Letters of Emily Dickinson (Dover Books on Literature & Drama) - Softcover

Dickinson, Emily; Adams, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486428583 ISBN 13: 9780486428581

Publisher: Dover Publications Inc, 2003

Synopsis

Only five of Emily Dickinson's poems were published while she lived; today, approximately 1,500 are in print. Dickinson's poetry reflects the power of her contemplative gifts, and her deep sensitivity courses through her correspondence as well. Lovingly compiled by a close friend, this first collection of Dickinson's letters originally appeared in 1894, only eight years after the poet's death. Although she grew reclusive in her later years and seldom saw her many friends, she thought of them often and affectionately, as her missives attest. The small cast of daily characters in Dickinson's little world takes on vivid life in the letters, and her famous wit sparkles from every page. Reprint of The World Publishing Company, Cleveland and New York, 1951 edition.

About this title

Review:

She was no solemn bookworm destined to grow into a crabbed recluse, but a lively original creature, fully participating in the joys and despairs of a busy circle of friends and relatives...Here was a woman capable of the most intense emotion who was forced, or forced herself, to crystallize her feelings into words and phrases. The letters and poems are all of a piece. The letters, in fact, read sometimes like the raw materials of the poems.

İThese letters¨ present us with as inward a view of one of God's rarer creatures as we are likely to be given...The letters themselves are as no others. The briefest line can be a mystery (and, when fathomed, a communion), the formal note a sign...If İthese letters¨ are put alongside those of...Coleridge and Keats, they will present the most striking contrast in a poet's reactions and sensibilities. But they will stand there unashamed.

Emily Dickinson's letters are among the major treasures of American literature...[In] this one-volume selection...virtually everything of interest to the general reader or nonspecialist has been retained.

[These letters] present us with as inward a view of one of God's rarer creatures as we are likely to be given...The letters themselves are as no others. The briefest line can be a mystery (and, when fathomed, a communion), the formal note a sign...If [these letters] are put alongside those of...Coleridge and Keats, they will present the most striking contrast in a poet's reactions and sensibilities. But they will stand there unashamed.

Book Description:

A selection of the remarkable letters of Emily Dickinson in an elegant Pocket Poet edition.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dover Publications Inc
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0486428583
• ISBN 13: 9780486428581
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416