Richard Sewall skillfully amasses a large shuffling pile of letters promising insight into the true Emily Dickinson. Starting the book left me hopeful for great things to come. He methodically, almost puritanically, reviews the lives surrounding and including the Dickinson family piling the letters upon each other. Yet, in the end, what possibly made Emily Dickinson withdraw into her room and from the world? Forced to abandon suitors by her Father, rejection by Sue after a brief gay encounter, agoraphobia? Any and all possibilities are buried under the letters and placed in obscure footnotes at best. Emily Dickinson is possibly the greatest poet from North America, and probably was a Gandhi-like reincarntion for the feminist movement in the United States; yet "The Life of Emily Dickinson" doesn't deliver through Richard Sewall's storm of letters.

Richard Sewall's biography of Emily Dickinson, first published almost thirty years ago, is deeply researched and beautifully written. For anyone interested in the life of the great poet, it is indispensable.

But this biography suffers from the same fate as other studies of Dickinson, namely the poet's own secretive nature. There is a distressing lack of sources available about Emily's life and so scholars are forced to over-emphasize the few that do exist. This applies most notably to the writings of Mabel Todd, mistress of Emily's brother Austin and the source of much of what we 'know' about Emily. Whether you view Todd as a well-meaning interloper or a selfish adulterer, her impact upon Dickinson scholarship has been enormous. Sewall acknowledges his reliance upon her writings, and even their undoubted lack of objectivity. But then he proceeds to accept everything she wrote, enthusiastically passing Todd's opinions to the reader under the guise of his own genuine scholarship.

But let the reader beware of such phrases as 'may imply', 'may have been', 'seems almost unavoidable', 'would seem to be', and so on. These abound, particularly in Sewall's discussion of Emily and Austin's wife Susan. He relies almost exclusively upon Todd's writings, which are understandably biased against her lover's wife.

Sewall provides an admirable portrait of Emily's ancestors and of her early years. There is also insightful analyses of many poems, a discussion of the books she loved, and the mystery of 'The Master Letters'. It is only when coming to her adult life, with Emily's dramatic retirement from the outside world, that Sewall is forced into speculation. He writes, "The whole truth about Emily Dickinson will elude us always; she seems almost willfully to have seen to that." And he is correct. The one blot upon his otherwise fine work is that he couldn't accept this simple fact.

Emily Dickinson is easily my favorite poet (also see my review on "Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson", which every poetry lover should own). I took a college course that focused on Emily Dickinson and these were the two books used for that course (there were optional books, which I also read, but nowhere near as good as these). The author's analysis of some poems can be questioned (whose cannot?), but the wealth of material presented is incredible. This is THE reference book about her life. So, if you want details about the woman behind the beautiful words, then get this book. Also consider visiting her house in Amherst (MA), which still has tours during the warmer months. All three things will give you a very good look into her writing.