Statement of Significance (as of designation - December 29, 1962):
Emily Dickinson made this house her home for her entire life (1830-86), living in partial seclusion and writing poetry. The house has an intensely intimate relationship with this reclusive poet. Contemporary reviewers were often bewildered by Dickinson's poems, with their metrical originality, fractured grammar and obscure references, but over the years critical appreciation has steadily grown, and she is now recognized as a major figure in American literature.