In many cases these verses will seem to the reader like poetry torn up by the roots, with rain and dew and earth still clinging to them, giving a freshness and a fragrance not otherwise to be conveyed. – Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Preface to Poems by Emily Dickinson Edited by Two of

The poet… may be used as a barometer, but let us not forget that he is also part of the weather. – Lionel Trilling, The Liberal Imagination, 1950