The Language of Exclusion: The Poetry of Emily Dickinson and Christina Rossetti [Hardcover]

The Language of Exclusionis a pioneering feminist critical study of two of the most enigmatic 19th-century women poets--Emily Dickinson and Christina Rossetti. The authors take as their point of departure the spinster/recluse model, which they argue has characterized most biographies of 19th-century women poets written before 1960. Rejecting this model, they build instead on the rich tradition of feminist literary criticism exemplified by the work of writers like Elaine Showalter, Lillian Robinson, and Martha Vicinus. InThe Language of Exclusionthey focus on the shared historical experience of these two most private poets to reveal their public significance and demonstrate the inadequacy of the spinster/recluse model.SHARON LEDER is Coordinator of the Women's Studies Program at the State University of New York College at New Paltz.

Preface
Illustrations
Part I. Living in the World
Overview
Parallel Sketches
Part II. Lives
Emily Dickinson
Christina Rossetti
Part III. The Victorian World
War Poems
The Market is for Bankers, Burglars and Goblins
Woman's Place/Woman's Nature
Part IV. Conclusion
Women Poets, Literary Influence and the Canon
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index to Dickinson's Poems Cited in Text
Index to Rossetti's Poems Cited in Text
Index