Emily Dickinson has the ability to present death in varying forms. She describes the different emotional responses that death has on the human soul and mind.
In the early 1860s, Dickinson went through an emotional crisis because of her isolation. In 1874 her father died and a couple years later, a close family friend passed away too.
Dickinson herself described what she felt at that time as an “attack of nerves”.
In addition, a small New England town in the 1800s had a high mortality rate.
Because of this, there was death all around her.