Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830 to an old Connecticut River Valley family. She was born in Amherst, Massachusetts where her father, granfather, and older brother served as treasurers of the Amherst College. She graduated from Amherst Academy in 1847. Then, Dickinson attended Mount Holyoke Female seminary for only a year, but returned home unable to decide whether or not to join the Congressional Church. By 1858, Emily Dickinson had begun copying poems into little packets. And by 1860, she had undergone an emotional and psychological disturbance related to a tragic, unrequited love. This crisis stirred her imagination and helped mature her poetry. During this isolated