"When she was much younger, she actually made rather hateful comments about Irish immigrants that were pouring into the country, escaping famine conditions in Ireland," she explains. "Yet, at the end of her life, in an incredibly telling gesture, in a funeral that she scripted before her death, she picked six of the family's workmen, laborers, gardeners and stable hands to be her pallbearers. That was a shocking thing to her family and to neighbors."

Lasting influence

Murray says the presence of domestic servants not only allowed Dickinson to flourish as a writer but also influenced her literary voice.

Courtesy Aife MurrayIn her book, 'Maid as Muse,' Aife Murray explores the relationship between Emily Dickinson and her servants

"First of all, having a maid made it possible for her to write," she says. "Her writing really jumps in a huge way when a permanent maid is in the kitchen. She goes from writing no poems to writing almost a poem a week. In terms of language changes, what really surprised me was how she really enfolded some of that language of her writing."

She points to the poem, 'It was not death, for I stood up', as an example.

It was not Death, for I stood up,

And all the Dead, lie down-

It was not Night, for all the Bells

Put out their Tongues, for Noon.

It was not Frost, for on my Flesh

I felt Siroccos- crawl- …