Emily Dickinson: A User's Guide

Considered among the first rank of American poets, Emily Dickinson was virtually unknown and unpublished (in the traditional sense of publishing) in her lifetime. Emily Dickinson: A User’s Guide presents a comprehensive biographical and critical reflection of the life and writings of America’s most widely admired woman poet. Martha Nell Smith, world-renowned Emily Dickinson scholar and American literary critic, introduces us to Dickinson’s world, examines the current state of Dickinson studies, and offers groundbreaking new interpretations of Dickinson’s works. Smith exposes modern readers to deep engagements with the three major digital resources on Dickinson’s writings and her life, the poet’s original manuscripts, and the innumerable print editions produced since the poet’s death in1886. Emily Dickinson: A User’s Guide offers an inspired and invaluable introduction to the life and works of one of the greatest of all English-language poets.