Wilder Speaks on Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson's poetry is great partially because she wrote in an uninhibited manner, solely for herself, Thornton Wilder, Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry, said last night in the third of a series of lectures on "The American Characteristics of Classical American Literature."

Wilder imagined the Dickinson household as seen through the works of the poet. He saw an intelligent young girl who was adored but dominated by her overbearing father. Socially restricted by strict Calvinistic customs of the town, Wilder said Miss Dickinson sought relief from her loneliness through writing poetry. Since this poetry was not written for publication, it was free of inhibitions and convention.

Wilder went on to point out that army of Dickinson's early poems are immature and are not representative of the poet.