Emily knew very few people, and hardly socialized, although she was not yet the hermit she was later to become. In short, the known facts of her life were against a successful career as a writer. Especially so, if one considers that art is much more than about talent. It is also about experience. More than one novice writer had been told by wiser heads "write about what you know." But, remarkably, that is exactly what Emily did.

Untutored, guided by no one, oblivious to most of the progressive trends in the contemporary American poetry of her time (for example, she knew of Walt Whitman, but considered him somewhat scandalous and not worth reading, preferring to read the more civilized English writers, the Bronte sisters, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning), given all these shortcomings, Emily made her commitment, and spent the next five years from 1858 to 1863 writing some of the best poems ever produced by an American writer.

Her objective during this high period was to write at least one complete poem per day. This she did in-between making beds and baking bread during the day (her father said he would only eat Emily's bread) and late at night she worked by candlelight. During the most intense period of Emily's late-night productivity her father rather liberally gave her permission to rise later in the morning than the rest of the household. As far as we know, this was Edward Dickinson's single contribution to Emily's literary career.