Summary

Critical Companion to Emily Dickinson is an encyclopedic guide to the life and works of Emily Dickinson, one of the most famous and widely studied American poets of the 19th century. Known for her wit and preference for seclusion from the outside world, Dickinson rarely left her home in Amherst, Massachusetts, preferring instead to write quietly from the confines of her bedroom.

This title contains close readings and critical analyses of more than 150 of Dickinson's best-known poems, including "Because I could not stop for Death," "I felt a funeral, in my Brain," "I died for Beauty—but was scarce," and "I like to see it lap the miles." The different aspects of Dickinson’s life that influenced her work are also discussed, including family, friends, teachers, townspeople, editors, and correspondents. In this single-volume reference, admirers, general readers, and lovers of poetry will discover hundreds of entries covering every aspect of Dickinson’s life and work.

Coverage includes:

• A biography of Dickinson
• Entries on her most famous and most anthologized poems
• The essential people in her life
• Spiritual and literary influences
• Social and religious movements
• Her publishing history
• Critical approaches to her work
• Important themes and metaphors
• A foreword by noted poet and Dickinson scholar Gregory Orr.

Specifications

Black-and-white photographs and illustrations. Index. Appendix. Bibliographies. Cross-references. Chronology.

About the Author(s)

Sharon Leiter has a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and has spent several years teaching literature courses at the University of Virginia. She is the author of Akhmatova’s Petersburg, a literary-historical study of the great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova. Leiter's poetry has appeared in many literatry journals, including The Georgia Review and The Virginia Quarterly Review.