A Companion to Emily Dickinson

This companion to America's greatest woman poet showcases the diversity and excellence that characterize the thriving field of Dickinson studies.* Covers biographical approaches of Dickinson, the historical, political and cultural contexts of her work, and its critical reception over the years* Considers issues relating to the different formats in which Dickinson's lyrics have been published ? manuscript, print, halftone and digital facsimile* Provides incisive interventions into current critical discussions, as well as opening up fresh areas of critical inquiry* Features new work being done in the critique of nineteenth-century American poetry generally, as well as new work being done in Dickinson studies* Designed to be used alongside the Dickinson Electronic Archives, an online resource developed over the past ten years

Notes on Contributors viiiAbbreviations of Frequently Cited Sources xvAcknowledgments xviIntroduction 1Martha Nell Smith and Mary LoeffelholzPart I: Biography - the Myth of "the Myth" 91 Architecture of the Unseen 11Aife Murray2 Fracturing a Master Narrative, Reconstructing "Sister Sue" 37ngrid Satelmajer3 Public, Private Spheres: What Reading Emily Dickinson's Mail Taught me about Civil Wars 58Martha Nell Smith4 "Pretty much all real life": The Material World of the Dickinson Family 79Jane WaldPart II: The Civil War - Historical and Political Contexts 1055 "Drums off the Phantom Battlements": Dickinson's War Poems in Discursive Context 107Faith Barrett6 The Eagle's Eye: Dickinson's View of Battle 133Renée Bergland7 "How News Must Feel When Traveling": Dickinson and Civil War Media 157Eliza RichardsPart III: Cultural Contexts - Literature, Philosophy, Theology, Science 1818 Really Indigenous Productions: Emily Dickinson, Josiah Holland, and Nineteenth-Century Popular Verse 183Mary Loeffelholz9 Thinking Dickinson Thinking Poetry 205Virginia Jackson10 Dickinson and the Exception 222Max Cavitch11 Dickinson's Uses of Spiritualism: The "Nature" of Democratic Belief 235Paul Crumbley12 "Forever - is Composed of Nows -": Emily Dickinson's Conception of Time 258Gudrun M. Grabher13 God's Place in Dickinson's Ecology 269Nancy MayerPart IV: Textual Conditions: Manuscripts, Printings, Digital Surrogates 27914 Auntie Gus Felled It New 281Tim Morris15 Reading Dickinson in Her Context: The Fascicles 288Eleanor Elson Heginbotham16 The Poetics of Interruption: Dickinson, Death, and the Fascicles 309Alexandra Socarides17 Climates of the Creative Process: Dickinson's Epistolary Journal 334Connie Ann Kirk18 Hearing the Visual Lines: How Manuscript Study Can Contribute to an Understanding of Dickinson's Prosody 348Ellen Louise Hart, with Sandra Chung19 "The Thews of Hymn": Dickinson's Metrical Grammar 368Michael L. Manson20 Dickinson's Structured Rhythms 391Cristanne Miller21 A Digital Regiving: Editing the Sweetest Messages in the Dickinson Electronic Archives 415Tanya Clement22 Editing Dickinson in an Electronic Environment 437Lara VetterPart V: Poetry & Media - Dickinson's Legacies 45323 "Dare you see a soul at the White Heat?": Thoughts on a "Little Home-keeping Person" 455Sandra M. Gilbert24 Re-Playing the Bible: My Emily Dickinson 462Alicia Ostriker25 "For Flash and Click and Suddenness-": Emily Dickinson and the Photography-Effect 471Marta L. Werner26 "Zero to the Bone": Thelonious Monk, Emily Dickinson, and the Rhythms of Modernism 490Joshua WeinerIndex of First Lines 496Index of Letters of Emily Dickinson 500Index 503