New Poems of Emily Dickinson - Softcover

Dickinson, Emily

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807844160 ISBN 13: 9780807844168

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 1993

Synopsis

For most of her life Emily Dickinson regularly embedded poems, disguised as prose, in her lively and thoughtful letters. Although many critics have commented on the poetic quality of Dickinson's letters, William Shurr is the first to draw fully developed poems from them. In this remarkable volume, he presents nearly 500 new poems that he and his associates excavated from her correspondence, thereby expanding the canon of Dickinson's known poems by almost one-third and making a remarkable addition to the study of American literature. Here are new riddles and epigrams, as well as longer lyrics that have never been seen as poems before. While Shurr has reformatted passages from the letters as poetry, a practice Dickinson herself occasionally followed, no words, punctuation, or spellings have been changed. Shurr points out that these new verses have much in common with Dickinson's well-known poems: they have her typical punctuation (especially the characteristic dashes and capitalizations); they use her preferred hymn or ballad meters; and they continue her search for new and unusual rhymes. Most of all, these poems continue Dickinson's remarkable experiments in extending the boundaries of poetry and human sensibility.

About this title

Review

The book is more than a literary curiosity.

"Houston Post"

"An exciting, innovative, and important advance in Dickinson studies.

Emory Elliott, University of California, Riverside"

"The brevity and visual intensity of many short pieces show Dickinson as a precursor of the Imagists.

"Publishers Weekly," starred review"

"[ShurrUs] careful readings offer us an even richer mother of American poetry than any of us ever knew to exist.

Diane Wakoski, Michigan State University"

"True lovers of poetry will welcome these rediscovered treasures and take pleasure in their quiet intensity, wisdom, and grace.

"Booklist" (starred review)"

An exciting, innovative, and important advance in Dickinson studies.

Emory Elliott, University of California, Riverside

ÝShurrs¨ careful readings offer us an even richer mother of American poetry than any of us ever knew to exist.

Diane Wakoski, Michigan State University

True lovers of poetry will welcome these rediscovered treasures and take pleasure in their quiet intensity, wisdom, and grace.

"Booklist" (starred review)

[Shurra[s] careful readings offer us an even richer mother of American poetry than any of us ever knew to exist.

Diane Wakoski, Michigan State University

[Shurr_s] careful readings offer us an even richer mother of American poetry than any of us ever knew to exist.

Diane Wakoski, Michigan State University

About the Author

William H. Shurr, professor of English at the University of Tennessee, is author of several books, including The Marriage of Emily Dickinson.

Edition details

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0807844160
• ISBN 13: 9780807844168
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 136
• Editor: Shurr William H.