Duty, Body and World in the Works of Emily Dickinson. Reorganizing the Estimate

This study does not ‘explain away’ the poet according to this or that school of contemporary criticism or psychological bias, but takes her at her own word as a late transcendental poet. Part I deals with the common fallacies of Dickinson studies, the conflict of world views between critic and poet, the substitution of biographical speculation for literary criticism, etc. Part II engages the substance of what she has to say about life and living it. Part III presents a new interpretation of her style and language for a metaphysical point of view.