Emily Dickinson is one of the most original poets in American literature; her genius contribution was recognized only after her death. Though she lived a quiet and secluded life, her poetry shows a powerful and intense imagination. She wrote nearly 1,800 poems, most of which were published after her death. Her work broke away from traditional poetic rules and helped shape modern poetry. When she died in 1886 at Amherst, she left behind more than a thousand unpublished poems. Very few people were aware that she had written them. Some of these poems were mere drafts or ideas written on scraps of paper, while others had been carefully revised. Dickinson had instructed that her poems be destroyed after her death. Although her sister initially began destroying her papers, she soon realized their exceptional value and preserved them. These poems were later given to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and within a few years they were published in several volumes, announcing the arrival of a unique and original American poet.
