Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Great Regulars: Bless them for prying open the canon

to [Emily] Dickinson's genius, but they did praise some of her most tiresome noises.

There is constriction in Dickinson's work. Women in her day were corseted to live extra-small. Her finest poems force the reader to a crawl, creating a cramped, psychological space best traversed slowly. As you're trying to figure out what she means, the poem works its emotional alchemy. Here she creates the void of love lost through death or disaffection:

After great pain, a formal feeling comes--

from Mary Karr: The Washington Post: Poet's Choice

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