Dickinson - 9781843913061

Poetic Lives offers short, authoritative biographies of the world's best-known poets, illustrated by extracts from their work. Each title traces its subject's youth, writing career and literary legacy, while elegantly demonstrating the interplay of art and life.

By the end of her life, Emily Dickinson lived in virtual isolation in her family's home, refusing where she could, face-to-face contact with strangers and friends. Though she attracted local renown as a recluse, her reputation as one of America's finest and most original poets was established only posthumously: her poems, numbering nearly two thousand, were virtually all unpublished during her lifetime. Also recovered after her death were rich, extensive and intimate correspondences with figures who exerted enormous influence on the poet, despite, in some cases, never meeting her.

In this compelling new biography, Rebecca Swift sets Dickinson's characteristically idiosyncratic poetry alongside the events of her life, thus elucidating the story of one of literature's most intriguing figures. This book makes an ideal companion for those who love Emily Dickinson and wish to be refreshed and brought up to date, as well as newcomers, and students.