The Cambridge Introduction to Emily Dickinson

Abstract

Emily Dickinson is best known as an intensely private, even reclusive writer. Yet the way she has been mythologised has meant her work is often misunderstood. This 2007 introduction delves behind the myth to present a poet who was deeply engaged with the issues of her day. In a lucid and elegant style, the book places her life and work in the historical context of the Civil War, the suffrage movement, and the rapid industrialisation of the United States. Wendy Martin explores the ways in which Dickinson's personal struggles with romantic love, religious faith, friendship and community shape her poetry. The complex publication history of her works, as well as their reception, is teased out, and a guide to further reading is included. Dickinson emerges not only as one of America's finest poets, but also as a fiercely independent intellect and an original talent writing poetry far ahead of her time.

Beyond the Egg and the Sperm?: How Science Has Revised a Romance through Reproductomics

“…The DeTox Lab’s excitement about these various -omics lenses echoes broader hope for -omics assessments of sperm, which is thought to potentially “fill the void” and “close the circle” on sperm function knowledge (Garrido 2013, 349). The potential for -omics was described to me as a means of more precisely measuring the effects of exterior conditions on biological matter through biomarkers, as well as understanding the processes which resulted in such markers, referred to as “mechanisms of the effect.” In such interpretations, it seemed that sperm were no longer lone rangers on a mission to deliver genes, activating the developmental program through the solo-act of egg penetration (Martin 1991, 2015). Instead, sperm’s capacity was in part determined by their interactions with proteins, RNA, enzymes, and other entities that surrounded them.…”

“…And although the focus of Martin’s research was the US context, where debates about the beginnings and ends of life are linked to the politics of abortion (Morgan 2003; Franklin and Lock 2003; Cromer 2018), the most obvious reproductive entity to then analyze may have been the embryo. However, Martin (2015) did not address the embryo directly in her original article because, she states, the textbooks that she analyzed separated out the moment of conception as a distinct phase.…”

Analysis of the Poem <i>A Clock Stopped</i>—from the Perspective of Disengagement in Cognitive Grammar

“…Other poems are more depressed and despairing, while still others suggest the poet's resigned acceptance of uncertainty." [12] It's true that the theme of death is popular in the nineteenth century Victorian America, but "Dickinson's depictions of death are much more complicated and stark than conventional representations; she reverses cultural ideas in order to convey her own more complex attitudes toward death and the afterlife." [12] Going against the Victorian tradition of sentimentalism, which depicts death as gentle angles, "Dickinson's poems often strip death of such reassuring language, highlighting instead its mystery and uncertainty".…”

“…[12] It's true that the theme of death is popular in the nineteenth century Victorian America, but "Dickinson's depictions of death are much more complicated and stark than conventional representations; she reverses cultural ideas in order to convey her own more complex attitudes toward death and the afterlife." [12] Going against the Victorian tradition of sentimentalism, which depicts death as gentle angles, "Dickinson's poems often strip death of such reassuring language, highlighting instead its mystery and uncertainty". [12] She has left us many great poems describing death, such as Because I could not stop for Death-, Behind Me-dips Eternity-, I heard a Fly buzz-when I died, and I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, to name just a few.…”

“…[12] Going against the Victorian tradition of sentimentalism, which depicts death as gentle angles, "Dickinson's poems often strip death of such reassuring language, highlighting instead its mystery and uncertainty". [12] She has left us many great poems describing death, such as Because I could not stop for Death-, Behind Me-dips Eternity-, I heard a Fly buzz-when I died, and I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, to name just a few.…”