Since neither of these things are going to happen in the near future I figured for your New years gift I would give you “Ten reasons women get hurt in relationships.” It may not be much but hopefully this time next year at least one of you may be able to say that because you knew these things you avoided getting your heart broken. 

1) Listening to their heart and ignoring their brain:

Women have a very bad habit of doing this. They see all the signs that he is full of shit but they “Love” him so they overlook the obvious. Friends tell you to move on, family tell you the same and you just cannot see it because your heart is in the way. The crazy thing about this is that as humans we do the following: when things are going bad we confide in our best friends. We tell our friends what we really think about our significant others, especially when we are frustrated. During this time our real feelings come out and the friend hears it all. Later, when things get really bad the friend regurgitates everything you said about him and you don’t hear them. You pass it off and say, “You don’t really know him.” Well guess what? All she did was tell you exactly what you said about him in one of your moments of clarity, a moment when your heart wasn’t in the way and although it came from her mouth this time it’s actually you, telling yourself that he’s no good. So the next time this happens, please listen to yourself and save your heart from the break it’s sure to suffer unless you get it out out of the way and let your brain take over.

2) Failing to make sure his actions match his words:

Women overlook the obvious and many times you only hear what you want to hear. He tells you he loves you, but you really need to know is he really in love with you. There is a very big difference in the two. He may love his dog, his brand new car or the upscale apartment he just leased. However, he’s sleeping with none of these things and if he’s showing them more attention than he is you his “I love you” is just that. The problem is he really isn’t “in Love with you” which is what is really needed to make a serious relationship last.

Lets look at it this way, if he tells you he loves you but rarely makes time for you opting rather to spend times with his friends then his I love you statement should have been “I like you” because that’s pretty much what it means.

If he doesn’t open doors for you, carry things for you, fix things for you, consistently make sure you’re satisfied both in and out of bed, chances are he’s really not in love with you even though he says that he loves you. If you are not his first priority then he is not in love with you. However that doesn’t mean you cannot get there, it just means that there is a chance that when he does reach this point, you may no longer be in love with him. Life is funny this way, we generally discover we are in love with someone when it’s too late. Love is consistency, it’s not whenever we choose, it always or not at all.

3) Dating men that they think they can change:

You know that guy that you are attracted to, the one who has no job, lives with his parents and been to jail several times? Yeah him! Or the other one who has kids by a couple of women but claims none of them and makes a part time living by being a street pharmacist (drug dealer), him too. Also, the guy who has been known for slapping his former girlfriends around to keep them in line from time to time. This guy too. Lastly the dreamy guy who you and your girfriends think has the cute ass and you all know he has countless girlfriends in the city.

These are just a few of the men that you cannot change! Let me say that again in case you missed it or only heard what you wanted to read in that sentence. You cannot change these guys! So to save yourself a heartbreak, do not waste your time or you will probably end up like the women they dated before you frustrated, angry, hurt and miserable.

When these men chose to change on their own then you could end up with a nice man. However, it’s really up to them, there is nothing you personally can do to repair their flaws. Your beauty, sexuality, intelligence and kindness mean nothing to them because generally at this point in their lives they consume everything in their path (and this includes you if you allow it) until the day they wake up and looking back at the wake they left behind seek to change on their own.

If you attempt such a mission to change such a person, I hope you remember this: Many women before you have attempted this such task and in the end they’ve been left as single mothers, financial and emotional bankruptcy, and some even have been given prison sentences. Not to mention the ones whom have been physically and mentally damaged all for the sake of trying to change a man whom did not want to change.

Find a man who has his own self together, a man who respects himself will find it much easier to respect someone as loving as you.

4) Unable to recognize the differences between sex and love:

Women have the same needs, wants and desires as men. Unfortunately men are able to separate sex and love in their minds. For men sex at times is simply a release an enjoyable one at that and to be honest at times it doesn’t matter if it’s you or your girlfriend that assists in him obtaining that release.

A man going into the situation has already calculated out that approximately 45 seconds after ejaculation he will either regret his decision or embrace it. To determine if you are a decision he regretted you will know if he cuddles with you after the act. If he gets up, cleans or doesn’t clean himself as he makes his way toward the door then it was simply a release and you got an assist for the night. Hopefully you received an orgasm too for your troubles.

Having sex with a man will not make him love you, and women have been falling for this trick for centuries. He loves with his head first (the one on his shoulders) and his heart second. If he see an opportunity to have sex with you because you have made it known that you really like him, he may take the opportunity to achieve a release but in the end that’s all it is. What most women fail to understand is that when you make yourself readily available to the whims of a man you fancy he cannot respect you because his real fear is that he is not the first or the last that you’ve slept with simply because you thought you liked the way he looked or carried himself.

To end this let me say this, men look upon women who use sex to achieve love as nothing more than another pretty face on a piece of  p—y! Sorry for that vivid description, but men talk in case you didn’t know.

So whatever you do, always remember sex and love are totally separate emotions. Just because you allowed him the opportunity to take a roll in the hay, does not constitute that he’s going to fall in love with you. It’s simply a chance you took and one that more than likely you’ll lose.

 5) Refusal to change your selection process:

I was once told that the definition of insanity is when you repeat the same mistake over and over again and expect a different result. Some women do this consistently in their selection of men. They are attracted to certain characteristics and they seek this in the men they chose. That’s OK, if it works but what about when it doesn’t? How many of these same men are you going to chose before you see that it’s insane to stay on that same path?

I have a friend like this. I’ve known her for over ten years and in that time period she’s had five boyfriends and I met every single one of them. Finally, I asked her didn’t she realise that all of them were the same. The only change was their names, hair colors, eyes, and physical characteristics. Their mentality on the other hand was simply the same, hell they actually could have been carbon copies of one another. They all acted and did the exact same things to her before ultimately leaving her for someone else.

She was so caught up in them that she hadn’t even noticed. After her last break-up I went to see her and she was distraught as she had been before. I took her to dinner and pretended I was listening to her as she went on about how she couldn’t believe the relationship was over. I’d heard this from her before and I had pretty much memorized it by heart.

After a few weeks when she was getting over the break-up I took her to dinner again and this time I took over the conversation and I pointed out the obvious to me and everyone else that knew her. These men were all the same, it was as if she’d cloned them. I left that dinner that night with a promise from her that if she decided to date again she’d look for someone entirely different as a suitable mate.

Approximately nine months later she called me and asked me out to dinner, since I had been out of the county for awhile it was great to hear her voice and the opportunity to see an old friend was exciting. I arrived at the restaurant and was directed by the host to the table where she was waiting for me. We exchanged pleasantries and I noticed that instead of two dinner setting there were three. Of course I asked and she broke out in the biggest grin I had seen on her in years, she was truly happy. A few minutes later a guy strolled over and sat at the table. He was as far apart from her previous selections as she could get and I don’t want to go into details here because she reads this blog. However, he was genuinely nice, respectful, professional, caring, classy and he was heads over hills in love with her.

That was three years ago, they were married a month later and today they have two beautiful children, a very nice home and she is ecstatic to this day. I’m very happy for her and very proud that she had the courage to see where her problem with men was and change it. In the end I’m sure she’ll tell you it was the easiest and hardest decision see ever made, but had she made it earlier she could have saved herself many heart breaks from men whom meant her no good.

6) Being too forgiving:

To forgive is divine. To continue forgiving when the pattern of lying, cheating, stealing and abuse does not change is insane. We all hope that our significant other will change and become the person we know that they can truly be. However, there is a point we we need to realise that they will not change and the situation for us to continue to forgive is becoming unhealthy.

Each situation is different, but we as adults need to be able to look at our mates actions and grade them honestly. If the future looks more like the past then it’s time to move on. Spending your nights laying in bed crying yourself to sleep, or being unable to eat because of the actions of someone whom professes their love for you is not worth the heartache you suffer.

Being able to forgive is noble, but you must determine exactly how much you will endure before you call it quits and move on. When you move on you can forgive him one more time for all he put you through, and then find someone who will appreciate you for the beautiful woman you are.

7) Putting him on a pedestal:

Men are just that, Men! They are not Gods all though at times they pretend to be. They are flawed individuals as all of us are and you need to recognize this and accept it. He may be the king of the hill today and life could deal him a harsh blow tomorrow and you have no clue how he will respond to it.

Many men whom have been thought to be strong have shown weakness in times of turmoil. People react in different ways to stress and the everyday frustrations of life.

Keep your man real, do not put him on a pedestal and he can never disappoint you. Never ever respect, love or cherish any man more than you respect, love or cherish yourself. The way he treats you is a direct reflection of the way you feel about and treat yourself. Show love and respect for yourself and others will do the same. Disrespect yourself and so will others.

Not recognizing the relationship is over:

Sometimes we hang on too long to relationships that are dying or is already dead. It amazes me when people are shocked to find out that their boyfriend or girlfriend now has a new mate. I always wonder, how could they have not known this?

When your significant other begins to change to a point where you no longer recognize them as the person you love, it’s over. When they start treating you badly and you’re not sure if they still love you anymore, it’s over. When they start putting others before you, it’s over!

When a once trustworthy man starts to tell you lies to cover times and dates, it is over! You know exactly what your relationship was like when you first began. Time will most definitely change it some. However, when these changes become very drastic in nature and you’re not sure what the hell is going on your relationship is dying right before your eyes.

Relationships run a course, some longer than others and it’s nothing wrong with terminating one. Women however at times have a hard time accepting the fact that the relationship failed. Many times you guys blame yourselves that it didn’t work, but you have to remember it takes two willing adults to to make a happy, successful relationship last.

You cannot have enough love for both of you to keep it afloat, there has to be participation on his part as well. When he changes and you don’t know what to do to bring him back to being the man you fell in love with, remember this, he wanted to change and that’s what he did. The chances of him changing back are slim to none but instead of asking him what is wrong (which he’ll call nagging) try discovering what it was that he changed for by watching him a little more careful.

To save yourself from more heartache, trying planning for your future without him. Remember you should love yourself more than you love him anyway and your happiness is paramount. He cannot make you happy, only you can. So start thinking about how bright your future is going to be, with or without him and then start planning for it.

It’s sad when two people once in love remain in a dead relationship because neither want to admit that one or both of them have changed. So, become the adult that you are supposed to be and if the relationship is dead let him know how you feel and tell him you understand and it’s OK to let go. Both of you will be happier in the end. But by denying the obvious you’re setting yourself up for serious heartache in the future.

9) Loving blindly:

Do you have one of those friends who has a boyfriend who convinces her to do all these things that you thought she’s never do? Hopefully that is not you as well. Some men are blessed with the gift of gab and they can talk you into any and everything.

The sad thing is that women do these things because they profess their love for these men blindly. They get so caught up in the men themselves that they would do anything to please him. They will do anything to be in his presence and this is not good in any manner.

I’ve seen women be talked into allowing these men to take nude photos of them, participate in deviant sexual practices, take and sell drugs and much much more. All this for a man whom could and would never love her anywhere near the amount he loves himself and she on the other hand is no more than a toy for him to amuse himself with until the next one comes along.

Young women are really susceptible to this issue. I cannot count the times in the past that I’ve had to arrest some young girl whom allowed her no good boyfriend to talk her into stealing merchandise and cash from her employer. While in college I remember girls whom and I resent this now that we called jock flies, they would do anything to hang out with basketball players, football players and most of it was degrading. All this simply because he told her those three little words which he never ever meant, “I love you”, and if you love me you’ll do this for me.

Love is not meant to be tested in this manner and any man who requests you to do anything to profess your love for him is first insecure and secondly, probably doesn’t have real love for you. he’s simply attempting to determine at what level you are in love with him and how deep you will go to be with him, leaving self respect, dignity and reasoning behind.

Don’t be blinded by your emotions, if you have to struggle with your faith, beliefs and upbringing while contemplating a request by him then he is definately not the one and it’s time to move on. Be smart and protect yourself, you’ll be glad you did.

10) Believing he will leave his current relationship for you:

It’s amazing that still today women get involved with men whom are either married or in a current relationship and they believe what these men say. Get real! If he’s not man enough to get out of his so called miserable relationship before he met you what the hell makes you think that he will do it for you?

These relationships go on everywhere for months, years even and women still do not get it.  He’s not leaving anyone for you, why should he? Chances are you are already sleeping with him and he has no real motivation to terminate his marriage or relationship to someone else because now you’re hooked.

If you press him on the issue he will give you every excuse in the book about why now it’s not the right time. He’ll promise, but really he ‘s actually just buying time because he knows that you are in love with him and over the next few days you’ll forget about it and things will go back to normal, him using you for sex and or cash.

You cannot win in this arrangement, everything is stacked against you and the prize you seek is really not a prize it’s a life of B.S.  If for any reason he did leave her after being with you how in the world could you actually trust him, ever! If he is doing this to his current spouse/girlfriend what the hell makes you think you will not be a victim too?

This is not new, it’s been going on forever and it’s no different than being a friend with benifits. He of course is the one who’s benifiting. You on the other hand are the sucker of the year. People talk about you behind your back, other men don’t respect you because they view it as you’re the woman/girl who will sleep with anyone. Why? Because you don’t have enough respect for yourself to find a man of your own, you needed someone elses.

In the end you feel like a idiot, especially after he comes to your place, has sex with you (not love because it’s not really there) and then leaves to go home to his wife or real girlfriend. You on the other hand are left alone with nothing but your conscience an empty apartment and an assortment of new lies that he has spun to keep you hopeful.

Men whom cheat on their wives and girlfriends will cheat on you too! Remember that, so even if you just so happen to have a man whom finally leaves his wife or girlfriend for you, can you really trust him?

Conclusion:

Hopefully these ten items will help some of you and if none of these apply to you then do me a favor and send this to a girlfriend who may need it to assist her. Hopefully between us we can educate someone and keep them from getting their heart broken. Thank you.

www.anonymousmale1.wordpress.com

Sexuality of human being cannot be described in just one word, since it is not an either/or situation. Some individuals are, of course, 100% straight. They just don’t feel any sort of sexual attraction towards the members of their own sex on any occasions in their lives. Again, there are some men and women who identify themselves as totally homosexual individuals. Sexual feelings towards persons from the opposite sex never arise in their minds. But, the rest of people, who form the majority section, hover somewhere in between. Some of them may describe themselves as bisexuals, some may be not at all sure about their sexuality (that means they are still ‘questioning’ themselves regarding their sexual orientation), while the rest of them often or occasionally get turned on by persons from both the sexes, but is not yet ready to attach the ‘bi-sexual’ label. They can be hailed as ‘bi-curious’. It is not necessary that a bi-curious person will have sexual encounters with members of their own sex as well as opposite sex. But, they will surely daydream about getting physical with a person with whom they are not supposed to have sex with.

Let’s imagine the situation: Your friend appears to be very much straight and he even has a steady girlfriend. Now, you have suddenly caught him gazing at nude photos of other men in his PC. When you ask him about the issue, he admits that he often gets sexual pleasure looking at young, handsome men, though he never had sex with any man in his life. Here, you can hail your friend’s sexuality as bi-curiosity. Again, the situation can be something different: Your cousin calls her lesbian and she is quite sure that she wants to spend the rest of her life with the woman of her dreams. But, here too, one fine morning, you find her in a compromising position with her male friend. Being questioned, she frankly replies that though she is well aware of her sexual preference, she was just trying to experience how does it feel to get into the act with a man. These are just instances of bi-curious human nature. There may be thousands of other examples that suggest bi-curiosity among individuals.

As there is still some stigma attached to the terms ‘gay’, ‘lesbian’ or even ‘bisexual’, most people tend to call themselves ‘bi-curious’. The perspective of bi-curiosity differs from person to person. For some, it is a provision of breaking free from conventional sexual monotony while for others; it is a way of keeping the options open. Being bi-curious surely makes you partly gay, because you cannot escape the fact that you have both homosexual and heterosexual tendencies. Again, you are not totally gay, because though you may have got into sexual relationships with men only, deep inside you preserve a curiosity of exploring the female anatomy too. But, whether you are gay, bi-sexual or bi-curious, you are an absolutely normal human being. There’s nothing wrong in felling the urge of having sex with both men and women, so be comfortable with yourself and your own feelings.

There are lots of men who identify themselves as straight, yet they have no qualms about having sex with other men. They just cannot resist themselves of obtaining the pleasure of having sex, be it with a woman or a man. Sometimes, admiration for a person from the same gender leads to sexual attraction. These sorts of crushes are more common among the girls. But, whatever it may be, each and every person should express his or her sexual desire freely. Getting curious about another person’s body is neither unnatural, nor offensive.

May be the terms ‘infidelity’, ‘unfaithful’ are more associated with being bisexual, but a person cannot always have control over his/her feelings and emotions. What if they feel indomitable passion inside their hearts for people of both sexes at the same time? It is not at all healthy to keep all desires suppressed. It can have negative consequences in future. So, instead of bothering over the issue of being gay or being bisexual, you must do what you feel like. Get over with all your fears and apprehensions and ask your inner self about your exact orientation, because, you will be the best person to judge your true nature.

Place notes (e.g., sticky notes) to lead your lover on a search for sensual, sexual treasures. The hidden treasures are treats you will give your partner such as: a full-body massage, a foot bathing, lingam or yoni massage, nude photo session, or fantasy of her choice.Treasure Hunt II Leave notes around the house with messages leading your lover from place to place, ending at a spot where you are waiting and ready to make love. If it is nighttime, turn off all lights and leave a trail of tea lights to guide your lover to you.Lipstick Love Leave red lipstick kisses all over the house: on the new roll of toilet tissue; on the bathroom and other mirrors; on the computer screen; on paper cut-outs taped to walls, counters, and furniture; in his lunch box, briefcase, suitcase, drawers, toolbox, golf bag, bowling ball bag, or gym workout bag; in the pockets of his clothes; inside his shoes, etc.Rent-a-Thrill: Poor Man’s Thrill Variation Hire a cab, make out in the back seat while being driven around.Rent-a-Thrill: Rich Man’s Thrill Variation Rent a very special and expensive car, e.g., Mercedes, Rolls, Bentley, etc. Drive to a secluded location, park, and make love in the car.Comments: If you use your imagination you will be able to come up with playful, sensual, and sexy ways to delight each other. Do your planning alone or together, but take turns with responsibility for creating and initiating the next fun thing to do together.

Excerpted from our new book Sensual Love Secrets for Couples: The Four Freedoms of Body, Mind, Heart and Soul, by Al Link and Pala Copeland, Llewellyn, 2007

What a joy to skinny-dip,Bare as one can be,Water felt on all my skinAs it washes over me.To feel warming rays all over, lying in the sun,Remembering to rotate when one side enough is done.

The concept of the perfect body is a myth. We believe that the stress caused by the unrealistic expectations of society is very damaging. Naturists practice body acceptance. When you visit a naturist environment you’ll find all types of bodies in all shapes, sizes, ages and colors — many of them with the signs of a full life.

Naturist looks like you and I and come from all walks of life. You will find it to be a relaxing lifestyle that is free of the daily stress we all experience. Naturist groups like http://www.naturistmingle.com are looking for people who are open minded and want to enjoy the company of others of a like mind.

Futile – the Winds – To a Heart in port – Done with the Compass – Done with the Chart!

Rowing in Eden – Ah, the Sea! Might I but moor – Tonight – With Thee!

The Poem

“Wild Nights” can be interpreted several different ways, but the most obvious interpretation is that the poem expresses love, passion, and sexual desire. The opening stanza certainly gives the modern reader the image of a passionate encounter between two lovers. The second and third stanzas are far more obscure, creating a metaphor for the ardent experience with ocean images and nautical terms. Emily Dickinson was masterful at being able to describe life’s mysteries in imaginative ways with an economy of words.

While Thomas Wentworth Higginson, one of Dickinson’s mentors, was preparing the first edition of her poems in 1890, he wrote to Mabel Loomis Todd, the co-editor: “One poem only I dread a little to print — that wonder ‘Wild Nights,’ — lest the malignant read into it more than that virgin recluse ever dreamed of putting there. . . . Yet what a loss to omit it! Indeed it is not to be omitted.”

The use of the word “luxury” in the first stanza probably refers to an old use of the word, meaning lust and gratification. The phrase “heart in port” in the second stanza can be interpreted as a lover’s embrace. The marine terms used in each line of the second stanza create the nautical metaphor. They also create the feeling that control has been given up.

The third stanza completes the amorous, watery imagery. “Rowing in Eden” and “moor . . . in thee” can be interpreted as sexual passion. “Ah! The sea!”

Each stanza of the poem is a short quatrain, four lines. Each line has a dimetric rhythm, meaning that there are two poetic feet in each line. Most lines have iambic feet, such as in the first stanza. Each line in the first stanza has two groups of two syllables with the second syllable of each group being accented. In the second and third stanzas there is less regularity. Several lines start with a trochee, a two syllable group with the first syllable being accented. The line, “To a heart in port,” begins with a three syllable group, called an anapest. Despite the several irregularities, the poem flows smoothly and is easily recited.

The rhyme scheme in “Wild Nights” is typical of Emily Dickinson’s poetry. In each stanza the second and fourth lines rhyme, though in the second stanza the rhyme is a good example of a near rhyme.

Characteristics of Emily Dickinson’s Poetry

Emily Dickinson’s sister, Lavinia, gathered Emily’s poems and had them published in 1890. Editors changed some of her words, punctuations, and capitalizations to make them conform to a certain standard. Later editions restored Dickinson’s unique style and organized them in a roughly chronological order.

Emily Dickinson’s poems have many identifiable features. Her poems have been memorized, enjoyed, and discussed since their first publication. Many critics consider her to have been extraordinarily gifted in her abilities to create concise, meaningful, and memorable poems.

The major themes in her poetry include Friends, Nature, Love, and Death. Not surprisingly, she also refers to flowers often in her poems. Many of her poems’ allusions come from her education in the Bible, classical mythology, and Shakespeare.

Dickinson did not give titles to her poems, an unusual feature. Others have given titles to some of her poems, and often the first line of the poem is used as a title.

She wrote short lines, preferring to be concise in her images and references. A study of her letters to friends and mentors shows that her prose style was composed of short iambic phrases, making her prose very similar to her poetry.

Dickinson’s poems are generally short in length, rarely consisting of more than six stanzas, as in “Because I Could Not Stop for Death.” Many of her poems are only one or two stanzas in length. The stanzas are quatrains of four lines. Some poems have stanzas of three or two lines.

The rhythm in many of her poems is called common meter or ballad meter. Both types of meter consist of a quatrain with the first and third lines having four iambic feet and the second and fourth lines having three iambic feet. The iambic foot is a unit of two syllables with the first syllable unstressed and the second syllable stressed.

In her quatrains the rhyme scheme is most often abcb, where only the second and fourth lines rhyme. Such a rhyme scheme is typical of a ballad meter.

Many other poems are written in a meter that is typical of English hymns. This rhythm pattern is characterized by quatrains where lines one, two, and four are written in iambic trimeter and the third line is written in iambic tetrameter.

Often her rhymes are near rhymes or slant rhymes. A near rhyme means that the two rhyming words do not rhyme exactly. They only make a near match.

In Dickinson’s poems, capitalizations and punctuations are unorthodox. She regularly capitalized the nouns but sometimes she was inconsistent and a few nouns were not capitalized. For punctuation, she frequently used a dash instead of a comma or a period, and sometimes she used a dash to separate phrases within a line. Some editions of her poems have attempted to correct the punctuation of her poems.

A dozen or more composers have set Dickinson’s poems to music, including Aaron Copland who produced “Twelve Songs on Poems of Emily Dickinson” in 1951. 0ne of the interesting ways to treat some of Dickinson’s most famous poems, often learned in school, is to sing them to the tune of “Amazing Grace,” or “The Yellow Rose of Texas, or most humorously, the theme to “Gilligan’s Island.”

Emily Dickinson’s Life

Emily Dickinson was an innovative and talented American poet who wrote nearly 1800 poems during her brief lifetime from 1830 to 1886. Dickinson became publicly well known as a poet only after her death because she chose to publish only a very small number of her poems, somewhere between seven and twelve, during her lifetime.

Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a well known family. Her grandfather helped to found Amherst College and her father, a lawyer, served for numerous years in the Massachusetts legislature and in the United States Congress. Dickinson had a one year older brother and a three years younger sister.

As a young girl and teenager Dickinson acquired many friends, some lasting a lifetime, received approval and attention from her father, and behaved fittingly for a girl during the Victorian era. She received a classical education from the Amherst Academy and was required by her father to read the Bible. Though she attended church regularly only for a few years, her Christian foundation remained strong throughout her life.

Dickinson attended nearby Mount Holyoke College for only one year, due to numerous reasons, and then was brought back home by her brother, Austin. The Dickinson family lived in a home overlooking the town’s cemetery, where she is buried, for a few years before moving into the home her grandfather had built, called “The Homestead.”

At home in Amherst, Dickinson became a capable housekeeper, cook, and gardener. She attended local events, became friends with some of her fathers’ acquaintances, and read a number of books given to her by her friends and her brother. Most books had to be smuggled into the home for fear that her father would disapprove of them.

Emily Dickinson enjoyed the writings of an impressive list of contemporaries such as Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. She also read from the Victorians, Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Thomas Carlyle, and George Eliot, and the Romantic poet Lord Byron. She also loved “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens. When she discovered Shakespeare she asked, “Why is any other book needed?” In her home she hung portraits of Eliot, Browning, and Carlyle.

Dickinson grew more reclusive into the 1850′s. She began writing poems and received favorable response from her friends. Throughout the rest of her life she adopted the friendly practice of giving poems to her friends and bouquets of flowers from her garden. Her garden was so varied and well-cared that she was better known as a gardener than a poet.

During the Civil War years of the early 1860′s, Emily Dickinson wrote more than 800 poems, the most prolific writing period of her life. During this period Dickinson saw the death of several friends, a teacher, and the declining health of her mother who she had to tend closely. These unhappy events saddened Dickinson and led her to treat the subject of death in many of her poems.

Following the Civil War and for the remaining 20 years of her life, Dickinson rarely left the property limits of The Homestead. Her father, mother, and sister Lavinia all lived with her at home, and her brother lived next door at The Evergreens with his wife, Susan, a longtime friend to Emily, and their children. She enjoyed the company of her family and wrote often to her friends, but residents of Amherst only knew her as the “woman in white” when they infrequently saw her greeting visitors.

After several friends, a nephew, and her parents died, Dickinson wrote fewer and fewer poems and stopped organizing them, as she had been doing for many years. She wrote that, “the dyings have been too deep for me.” Dickinson developed a kidney disease which she suffered from for the remaining two years of her life. The final short letter that she wrote to her cousins read, “Little Cousins, Called Back. Emily.”