The Value of Emily Dickinson

The Value of

by Mary Loeffelholz

The Value of Emily Dickinson is the first compact introduction to Dickinson to focus primarily on her poems and why they have held and continue to hold such significance for readers. It addresses the question of literary value in light of current controversies dividing scholars, including those surrounding the critical issue of whether her writings are best appreciated as visual works of manuscript art or as rhymed and metered poems intended for the inner ear. Mary Loeffelholz deftly incorporates Dickinson's distinctive biography and her historical, religious, and cultural contexts into close readings, tracing the evolution of Dickinson's style. This volume - which considers not only the complex history of Dickinson's poems in print, but also their future in digital formats - will be an invaluable resource for undergraduate and graduate students seeking to better understand the importance of this seminal American poet.

176 pages, Paperback

Published June 24, 2016

Reviews

[Andrew Pitkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed how well Mary Loeffelholz condenses highly complex themes and attitudes in Emily Dickinson's poetry, and blends them with cultural-biographical material. That said, I feel that some of her chapters stretch too far, or offer too cursory a reading of different poems. Perhaps I am unfair because this is an introduction - designed to give a 'cursory glance'.

But Loeffelholz does her job of demonstrating Dickinson's value as a writer.

[John Pistelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very useful introduction to the major themes in Dickinson's poetry and the main topics in Dickinson criticism (gender and eros, ante- and postbellum American culture, faith and doubt), with a persuasive if subtle polemic against the current fetishization, driven by digital reproduction, of Dickinson's manuscripts over the aural/oral quality of her poetry.

[danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

4-5.