This U.S. stamp depicts Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), referring to her as “America’s Poet.”
Dickenson was a mostly home-bound woman, preferring isolation, and interacting with others primarily through correspondence.
She was little regarded during her lifetime. She published only 10 of her over 1800 poems before her death. Even those were heavily edited by their publishers to more conform to then-fashionable “rules” of poetry.
After Dickenson’s death, her younger sister Lavinia discovered Emily’s poems and began publishing edited versions of them. It was not until 1955 that her complete works were finally published, and only in 1998 was it discovered how m uch editing had been done by the first editors.
Here’s a poem she wrote that refers to getting mail!
A Route of Evanescence
A Route of Evanescence,
With a revolving Wheel –
A Resonance of Emerald
A Rush of Cochineal –
And every Blossom on the Bush
Adjusts it’s tumbled Head –
The Mail from Tunis – probably,
An easy Morning’s Ride –
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