[My Emily Dickinson (New Directions Paperbook)] [By: Howe, Susan] [November, 2007]

by Unknown Author

Paperback

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Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate Howe's enthusiasm for the subtleties of Emily Dickinson's poetry. The historical context and literary influences of the poems were well thought-out and enlightening. Though, I must admit, she lost me at times—especially during the "architecture of meaning" section, which was often quite abstract. Overall a worthwhile read for the average literature lover, but don't expect to be able to comprehend everything. Howe's mind simply works on a different plane.

Here are a few of my favourite quotes:

"She built a new poetic form from her fractured sense of being eternally on intellectual borders..." (21)

"The recipient of a letter, or combination of letter and poem from Emily Dickinson, was forced...through shock and through subtraction of the ordinary, into a new way of perceiving. Subject and object were fused at that moment, into the immediate feeling of understanding. This re-ordering of the forward process of reading is what makes her poetry and the prose of her letters among the most original writing of her century." (51)

"Through a forest of mystic meaning, Religion hunts for Poetry's freedom, while Poetry roams Divinity's sovereign source." (55)