Family Matters

You can read all about Emily Dickinson's family and friends HERE in information provided by the Emily Dickinson Museum. But can you read about them in her poetry?  Did she ever mention them?

Well, as a matter of fact, she did.  I looked into this, and the results are below.

Which one do you think was mentioned the most? 

​When it comes to the terminology of family structure, words like "brother," "sister," "mother," and "father," Dickinson definitely favored the word "father":

Sister:  6
Brother:  7
Mother:  9
Mama:  1
​Father:  30
Grandfather: 1
Papa 1
Family 2
Relative 1* 

Dickinson did not use the words "grandmother," "cousin," "nephew," "niece," "uncle," "aunt," or "sibling" in any of her poems. 
She did. though, mention herself, her brother and her sister-in-law by name:  "Emily" appears in three poems, "Austin" in one,  "Susan" in four poems, and "Sue" in four too.**  She never mentioned her sister by name (by "Lavinia" or by "Vinnie").

Below:  The number of time family members were mentioned by name in Dickinson's poems:

* The word "relative" appears in two poems, but in only one does it mean "kin."

** The word "sue" appears in seven poems; however, in three of them, the term is used as a legal action; the other four are the name "Sue."


For more statistics on the poetry of Emily Dickinson, click HERE.