She had a strong secondary education at Amherst Academy from 1840 to 1847 where she studied botany and horticulture. At the age of 17, she entered South Hadley Female Seminary where she only stayed for one term, which was seven months. A few of the reasons she didn't stay long were her health, unhappiness with the teachers, homesickness and her father's wishes. It was around this time that Emily showed skepticism about traditional religion. She was described by the president of the school, Mary Lyon, as a "No-Hoper" which meant that there was no hope for Emily's accepting Christ.
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A lot of attention has been given to the solitary adult life of Emily. The first 22 years of her life were apparently totally normal and included school, parties, and church and village activities. Her life from about 23 until her death at the age of 56 was very confined. She began to dress in almost complete white while still in her 20's and chose to socialize with very few of her small, close group of friends. Almost all of her adult life was spent within the family house known as the Homestead, which was the first brick house in Amherst. The usual way she communicated with her friends was by short letters. Emily did refuse to see most of the visitors who came to her home but adults were avoided the most. She didn't avoid the neighborhood children though. She often baked treats for them, which she sometimes lowered to the garden in a basket from her window. .
Emily secretly wrote about 1,800 poems in her lifetime and kept them with some letters in hand bound books. Even before her withdrawal from the world she was writing poetry. Throughout the early 1860's she wrote about 100 poems a year. Eye problems slowed her writing down but she continued to write into her older years.
Emily's closest friend for a very long time was her sister-in-law, Susan Huntington Gilbert. She was the wife of Emily's only brother, William who graduated from Harvard.