Emily Dickinson: Singular Poet

by Carol Dommermuth-Costa

Examines the life, work, and significance of the visionary poet from Amherst, Massachusetts

112 pages, Library Binding

First published August 1, 1998

About the author

Carol Dommermuth-Costa is an author based in New York state.

Reviews

[Laurie B · Rating 2 out of 5]

I kept reading this biography because it was short and I was gaining interesting tidbits about Dickinson's life, but I really didn't care for it overall. It just didn't feel well organized. The author seemed to jump from topic to topic without transitions. Much of the biography was just letters by Emily Dickinson, which were interesting, but which were rarely given enough context to fully appreciate or understand.

Many things seemed to contradict each other, and I never felt like I fully understood what was happening in Dickinson's life. She seemed to hate being at school, but then she loved it. She missed being able to talk about politics when at home, but then felt like she was getting a better education at school. She admired her teacher, but then defied her religious teachings. It was all just very confusing. Perhaps that's because we don't have enough information to paint a clearer picture, but the author didn't explain it that way either. And a big question I was left with was how/why did Emily go from being an apparently gregarious and outgoing child and teenager to a recluse in middle-age? The author briefly mentioned that Dickinson had a couple of panic attacks but never really examined that. People were also randomly mentioned as being really important in Dickinson's life, even though there had been no mention of them before. Like I said, it all just felt really disorganized to me.

I also thought it was odd that the author defined some words for the reader, like "wielder," but not many others that would probably be less known. The book contains many of Dickinson's poems as well, but without much discussion or literary analysis. I can't imagine many readers in the target audience being interested without more context and support.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I often read biographies designed for young adults just to get a sense of a person's life without getting bogged down into every detail, like in biographies written for adults. This one about Emily Dickinson was excellent. Her life was so restricted. She was was a prolific writer of poems and letters, which sustained her. After she died, they discovered 1800 poems in a chest! She often wrote about nature (lots of buzzing bees) and also death. Many were published within a few years of her death and were well received. However her reputation declined until the early 20th century when people realized her style was ahead of its time. She is now a house hold name. I got a book of her poems and was surprised by how many were familiar to me.

[Vivienne Strauss · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this though was looking for something longer - the ones I found at my local library were too academic and dry.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introductory overview of her life.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional biography especially as it is written for the juvenile market.