Emily Dickinson is recognized today as a trailblazer in American literature, honing a singular style that laid the groundwork for modern poetry. But the prolific writer was unknown in her own time, and instead lived a secluded life shrouded in relative mystery. Born in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, Dickinson excelled at school as a young child, notably in composition and botany, and began writing poetry as a teenager. Her work was characterized by unconventional punctuation, short, lyrical lines, and startlingly expressive imagery of nature, mortality, identity, and love.

It wasn’t until after her death in 1886 that the nearly 1,800 poems Dickinson had written in secret were found by her sister. Her work, including enduring titles “Because I could not stop for Death,” “Hope is the thing with feathers,” and “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died,” was quickly celebrated for its simple profundity. Despite her reclusive lifestyle, Dickinson maintained extensive correspondence with her family, friends, and literary mentors throughout her life. Today, her poetry and the nearly 1,300 existing letters — estimated to be about one-tenth of the letters she actually wrote — reveal as much about the reclusive revolutionary as we may ever know.