Emily Dickinson, Woman of Letters
Poems and Centos From Lines in Emily Dickinson's Letters
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Description
Buried in Emily Dickinson's letters are many lines that are stunningly beautiful, as beautiful as any to be found in her poems. Lewis Turco has taken some of these lines and written poems from them, on them, and around them. This volume, then, is a collaboration between two writers, one a 19th-century woman whose work became known to most readers only in the 20th century, and the other a post-modernist man of letters—an award-winning poet, critic, and scholar.
In addition to the poems collected here, Turco has written an informative introduction and included several essays by feminist critics and other scholars who discuss various aspects of Emily Dickinson's letters.
Emily Dickinson, Woman of Letters is therefore at once an addition to the Dickinson canon, a distinguished collection of contemporary poems, an important volume of critical scholarship in American literature, and a fascinating reading experience that will appeal to a wide audience of professionals and non-professionals alike.
Lewis Turco is Professor of English and Director of the Program in Writing Arts at the State University of New York College at Oswego. He has written many books including The Book of Forms; The New Book of Forms; Dialogue; and The Shifting Web: New and Selected Poems. His awards include the 1986 Melville Cane Award of the Poetry Society of America, the Silverfish Review Chapbook Competition, and the 1990 Cooper House Chapbook Prize from Poet magazine.
Reviews
"The book insists that we reintegrate our experience of poetry and this poet, Emily Dickinson. The fusion of art—superb original poetry—with deeply informed criticism is the book's outstanding characteristic. It is beautifully written by all hands. " — H. R. Coursen, Bowdoin College
"You have to be pretty damned nimble to get inside Emily Dickenson's head, but it feels from what I've seen that Turco has done it. I think Dickinson would have been fascinated. " — Constance Carrier, winner of the Lamont Award of the Academy of American Poets, author of The Middle Voice, and The Angled Road