Winds of Will
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19th century American literary culture
A01=Paul Crumbley
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American literature studies United States
American poetry criticism
Author_Paul Crumbley
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critical studies of Emily Dickinson
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Dickinson democratic thought
Dickinson poetry and selfhood analysis
Emily Dickinson and democracy literary study
Emily Dickinson philosophy
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interpretation of Emily Dickinson's worldview
Language_English
literary criticism Emily Dickinson
Massachusetts poetry history
New England literary tradition
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philosophical themes in Dickinson's poetry
political thought in 19th century American poetry
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sovereignty and individualism in American literature
U.S. democratic philosophy literature
Product details
- ISBN 9780817358174
- Weight: 447g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 20 Nov 2014
- Publisher: The University of Alabama Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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An innovative exploration of Emily Dickinson as a political poet.
In this study, Paul Crumbley asserts that, contrary to popular opinion, Emily Dickinson consistently communicated political views through her poetry. Dickinson’s life of self-isolation - today her most notable personal characteristic - by no means extended into the political sphere, he argues. While she rarely addressed political issues directly and was curiously disengaged from the liberal causes and female reform movements of her time, Dickinson’s poems are deeply rooted both in matters of personal sovereignty and reader choice. The significant choices Dickinson extends to the reader underscore the democratic dimensions of reading her work, and of reading itself as a political act.
Crumbley employs close readings of Dickinson’s poems and letters, highlighting the many changing - and often contradictory - voices in her work, both throughout her oeuvre and in individual poems themselves. In Dickinson’s letters Crumbley finds just as many unique and conflicting voices; thus, both her personal correspondence and the poems make political demands by placing the burden of interpretation on the reader.
Rather than reflecting explicit political values, Dickinson’s work chronicles an ongoing decision-making process that magnifies the role of individual choice, not the advocacy of specific outcomes. In the end, Dickinson’s readers must either accept an isolated lyric subjectivity or invest that subjectivity with the substance necessary for engagement with the larger world.
In this study, Paul Crumbley asserts that, contrary to popular opinion, Emily Dickinson consistently communicated political views through her poetry. Dickinson’s life of self-isolation - today her most notable personal characteristic - by no means extended into the political sphere, he argues. While she rarely addressed political issues directly and was curiously disengaged from the liberal causes and female reform movements of her time, Dickinson’s poems are deeply rooted both in matters of personal sovereignty and reader choice. The significant choices Dickinson extends to the reader underscore the democratic dimensions of reading her work, and of reading itself as a political act.
Crumbley employs close readings of Dickinson’s poems and letters, highlighting the many changing - and often contradictory - voices in her work, both throughout her oeuvre and in individual poems themselves. In Dickinson’s letters Crumbley finds just as many unique and conflicting voices; thus, both her personal correspondence and the poems make political demands by placing the burden of interpretation on the reader.
Rather than reflecting explicit political values, Dickinson’s work chronicles an ongoing decision-making process that magnifies the role of individual choice, not the advocacy of specific outcomes. In the end, Dickinson’s readers must either accept an isolated lyric subjectivity or invest that subjectivity with the substance necessary for engagement with the larger world.
Paul Crumbley is Professor of English at Utah State University, USA and author of Inflections of the Pen: Dash and Voice in Emily Dickinson and coeditor of Body My House: May Swenson’s Work and Life and Search for a Common Language: Environmental Writing and Education.
