Emily Dickinson Face to Face by Martha Dickinson Bianchi

“I cannot tell when I first became aware that she [Emily Dickinson] had elected her own way of life. To us she had always been as fixed in her orbit as any other star. We had been born into her life. It never seemed to us that it should have been any other than it was.”

– Martha Dickinson Bianchi (Emily Dickinson Face to Face, p. 48)

Martha Gilbert Dickinson Bianchi, or Mattie, was born on November 30, 1866, the only daughter of Austin and Susan Dickinson. After her two brothers’ early deaths and the deaths of her parents, she became the last surviving member of the Dickinson line.

After her mother Susan and her aunt Lavinia died, Bianchi inherited the Dickinson manuscripts that remained in her family (the other significant portion of the manuscripts was held by Mabel Loomis Todd -- see After Emily). Bianchi would come to publish several books of Dickinson’s poetry and letters as well her own reminiscences about her aunt. 

Face to Face falls in the latter category of published reminiscences. In Face to Face, we see Emily Dickinson as aunt from the view of her niece Mattie. This title was first published in 1932, and it continues to offer a uniquely intimate insight into the poet's life and legacy.