Agnieszka Salska 's illuminating study of the patterns of consciousness in the poetry of two major nineteenth-century American poets borrows from Northrop Frye's phrase "the structure of the poet's imagination." Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, the first extensive book comparing the two poets, builds on the shorter works by Karl Keller and Albert Gelpi and is further augmented by Salska's "outside" viewpoint from her native Poland. Her extensive research in the United States in 1984 ensures the timeliness of the work and makes the study truly valuable. That Dickinson and Whitman shared a common ground of aspiration for existential wholeness is made clearer to twentieth-century readers by Salska's argument, which traces the poets' heritage from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Although both poets begin with the same vision—that the artist's mind is solely responsible for the organization of the universe—their realizations of that image diverge radically. Salska's keen judicious observations add much to our understanding of the poets both as individuals and as contemporaries. Her book will be of great interest to students of Whitman and Dickinson, poetry and American literature. The clarity of style makes the book invaluable to undergraduates, graduate students, and scholars in general.

Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Duisburg-Essen (Anglophone Studies), course: A Survey of American Literature , language: English, abstract: The focus of this term paper will be on Walt Whitman`s “Song of Myself” and a selection of Emily Dickinson`s poems that suit the research topic. The first part of this paper will analyze Whitman`s “Song of Myself” regarding Nature and Religion. His view on things in general was unique and forward for his era and so was his language and choice of words. This paper is going to illustrate Whitman`s beliefs and his relationship with both topics on a deeper level. The second part of this paper will concentrate on a selection of Emily Dickinson’s poems that relate to Nature and Religion. Her style of writing is not as explicit as Whitman`s and therefore needs to be broken down more. This paper will highlight her exceptional view on nature and religion which was different from the contemporary one. The third part will then continue establishing which attitude Dickinson and Whitman represent more specifically in their poetry by pointing out similarities and differences. Therefore, this part will essentially summarize the results from the previous chapters and strengthen them. The last part consists of a conclusion, which will be a recap of the examined topic that is nature and religion in Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. Furthermore, it will provide an outlook on further research opportunities and things that could not be addressed in this paper yet. Overall, this paper will argue that Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman are both influenced by the American Romanticism and not only mirror that in their work, but also exceed it. It will also establish what their individual perception of nature and religion is.

"The book gives detailed attention to the principal trends in Dickinson scholarship during the past half-century: rhetorical and stylistic analysis of the poems and letters; biographical studies informed by theories of gender, sexuality, and by medical history; feminist studies of the poet's life and work; textual studies of the bound and unbound fascicles and the so-called worksheet drafts (or "scraps"); new assessments of the poet's social and cultural milieu, including influences on her spiritual sensibility; and of her theories of poetry, including lyricism."--BOOK JACKET.

Critical Companion to Emily Dickinson is an encyclopedic guide to the life and works of Emily Dickinson, one of the most famous and widely studied American poets of the 19th century.

Emily Dickinson, one of the most important American poets of the nineteenth century, remains an intriguing and fascinating writer. The Cambridge Companion to Emily Dickinson includes eleven new essays by accomplished Dickinson scholars. They cover Dickinson's biography, publication history, poetic themes and strategies, and her historical and cultural contexts. As a woman poet, Dickinson's literary persona has become incredibly resonant in the popular imagination. She has been portrayed as singular, enigmatic, and even eccentric. At the same time, Dickinson is widely acknowledged as one of the founders of American poetry, an innovative pre-modernist poet as well as a rebellious and courageous woman. This volume introduces new and practised readers to a variety of critical responses to Dickinson's poetry and life, and provides several valuable tools for students, including a chronology and suggestions for further reading.

This is the first compact introduction to Emily Dickinson to focus principally on her poems and their significance to readers. It addresses the question of literary value, considering current controversies over whether Dickinson's writings are best appreciated as visual works or as rhymed and metered poems intended for the ear.

Music is a vital element in the poems and prose of Emily Dickinson but, despite its importance, the function of music as a literary technique in her work has not yet been fully explored; what information exists is scarce and scattered. The significance of the musical terminology and imagery in Dickinson's poetry and prose are thoroughly explored in this book. It considers the music of Dickinson's life and times and how it influenced her writing, how she combined music and poetry to create her own style, several important nineteenth century reviews for what they reveal about the musical quality of her work, and her use of Protestant hymns as a model for her poetry. It also provides insights into musical interpretations of her poetry as related to the author by some fifty modern-day composers and arrangers, and discusses musical reflections of her poems and letters.