Susan Howe on Emily Dickinson

Reading "My Emily Dickinson" makes my head spin in circles. Susan Howe does an extensive close reading of "My Life had stood-a Loaded Gun-." Sometimes, what she says is interesting, but most of the time I find her too hard to understand. Howe's frequent references to Robert Browning, Shakespeare, and events of the past block my comprehension of what she is trying to say. I think she has a lot of insight, but her interpretations of Dickinson's poems are very confusing. I did however see the focal points of Dickinson's poem through what Howe explained. Power and domination, happiness and loneliness, marriage, death, and the gun as a weapon controlled by man are all key features of this Loaded Gun poem. But putting together their meanings and forming an interpretation I understand is what I have a hard time with.