If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking

Emily Dickinson descended from Puritans and her paternal grandfather helped found Amherst Academy, which later grew into Amherst College. Amherst Academy functioned as a bulwark against increasingly popular Unitarianism, and its curriculum was used as a means of preserving Calvinist faith. Calvinism, an early form of Protestantism based on the writings of 16th century theologian John Calvin, sets forth the idea that human will is infected by sin and inherently depraved; the “elect,” however, are saved through God’s grace.

As a young woman, Dickinson—like all Calvinists—awaited certain signs of her election. During her youth, the entire town of Amherst was caught up in Revivalist zeal, and Dickinson expressed her wish to be caught up, as well. But by the time she attended Mt. Holyoke, she famously did not stand with her peers as one who wished to be Christian. Biographers wonder if Dickinson was making a conscious move away from orthodoxy, or whether she had not experienced the call to God as Calvinist teachings expect.

When Dickinson did not experience a religious transformation, she did what Puritans before her had done: She wrote. She wrote copious letters and numerous poems, often directly wondering about her own salvation and the means of its delivery.