Emily Elizabeth Dickinson December 10 1830 May 15 1886 was an American poet Born in Amherst Massachusetts to a successful family with strong community ties she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life After she studied at the Amherst Academy for seven years in her youth she spent a short time at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary before returning to her familys house in Amherst Thought of as an eccentric by the locals she became known for her pe...