Dickinson Criticism 1940-1949

The pace of academic criticism on Dickinson slowed to a crawl during the 1940s. Work was disrupted not so much by the Second World War as by a general sense that the available texts were inadequate. As the 1955 publication of Thomas H. Johnson's variorum edition approached, more and more criticism was published, leading to a renaissance of Dickinson studies in the 1960s.

Bingham, Millicent Todd. "Poems of Emily Dickinson: Hitherto Published Only in Part." The New England Quarterly 20 (1947): 3-50. Supplements previous publications with versions from manuscripts in Bingham's possession. Incorporated into the 1955 variorum.

Davidson, Frank. "A Note on Emily Dickinson's Use of Shakespeare." The New England Quarterly 18 (1945): 407-408. An allusion to The Tempest.

Glenn, Eunice. "Emily Dickinson's Poetry: A Revaluation." Sewanee Review 51 (1943): 574-588. Attempts to get away from biographical speculation and promote textual analysis of Dickinson. Sees ED as manipulating contradictory associations, using "the interaction of elements within a poem to produce an effect of reconciliation in the poem as a whole." Glenn applauds the "objective" criticism of Tate, Blackmur, and Winters. Interesting early example of academic New Criticism.

Matthiessen, F.O. "The Private Poet: Emily Dickinson." Kenyon Review 2 (Autumn 1945): 584-597. Repr. Blake & Wells. Contrasts ED to Gerard Manley Hopkins, another private poet, but much more technically self-conscious than ED. Sees much to admire in her work despite frequent artistic failure brought on by "her constrained haste."

Sewall, Richard B. [Review of Bolts of Melody], The New England Quarterly 18 (1945): 409-411. This unfavorable review of the 1945 collection of new Dickinson poems attracted the attention of editor Millicent Todd Bingham, and led to Sewall's writing of the definitive Dickinson biography.

Wells, Henry W. Introduction to Emily Dickinson. Chicago: Packard, 1947. Part repr. Sewall. ED as the naughty child of the Victorian age, a popular view.

Whicher, George F. "Emily Dickinson among the Victorians." Lecture, 1947, Johns Hopkins University. Repr. in Poetry and Civilization (1955); Blake & Wells. ED reacted variously and strongly against prevailing Victorian tastes, particularly in her irreverent treatment of religion. Much commentary on her affinities with other writers.

Williams, Stanley T. "Experiments in Poetry: Emily Dickinson." In Literary History of the United States (New York: Macmillan, 1948). Repr. Blake & Wells. Notorious description of the poet as "a saint in cap and bells"; argues, however, for a distinct break between the poet's life and her work (as contrasted, let's say, to Walt Whitman).

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