My Emily Dickinson [Paperback]

Susan Howe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 3, 1995

My Emily Dickinson does more than just explore Dickinson's life and poetics, although it does that expertly. It falls in line with a tradition of books of poets writing about poets who have intensely figured into their conception of poetry. This is more personal than a biography in that it is a writer's concern with Dickinson's place in history and what she was trying to do with her poetry. Howe does a wonderful job of trying to get into the poems through playing with language. It's a place to meet Dickinson as a lover of games and words.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Howe's ear almost becomes Dickinson's, hearing each musical phrase and its hesitancy as fierce intention and mindful resistance. Her reading is alarming, and thrilling, in its implications for academic scholarship. It will change our perceptions of Dickinson's language utterly."
-Kathleen Fraser, Editor, HOW(ever)

"My Emily Dickinson is one of our seminal works of creative scholarship. It bears much the same relationship to a consciousness of American language and speech as Williams' In the American Grain did in its own time. Howe's book can be viewed as a tracing of a spiritual impulse from Jonathan Edwards through Emily Dickinson to the present. It is at once a deeply insightful feminist document and a reaction against superficial feminist readings of Dickinson's work."
-Michael Palmer, author of First Figure

About the Author

Susan Howe is the author of numerous books of poetry, including The Western Borders, Pythagorean Silence, and Defenestration of Prague. She was the recipient of the American Books Award for Poetry from the Before Columbus Foundation in 1981. Born in Boston, Howe now lives with her husband and son in Guilford, Connecticut; she has a grown daughter who is a painter in New York City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books (January 3, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0938190520
• ISBN-13: 978-0938190523
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,093,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you think you know Emily..., June 6, 2000

By 

Tami Landers - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Emily Dickinson (Paperback)

This is a serious and personal literary study of Dickinson's work by a scholar and fellow poet who appreciates both the art and the attitude of one of her American literary forebears.

Howe points out how Dickinson's poetry has been overlooked in light of her character and biography. It seems that in the 19th century, it was remarkable for a woman to be a poet at all, let alone write original, rebellious, and quite modern poetry. Hence, the work itself, though enjoyed by schoolchildren all over America, has been little understood.

Delving into Dickinson's reading lists, her notes and letters, and analyzing a few poems, Howe explores the workings of an intricate mind. She uncovers connections between Dickinson and the Brownings, the Brontes, and James Fenimore Cooper, and she shows how seemingly submissive, soft spoken poetic lines are actually rebellious and even at times angry. What Howe does not do is confuse the image of "The Belle of Amhearst" with the vital workings of the mind of this remarkable woman.

This book is an enjoyable read filled with Howe's admiration for her artistic predecessor and written in straightforward language, not literary jargon--a tribute from one poet to another. For anyone who enjoys Emily Dickinson's poetry, it is not to be missed.

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Oddly composed, but with a few fine opals inside..., October 12, 2007

By 

William E. Adams (Midland, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Emily Dickinson (Paperback)

I have been pretty much obsessed with Emily Dickinson since 1980, and have enjoyed reading many treatments of her life and her poems, while enduring many other books about her. She is quite a mystery, and shall always remain so, becoming the kind of woman and poet that each generation seems to need. I did not like this author's prose style, which seemed to me to have many sentence fragments and many abrupt transitions which did not seem logical. However, it does contain one of the best meditations on Emily's literary and theological influences, including the preacher Jonathan Edwards, and the Brownings, and the Brontes, and Shakespeare. For that reason, it is worth reading if you care about the Belle of Amherst at all. I found myself drawn to her poetry from high school on, but over the decades, becoming much more fascinated with her life choices and experiences. We will never know for sure how many poems are autobiographical, how many actually describe her take on the experiences of her small but intense social circle, and how many are pure fiction. What an impact she has made on the literary world, by living the life of a fairly affluent New England spinster who did not get out much. That is endlessly fascinating to me. Unfortunately it is not the thrust of this volume. My recommendation is to start with Richard Sewell's huge biography of Emily from the 1970's. It covers the life AND the poetry in a reasonable and accessible manner. Some think Emily a secular nun, some think her a deeply closeted lesbian and/or incest victim, some feel she had many love affairs but was discrete about them. Some think her insane, some believe her to be the sanest of us all. Some find her an early feminist, and others see her as an oppressed woman. This book is one fellow female poet's appreciation of Emily's talents and circumstances. Wait another year and another scholar will present a different view. Emily left us 1,776 poems, give or take a few hidden in the text of letters, and someday there will be 1,776 books about her.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not my cup of tea, January 21, 2012

By 

Harold D. Smith - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: My Emily Dickinson (New Directions Paperbook) (Paperback)

I bought this book because of a podcast I heard on Poetry Magazine. Three woman poets were interviewed, and I liked what they said - even though they only mentioned the book indirectly - so I bought the book. And was disappointed in it.

I have Helen Vendler's book Dickinson, which consists of individual poems followed by a lengthy explanation of each one. I have a long-time project of reading (and hopefully) understanding each one.

When it comes to poetry criticism, however, (or any literary criticism) I am far out of my depth, even though I subscribe to, and enjoy, the New York Review.

All I can say is this morning, after trying to appreciate it on two different occasions, it went into the trash. Lots of other books end up there, including some other people rave about, so it has some distinguished company.