hadley, Massachusetts, she attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary but only for one academic year.

Her poetry was influenced by Metaphysical poets of seventeenth-century England, her reading of the Book of Revelation, and her upbringing in Puritan New England, where she was taught a Calvinist, orthodox, and conservative view of the Christian faith through her parents.

She was a fan of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poetry, as well as John Keats‘. While Dickinson was a prolific poet and often included poems in her letters to friends, she was not widely recognized as a poet during her lifetime.

A posthumous first edition appeared in 1890, followed by a final volume in 1955. At the age of 86, she passed away at the Amherst Hospital.

Only ten of Emily Dickinson’s 1800 poems were ever published in newspapers during her lifetime, despite her prolific output. Editors ignored Dickinson’s eccentricities from the start and rewrote her work to conform to a more traditional style.

Unfortunately, Emily Dickinson’s talents were only recognized and celebrated after her death. One of literature’s most renowned and enigmatic cultural figures in poetry.

Best Quotes By Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson serves as a reminder that each of us has a unique purpose in this world, and whether or not it is recognized in our time, we must do what comes closest to our heart because that is the mark we were created to leave.

It’s what we’ve dedicated our entire careers to. Possibly she had difficulty accepting this for herself, but she was a writer, and she wrote, and these messages came through the strong voice she had inside her naturally.

Therefore, here are some of the best quotes from Emily Dickinson.

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul – And sings the tunes without the words.

I dwell in possibility.

Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality.

That it will never come again is what makes life sweet.

They might not need me, but they might. I’ll let my head be just in sight; a smile as small as mine might be precisely their necessity.

To love is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.

If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.

The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee, And reverie. The reverie alone will do If bees are few.

Not knowing when the dawn will come I open every door.

A wounded deer leaps the highest.

My friends are my estate.

Celebrity is the chastisement of merit and the punishment of talent.

Forever is composed of nows.

Finite to fail, but infinite to venture.

The brain is wider than the sky.

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.

Forever is composed of nows.

If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry.

Not knowing when the dawn will come. I open every door.

Nature is a haunted house–but Art–is a house that tries to be haunted. To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.

Bring me the sunset in a cup.

Beauty is not caused. It is

A letter always seemed to me like immortality because it is the mind alone without a corporeal friend.

Pardon my sanity in a world insane.

I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine.

The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.

Dogs are better than human beings because they know but do not tell.

The Heart wants what it wants – or else it does not care.

Truth is so rare, it is delightful to tell it.

Hold dear to your parents for it is a scary and confusing world without them.

The dearest ones of time, the strongest friends of the soul–BOOKS.

Unable are the loved to die. For love is immortality.

We never know how high we are till we are called to rise. Then if we are true to form our statures touch the skies.

Love is anterior to life, posterior to death, initial of creation, and the exponent of breath.

People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.

Till it has loved, no man or woman can become itself.

Luck is not chance, it’s toil; fortune’s expensive smile is earned.

Best Known Poems Of Emily Dickinson

The original style of Emily Dickinson’s poetry had a significant impact on 20th-century poetry. She has one of the most distinctive voices in American poetry today because of the short lines and verses she writes about her inner life, thoughts, and feelings.

Here are the four best-known of Emily Dickinson:

1. Hope Is The Thing With Feathers

“Hope is the Thing with Feathers” by Emily Dickinson is regarded as one of the greatest English-language poems ever written. One can see hope as a bird that perches in one’s heart and never stops singing—even in the direst of situations.

Hope” is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops – at all

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard

And sore must be the storm –

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm –

I’ve heard it in the chillest land –

And on the strangest Sea –

Yet – never – in Extremity,

It asked a crumb – of me.

2. Because I Could Not Stop For Death

In many of Dickinson’s poems, there is a focus on death and immortality, and this is one of the most famous examples. In this poem, Emily depicts death as a comforting companion who rides in a carriage with the poet to her final resting place.

Poet Allen Tate says, “If the word great means anything in poetry, this poem is one of the greatest English has ever written; it is flawless to the last detail.

Because I could not stop for Death

He kindly stopped for me

The Carriage held but just Ourselves

And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste

And I had put away

My labor and my leisure too,

For His Civility

We passed the School, where Children strove

At Recess – in the Ring

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain

We passed the Setting Sun

Or rather – He passed Us

The Dews drew quivering and Chill

For only Gossamer, my Gown

My Tippet – only Tulle

We paused before a House that seemed

A Swelling of the Ground –

The Roof was scarcely visible

The Cornice – in the Ground

Since then – ’tis Centuries – and yet

Feels shorter than the Day

I first surmised the Horses’ Heads

Were toward Eternity –

3. I’m Nobody! Who Are You?

As the narrator of this poem points out, being “nothing” is a luxury, while being “someone,” who has a “compulsion” to croak, is depressingly repetitive.

When discussing Dickinson’s biography, the most talked-about detail is that only 10 of her nearly 1800 works were ever printed, resulting in a largely anonymous existence.

“Us vs. Them” has become one of the most popular themes in popular culture, and Dickinson’s poem is no exception.

I’m Nobody! Who are you?

Are you — Nobody — Too?

Then there’s a pair of us!

Don’t tell! They’d banish us — you know!

How dreary — to be — Somebody!

How public — like a frog

To tell one’s name — the livelong June

To an admiring Bog!

4. I Heard A Fly Buzz – When I Died

While lying on his or her deathbed, in “I Heard A Fly Buzz,” the narrator’s loved ones surround him. As soon as the “King” arrives, everyone is excited.

This tiny, often overlooked fly has a “stumbling Buzz,” which represents the presence of death.

The narrator is unable to see or is dead when it comes between them and light. The poem is one of Dickinson’s best-known and most-discussed pieces.

I heard a Fly buzz – when I died

The Stillness in the Room

Was like the Stillness in the Air

Between the Heaves of Storm

The Eyes around – had wrung them dry

And Breaths were gathering firm

For that last Onset – when the King

Be witnessed – in the Room –

I willed my Keepsakes – Signed away

What portion of me be