Initially a vivacious, outgoing person, Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) progressively withdrew into a reclusive existence. An undiscovered genius during her lifetime, only seven out of her total of 1,775 poems were published prior to her death. She had an immense breadth of vision and a passionate intensity and awe for life, love, nature, time and eternity. Originally branded an eccentric, Emily Dickinson is now recognised as a major poet of great depth, startling originality and courage for as she wrote: "Assent and you are sane; /Demure you're straightaway dangerous / And handled with a chain". AUTHOR: Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1874) was an American poet who was almost unknown during her lifetime. Extremely reclusive by nature, just a handful of her poems were published by friends during her lifetime, and they were altered significantly to fit what they perceived to be the poetic conventions of the time. Remarkably, it was not until 1955 that a complete, unaltered collection of her poems was published, and she is now considered to be a major American poet.