16/05/2016
The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books
Emily Dickinson died on this day in 1886. A week later, her sister Lavinia discovered a locked chest that held forty hand-sewn albums of Dickinson’s poems in manuscript, as well as many more poems neatly copied on loose sheets.
In this review, Christopher Benfey considers the publication history of this work, what we know about Dickinson and her writing, and the many things we don’t.