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The Poetry of Emily Dickinson
An excerpt from an undated letter from Emily Dickinson to her younger sister, Lavinia.

An excerpt from an undated letter from Emily Dickinson to her younger sister, Lavinia.

Transcript:

Does Vinnie think of Sister? Sweet news. Thank Vinnie.

Emily may not be able as she was, but all she can, she will.

Father told me that you were going. I wept for the little Plants, but rejoiced for you.

Had I loved them as well as I did, I

[[object Object]]

could have begged you to stay with them, but they are Foreigners, now, and all, a Foreigner.

I have been sick so long I do not know the Sun.

I hope they may be alive, for Home would be strange except them, now the World is dead.

Anna Norcross lives

[[object Object]]

here, since Saturday, and two new people more, a person and his wife, so I do little but fly, yet always find a nest.

I shall go Home in two weeks. You will get me at Palmer, yourself. Let no one beside come.

Love for Eliza, and Mr Dudley.,

Sister

[[object Object]]

Vinnie.

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Citation Information
Dickinson, Emily, excerpt from “Emily Dickinson letter to Lavinia Dickinson,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/5eddac1d6d7e4435c8b230c5757d758b.
Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.
Courtesy of Amherst College Archives & Special Collections via Digital Commonwealth.

Tips for Students

For this source, consider:

  • the author's point of view
  • the author's purpose
  • historical context
  • audience

Item 7 of 10 in the Primary Source Set The Poetry of Emily Dickinson

Previous ItemNext Item
An undated image of the Dickinson children: Emily, Austin, and Lavinia.
The manuscript of Dickinson’s poem beginning “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers,” ca. 1861.
The manuscript of Dickinson’s poem beginning “I felt a funeral in my brain,” ca. 1861.
The manuscript of Dickinson’s poem beginning “No prisoner be,” ca. 1863, which appears at the bottom of the page.
The manuscript of Dickinson’s poem beginning “A narrow fellow in the grass,” ca. 1865.
A map of Amherst, Massachusetts, attributed to Charles B. Adams and Alonzo Gray, published by Pendleton’s Lithography in 1833.
An excerpt from an undated letter from Emily Dickinson to her younger sister, Lavinia.
An undated letter from Emily Dickinson to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, ca. 1880.
An excerpt from Introduction to Emily Dickinson by Henry W. Wells, 1959.
A page from an 1857 Godey’s Lady’s Book, a popular and influential magazine for women during Emily Dickinson’s lifetime.

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