This is my letter to the Universe That never wrote to Me – The simple News that Nature told me – With tender Grandeur It offers Its Message To Hands that I cannot see – For Her Sake – Sweet – compatriots – Tender may be your judgment – of Me [1862/1863]

Emily Dickinson is the leading American poet of the 19th century; along with Walt Whitman, they are the two distinct pillars of American poetry. Her poetry, although written in the mid-19th century, heralds modernism and the literary movements that followed, while exerting a strong influence on significant American and English-speaking poets of the 20th and 21st centuries.

What makes her stand out is not only Dickinson's unique style: the density of her speech, the elliptical syntax, her persistent focus on words, achieved through her capitalization and the famous “dashes.” Nor is it solely her contemplative depth, originality, and slight irony, but mainly Dickinson's unconventional and bold perspective, which did not hesitate to challenge the conservative social and religious views of her time, and – very importantly – to resist prevailing poetic mandates. Dickinson charted her own solitary path, which over time proved to be the most innovative and resilient.

This edition –bilingual, so that the reader can enjoy the vigor of the original, but also check the translator's choices– includes 160 poems that cover the entire range of Dickinson's work. The extensive Introduction addresses issues such as the poet's self-imposed confinement to her family home, her views on God and religion, the way she perceived nature and death, the authors she admired and her readings, her passionate relationship with Susan Gilbert –her brother's wife– as well as the famous “Master Letters,” the submissive letters Dickinson addressed to that mysterious “Master,” whose identity remains unrevealed.

Finally, the contradictory relationship she had with Thomas Higginson, her "mentor" as she referred to him, is examined; he advised her not to publish her “spasmodic” –in his opinion– poems, as well as her ambivalent attitude towards fame, which she avoided claiming but inwardly longed for.

The edition includes excerpts from numerous letters by the poetess, shedding light on her personality and obsessions –writing and others– as well as rich photographic material and extensive bibliography.

"Except for Shakespeare, Dickinson exhibits the most advanced cognitive originality in Western poetry since Dante." Harold Bloom, The Western Canon

"It is difficult to exhaust the unique art and enjoyment that Dickinson’s poetic talent bestows. With the hymn and the riddle, those two small domestic vessels, she captured the 'center' and the 'periphery' of things – two of her favorite expressions – as decisively as human imagination ever achieved." Ted Hughes