Death of Beloved Dog Carlo
Poet involved
What happened
In January 1866, Emily Dickinson's beloved Newfoundland dog, Carlo, died in Amherst, Massachusetts, at about age seventeen. Carlo had been a gift from her father in 1849 and was named after a dog in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, Dickinson's favorite novel.
Literary impact
Carlo's death prompted one of Dickinson's most famous letters to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, in which she announced simply 'Carlo died' and asked 'Would you instruct me now?' The loss of her constant companion, who had accompanied her on countless walks, marked a turning point in her isolation and deepened the elegiac tone of her later poetry.
Source: Wikipedia
