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Sarah Cohen

Preface "I'm nobody! Who are you?" This is a quote from one of Emily Dickinson's most popular poems. It is unnamed, just like all of her poetry. Dickinson's works are identified by their first lines. Emily Dickinson was born during the mid 1800's. She was born in a Puritan New England town and was also raised there. She began writing poetry as an adolescent and continued until her death in 1886. Around the time of her death, her work was very influenced by the grief she felt after the death of her mother and the death of her young nephew, whom she was very close to. Before the death of her mother and nephew, Emily Dickinson's poetry was mostly a rejection of society. Her work went unpublished until after she died, but Dickinson's writing made her very famous. Rumored to be a very strange and less social person, the world was shocked by the intensity and opinions exhibited in her work. Dickinson focused on contesting society's impact on people. She encouraged eccentricity and personality, and rejected fitting the mold and following the majority.