The Cambridge Companion to Emily Dickinson

by Wendy Martin (Editor)

Emily Dickinson, one of the most important American poets of the nineteenth century, remains an intriguing and fascinating writer. The Cambridge Companion to Emily Dickinson includes eleven new essays by accomplished Dickinson scholars. They cover Dickinson's biography, publication history, poetic themes and strategies, and her historical and cultural contexts. As a woman poet, Dickinson's literary persona has become incredibly resonant in the popular imagination. She has been portrayed as singular, enigmatic, and even eccentric. At the same time, Dickinson is widely acknowledged as one of the founders of American poetry, an innovative pre-modernist poet as well as a rebellious and courageous woman. This volume introduces new and practised readers to a variety of critical responses to Dickinson's poetry and life, and provides several valuable tools for students, including a chronology and suggestions for further reading.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, Reference, Academic

268 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 9, 2002

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a WONDERFUL collection of essays discussing Emily Dickinson's life, poetry, and legacy. I knew next to nothing about her personal life going into this. I had only read a few of her poems and imagined her as an antisocial recluse who wrote but did not live an active life. Turns out, my completely uninformed image of her was wrong! Who would have thought? The real Emily is a lot more complex, way more human. Yes, she was a recluse and did not enjoy going out, but she did have a very social life full of letters and dinners and a couple of long trips. I (and many critics) thought Emily Dickinson's work as existing outside of history and living inside it's own unique human universe. The scant verses I read felt akin to Heraclitus' obscure aphorisms in their variable interpretations and elemental use of language. This is true to an extent, however, these essays do a great job exploring and investigating the context that Dickinson inhabited while writing her 1800+ poems. Some authors analyze at her relationships to family and close friends through letters, others discuss the role gender and performance in her poetic strategy, all contain great analyses of one or more of her poems. I paired this reading with a collection of selected Dickinson poems and I was able to find and reference most of those mentioned in the essays. I would say that was the best part of reading this collection. Now that I have adequately familiarized myself with the time, place, and personal convictions of the poet, I might just be ready to fully understand just ONE of her poems.

[Marketa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book definitely showed Dickinson from new angle and managed to refute an idolized and mythized personae of Emily Dickinson. Personally, I especially liked a briliant essay from Martha Nell Smith which brought a different light to study of Emily Dickinson and her relationship with Susan Gilbert Dickinson.

[Carmen Tudor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good collection of academic essays on various features of Dickinson's life, works and stylistics. A stand-out for me was Waldrop's 'Emily Dickinson and the Gothic in Fascicle 16,’ which details the poet's unique narrative and lyric usage interwoven with the Gothic features and symbolism featured therein.

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a seminal poet and thinker, especially for someone who closeted herself in one room for years. I wonder at her originality, at her capacity for insight. And finally I know whom I'd want to meet from the past....