Becoming Emily: The Life of Emily Dickinson

Gr 5–8—Emily Dickinson may seem like an antithetical heroine for our current cultural landscape. She was a poet who shunned publication. She excelled at the domestic arts and, though highly educated, she preferred to stay close to home. But as Krystyna Poray Goddu reveals in Becoming Emily, Emily lived on her own terms. Astutely, Goddu "chooses to let the poet speak for herself," incorporating 17 poems and many excerpts from Emily's letters. With ballad stanzas and unadorned vocabulary, Emily's poetry is both accessible and thought-provoking. Through Emily's words, readers discover an uncompromising and highly individual commentator on the natural world and 19th century life. Despite the pressure to conform to New England piety, she quietly refused. By staying at home, she used letters to dictate the terms of her friendships. Alongside Emily's artistic growth, Goddu depicts 19th century life: the education of girls (better than you might assume), death (frequent), what people celebrated (not Christmas). In our age of social media, Emily Dickinson's privacy stands out. Paradoxically, Goddu notes that Dickinson's fame results from the posthumous promotion of her work by her friends. Becoming Emily is peppered with pictures of the poet, her manuscripts, the people she loved, and the places she inhabited. For curious readers, Goddu includes a time line, notes identifying the sources of quotations, and a bibliography.