Critical Study of Emily Dickinson's Letters: The Prose of a Poet

"In examining the personae adopted by Dickinson when writing to her most important correspondents, Lambert traces her maturation as a poet. But more importantly, he studies the unusual links between her letters and poems, identifying poetic sources within her prose, and at the same time recognizing and naming the poet's unique practice of incorporating unrhymed metrical verse, finished poems, and "semi-poems" into the context of her letters. . . . Lambert acknowledges the integral, organic nature of the poet's experimentation, and honors Dickinson's creation of an idiosyncratic art form." - Polly Longsworth

". . . Lambert's early recognition of the blurred boundaries between Dickinson's prose and poetry suggests a 'cross-genre approach to the presentation of her texts' and is thus relevant to the current interest in editing Dickinson's poetry." - Emily Dickinson International Society Bulletin

". . . secures its place on the shelf as a significant document in the history of Dickinson scholarship. Because it addresses questions still under lively discussion, contemporary students of the Amherst poet may find themselves taking it off the shelf. On questions of editing, especially, this pioneering work offers a fresh sense of their breadth, difficulty, and urgency." - Willis Buckingham