Student's Guide to Emily Dickinson

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-A good introduction to the work of this complex and subtle poet. A short discussion of Dickinson's life and times is followed by a chapter on how to read and analyze her poems, which would be particularly useful for students reading her work for the first time. Subsequent chapters focus on particular themes in the poems such as death and eternity, truth, faith and reality, the natural world, and the influence of the Civil War. The analyses are of Dickinson's most frequently studied poems, including "I heard a fly buzz when I died," "Because I could not stop for Death," "Tell all the Truth but tell it slant-," and "A bird came down the walk." The full texts of a number of Dickinson's poems are included, as are a glossary of literary terms and a complete list of the poems alphabetically by first line.-Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.