This is a compilation of poems by Emily Dickinson. Emily Dickinson was virtually unknown during her lifetime, but now is considered one of American's greatest poets of the 19th century. Emily spent most of her life in Amherst where she attended school and lived in her family home. She spent many years as a recluse not venturing off of her father's land. Emily wrote not for publication but because she must write. Dickinson had a unique lyric style encompassing the use of hymn meter and ballad form. These poems are unique for the era. They contain short lines, typically lack titles, and often use slant rhyme as well as unconventional capitalization and punctuation. Many of her poems deal with themes of death and immortality, two recurring topics in letters to her friends.