These Fevered Days: Ten Pivotal Moments in the Making of Emily Dickinson

On August 3, 1845, young Emily Dickinson declared, "All things are ready" and with this resolute statement, her life as a poet began. Despite spending her days almost entirely "at home" (the occupation listed on her death certificate), Dickinson's interior world was extraordinary. She loved passionately, was hesitant about publication, embraced seclusion, and created 1,789 poems that she tucked into a dresser drawer.

In These Fevered Days, Martha Ackmann unravels the mysteries of Dickinson's life through ten decisive episodes that distill her evolution as a poet. Ackmann follows Dickinson through her religious crisis while a student at Mount Holyoke, which prefigured her lifelong ambivalence toward organized religion and her deep, private spirituality. We see the poet through her exhilarating frenzy of composition, through which we come to understand her fiercely self-critical eye and her relationship with sister-in-law and first reader, Susan Dickinson. Contrary to her reputation as a recluse, Dickinson makes the startling decision to ask a famous editor for advice, writes anguished letters to an unidentified "Master," and keeps up a lifelong friendship with writer Helen Hunt Jackson. At the peak of her literary productivity, she is seized with despair in confronting possible blindness.

Utilizing thousands of archival letters and poems as well as never-before-seen photos, These Fevered Days constructs a remarkable map of Emily Dickinson's inner life. Together, these ten days provide new insights into her wildly original poetry and render a concise and vivid portrait of American literature's most enigmatic figure.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 02/25/2020
ISBN: 9780393609301
Pages: 304
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.60w x 1.40d

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 11/15/2019 pg. 154
Publishers Weekly 12/23/2019
Library Journal 01/01/2020 pg. 74
Booklist 03/01/2020 pg. 10
Shelf Awareness 04/03/2020