On December 10, 1830, late, near midnight, one of America?s most famous poets was born. Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, the second child of the prominent Edward Dickinson and his wife, also named Emily. The first child was Emily?s older brother Austin. Later to be born was her sister Lavinia or ?Veeny? as they liked to call her. Emily and her siblings were all born in the Homestead in the small, quiet town of Amherst, Massachusetts. In the 1800?s Massachusetts was quite puritanical and because of this Edward Dickinson raised his children in the strict, Christian tradition. As Emily got older she began to challenge her father?s and the church?s beliefs. Some think that this was what made her poetry so strong.…
