The Intense Bond of Emily Dickinson and Susan Gilbert
Poet involved
What happened
The reclusive American poet Emily Dickinson developed an intense, lifelong emotional and romantic relationship with Susan Gilbert, who eventually married Emily's brother, Austin Dickinson, and lived next door in Amherst, Massachusetts. Susan remained Emily's most intimate friend, primary confidante, and trusted literary critic for over three decades, receiving hundreds of deeply passionate letters and poems from the poet. This relationship provided vital emotional sustenance to Dickinson within her highly conservative New England environment.
Literary impact
Susan Gilbert was the recipient of over 250 of Dickinson's poems, acting as her most significant contemporary reader and editor. The raw emotional intensity of their relationship directly inspired some of Dickinson's most profound, avant-garde poetry, heavily shaping the development of modern American lyric verse and themes of interior passion.
Source: Wikipedia
