Emily Dickinson was virtually unknown in her lifetime, but her poems became widely read and admired after her death. She was educated at a boys' school that had become co-educational only two years before, but left due to illness. She spent most of her life living alone or in her family's house; however, the "Master letters" seem to be written to a male lover, indicating that she may not have been as reclusive as once believed. A few other romances are believed to have existed, but any letters relating to them were destroyed by her family. Only seven of her poems were published before her death. The rest of her works weren't published until the 1890s, and she wasn't truly appreciated as a poet until early in the 20th century.

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