Friendship with Benjamin Franklin Newton
Poet involved
What happened
Around 1848, after returning from Mount Holyoke to Amherst, Massachusetts, the Dickinson family befriended young attorney Benjamin Franklin Newton. Newton engaged Emily in discussions about literature and later sent her works by Ralph Waldo Emerson. This intellectual mentorship occurred in the Dickinson household and local Amherst community. Newton's influence expanded her literary horizons before his early death in 1853.
Literary impact
Benjamin Franklin Newton's encouragement and introduction to Emerson's poetry profoundly shaped Emily Dickinson's developing style and philosophical outlook. His guidance helped her appreciate language that 'had life' and reinforced her commitment to original expression. This friendship contributed to her confidence in pursuing poetry as a vocation, influencing the transcendental and nature-infused elements in her verse. The loss of such mentors later amplified her themes of sudden death and mourning.
Source: Wikipedia
