Patmore and Dickinson: Angels, Cochineal, and Polar Expiation

Emily Dickinson and her sister Susan read with interest Coventry Patmore's The Angel in the House. Susan even quoted lines from it in her obituary for Dickinson. Many of Dickinson's poems, in which the speaker is a newlywed bride are attempts to fill the lacuna of Patmore's verse novel in which the point of view is exclusively that of the groom. Dickinson also inventively responds to some of Patmore's metaphoric allusions, e.g. to cochineal and to Franklin's lost Arctic expedition. Among the poems treated are several of Dickinson's wife as well as several of her Arctic poems.