Emily Dickinson and Gertrude Stein

When I was younger I used to spend a lot of time reading Emily Dickinson. I always enjoyed her writing and really felt connected to everything that she wrote, even if it may not have made sense to me at the time. I really feel that Dickinson has a very feminine way of writing her poetry and possibly that's the reason I was always drawn to her writing. Even though I always enjoyed reading Dickinson's work, I never read anything that told me who she was as a person or how she lived her life. After reading Susan Howe's book I felt that I understood her writing just a little bit better than I had before. I thought it was very interesting that Stein and Dickinson had very similar styles of poetry, however, their lifestyles were complete opposites. I started to wonder that if Dickinson had not led such a solitary life if her poems could have possibly gained more publicity or respect in her time, even though women writers weren't often taken seriously. After reading the first two parts of this book I am interested to see what is to come in the end of this book.