Emily is an intensely private and unconventional poet living in a quiet New England college town. Operating from her family home, she helps manage a busy social household while secretly crafting hundreds of emotionally extreme verses kept in bundles under her bed. In her writing, she drops all public pretense to speak as a vulnerable individual stunned by intense emotional events. She possesses a tender heart and actively resists the neat boundaries of rational thought.

He is a prominent local lawyer and a trustee at Amherst College. He maintains a highly active and demanding social schedule in their Massachusetts town. His prominent public life requires significant administrative support from his introverted daughter.

They are the younger brother and sister of the poet. They maintain a close and vigorous correspondence with her, serving as a vital connection to the outside world for their intensely private sibling.

Walt is an energetic and idealistic American poet. He acts as a loud public foil to quiet introspection, embracing the world with expansive enthusiasm. He writes with an unapologetic grossness that breaks from inherited poetic lines.

Henry serves as the dignified voice of traditional poetry in the 19th century. He writes to offer moral wisdom and instructional insight to the public. His measured lines provide a clear contrast to the fragmented style developing elsewhere in New England.

Ralph is an essayist and a leading figure in the Transcendentalist movement. He writes courageous investigations into the spiritual dimension of the human heart. His work encourages others to explore emotional conflict without relying on dogmatic religious constraints.

Adrienne is a Confessional poet working in the post-World War Two era. She writes openly about the intimidating work of examining contradictory emotions. Her poetry builds upon the foundation of vulnerable introspective writing established generations earlier.