A poet's parents

This volume presents a collection of the courtship letters exchanged between American poet Emily Dickinson's (1830-1886) future parents. Through the letters, readers are able to get a feel for the issues that were vital to the lives of Emily's parents and therefore became an influence to Emily's subsequent development. In her introduction, the editor places the letters within the context of nineteenth-century American society and argues that the poet's disturbed relationship with her mother forms part of a larger pattern that is exhibited in Emily's future artistic works.