...The words are by American poet Emily Dickinson, who died in eighteen eighty-six. During her life, she (publish) only about ten poems. Four years after her death, a few more poems (are) published. But her complete work (do) not appear until nineteen fifty-five.

Emily Dickinson has become part of our language without really being part of our history. Some see her as the last poet of an early American tradition. Others see her as the first modern American poet. Each reader seems to find a different Emily Dickinson. She (remain) as mysterious as she was when she (is) alive.

The truth about Emily Dickinson has been difficult to discover. Few people of her time (know) who she was or what she was doing. The main facts about her life are these.

She (be) born December tenth, eighteen thirty, in the small Massachusetts town of Amherst. She (live) and died in the same house where she was born. Emily (receive) a good education. She (study) philosophy, the Latin language, and the science of plants and rocks.

Emily's parents (be) important people in Amherst. Many famous visitors (come) to their house, and Emily met them. Her father (be) a well-known lawyer who was elected to Congress for one term.

Mister Dickinson believed that women should be educated. But he also (believe) that women should not use their education to work outside the home. He (feel) their one and only task (be) to care for their husband and children. Emily once said: “He buys me many books, but begs me not to read them, because he fears they upset the mind. "

Emily (write) more than one thousand seven hundred poems. There are three books of her letters. And there are many books about her life.

Some of her best work was written in the four years between eighteen fifty-eight and eighteen sixty-two.

In those years, Emily seems to have found her "voice" as a poet. She (sttle) into forms she used for the rest of her life. The forms are similar to those of religious music used during her lifetime. But her choice of words was unusual. She (write) that her dictionary was her best friend.

Other influences (be) the English poet, William Shakespeare; the Christian holy book, the Bible; and the forces of nature.

Throughout her life, Emily asked men for advice. And then she did not follow what they (tell) her. As a child, there was her father. Later there was her father's law partner, and a churchman she (meet) in the city of Philadelphia. Another man who helped her was the writer Thomas Wentworth Higginson.

Higginson had written a magazine story giving advice to young, unpublished writers. Emily (write) to him when she was in her early thirties. She included a few poems.

Higginson wrote back and later visited Emily in Amherst. In the next few years, Emily (send) him many more poems. But he did not have them published, and admitted that he did not understand Emily's poetry.

Some historians wish that Emily's poems had reached the best American writers of her day: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau or Walt Whitman. These men could have overlooked her strange way of living to see only her ability.

Historians also say it is possible that Emily (choose) to write to someone like Higginson so she would not be understood.

So little is known about Emily's life that many writers have created a life for her. They talk about the things that interest them as if they interested Emily, too. But one writer (say) part of the joy in studying Emily is what we cannot know. Emily herself said: "I never try to lift the words which I cannot hold. "

Emily Dickinson (sew) the pages of her poems together with thread and put them away. She also seems to have sewed her life together and put it away, too. Step by step, she (withdraw) from the world. As she (grow) older, she saw fewer visitors, and rarely (leave) her house.

The time of Emily's withdrawal was also the time of the American Civil War. The events that changed America's history, however, did not touch her. She (die) in eighteen eighty-six, at the age of fifty-five, completely unknown to the world.

No one (write) about Emily Dickinson's poems while she was alive. Yet, more than one hundred years since her death, she has come to be seen as one of America's greatest poets.
After Emily died, her sister Lavinia (find) Emily's poems locked away. Lavinia wrote to Thomas Wentworth Higginson and (demand) that the poems be published. Higginson agreed. And a few of Emily's poems about nature were published. Slowly, more and more of her poems were (publish) . Readers soon learned that she was much more than a nature poet.

In her life, Emily was an opponent of organized religion. Yet she often wrote about religion. She rarely (leave) home. Yet she often wrote about faraway places. She lived quietly. Yet she wrote that life passes quickly and should be lived to the fullest.

Will we ever know more about the life of Emily Dickinson? As she told a friend once: "In a life that stopped guessing, you and I should not feel at home. "

We have the poems. And for most readers, they are enough.