These Fevered Days

Synopsis

On August 3, 1845, young Emily Dickinson declared, “All things are ready” and with this resolute statement,her life as a poet began. Despite spending her days almost entirely “at home” (the occupation listed on her deathcertificate), Dickinson’s interior world was extraordinary. She loved passionately, was hesitant about publication,embraced seclusion, and created 1,789 poems that she tucked into a dresser drawer.In These Fevered Days, Martha Ackmann unravels the mysteries of Dickinson’s life through ten decisive episodesthat distill her evolution as a poet. Ackmann follows Dickinson through her religious crisis while a student at MountHolyoke, which prefigured her lifelong ambivalence toward organized religion and her deep, private spirituality. Wesee the poet through her exhilarating frenzy of composition, through which we come to understand her fiercely selfcritical eye and her relationship with her sister-in-law and first reader, Susan Dickinson. Contrary to her reputationas a recluse, Dickinson makes the startling decision to ask a famous editor for advice, writes anguished letters to anunidentified “Master,” and keeps up a lifelong friendship with writer Helen Hunt Jackson. At the peak of her literaryproductivity, she is seized with despair in confronting possible blindness.Utilizing thousands of archival letters and poems as well as never-before-seen photos, These Fevered Days constructsa remarkable map of Emily Dickinson’s inner life. Together, these ten days provide new insights into her wildly originalpoetry and render a concise and vivid portrait of American literature’s most enigmatic figure