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In 1847, 16-year-old Emily Dickinson attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, where she quietly resisted pressure to publicly declare a conversion, an early sign of her independence of thought. By 1862, at 32, she had retreated into the solitude of her Amherst home, writing prolifically at her desk by lamplight, often declining visitors and speaking to them only through closed doors. In 1886, at 55, weakened by Bright’s disease, she died with her sister Lavinia nearby. After her death, Lavinia found nearly 1,800 poems tied in neat bundles, securing Emily’s legacy as one of America’s greatest and most original poets. Today her work, once dismissed as eccentric, is studied worldwide for its startling imagery, compressed form, and fearless exploration of death, faith, and the inner life.