In the following essay, Lane examines the history and diversity of literature written by authors who immigrated to the United States, focusing on the unique ethnic attributes and perspectives that the various immigrant groups have brought to the body of American literature.

In the excerpt below, Boker presents a psychoanalytic reading of Melville's motivation in Moby-Dick. She suggests that Melville felt abandoned by his mother and that his art was nourished by “repression, disavowal, and displacement of grief.”

In the following excerpt, Boker presents a psychoanalytic reading of Melville's motivation in Moby-Dick, suggesting that Melville felt abandoned by his mother and that his art was nourished by “repression, disavowal, and displacement of grief.”

In the following excerpt, Simonds and Rothman explore the various ways in which mothers expressed their grief at the death of a child in the context of nineteenth-century American culture.

In the excerpt below, Ebersole traces the emergence of the sentimental novel format in eighteenth-century captivity narratives, focusing on Edward Kimber's novel The History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Anderson.

In the following excerpt, Namias explores the changing images of males in captivity narratives from 1608 through the nineteenth century.

In the following excerpt, Simonds and Rothman explore the various ways in which mothers expressed their grief at the death of a child in the context of nineteenth-century American culture.

In the following essay, Carroll investigates Cotton Mather's underlying message in his account of Hannah Swarton's abduction, comparing it to Mary Rowlandson's narrative.

In the following essay, Kennedy examines the responses to death of various nineteenth-century American writers—including Harriet Beecher Stowe, William Cullen Bryant, Washington Irving, and James Fenimore Cooper—eventually focusing on the role of death in Poe's works.

In the following essay, Kennedy examines the responses to death of various nineteenth-century American writers—including Harriet Beecher Stowe, William Cullen Bryant, Washington Irving, and James Fenimore Cooper—eventually focusing on the role of death in Poe's works.

In the following essay, Vaughan and Clark expound on the uniquely religious characteristics and influences of the Puritan captivity narrative.

In the essay that follows, Kennedy discusses four conceptual models of death in Poe's fiction: physical annihilation, compulsion, separaration, and transformation.

In the following essay, Kennedy discusses four conceptual models of death in Poe's fiction: physical annihilation, compulsion, separation, and transformation.

In the following essay, Foster analyzes several of Poe's fictions, and argues that for the characters in Poe's stories, “unpleasure is its own reward.”

Below, Foster analyzes several of Poe's fictions in the light of the critic's thesis that for the characters in Poe's stories “unpleasure is its own reward.”

“‘Feet so precious charged’: Dickinson, Sigourney, and the Child Elegy,” Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, Vol. 13, No. 2, Fall 1994, pp. 317-38. In the excerpt below, Petrino compares the treatment of children's deaths in the poems of Dickinson and Lydia Sigourney, finding Dickinson more likely to question “the validity of consoling fictions.”

In the following essay, Petrino compares the treatment of children's deaths in the poems of Dickinson and Lydia Sigourney, finding Dickinson more likely to question “the validity of consoling fictions.”

In the following essay, Fast examines the modern poetry of Native Americans Louise Erdrich and Maurice Kenny, which attempts to re-read the captivity narratives written by Europeans.

In the following essay, Pearce examines the evolution of the style and intent of captivity narratives, from religious confessional to pulp thriller, and argues that they provide a window into American popular culture.

In the following excerpt, Shneidman offers a psychological portrait of Ahab and characterizes his relationship to Moby-Dick as “a classical illustration of the traditional psychoanalytical position of suicide.”

In the following excerpt, Shneidman offers a psychological portrait of Ahab and his relationship to Moby-Dick as “a classical illustration of the traditional psychoanalytical position of suicide.”

“‘A Slow Solace’: Emily Dickinson and Consolation,” The New England Quarterly, Vol. LXII, No. 3, September, 1989, pp. 323-45. In the following essay, Buell traces Dickinson's attitude toward death and aging through her poetry, suggesting that Dickinson came to accept death in her later life and found consolation in nature.

In the following essay, Buell traces Dickinson's attitude toward death and aging, suggesting that Dickinson came to accept death in her later life and found consolation in nature.

In the excerpt below, Kennedy examines Poe's attitude toward women in his fiction, focusing on “Ligeia.” Kennedy asserts that Poe must have resented women, like the male narrators in his stories, who recognize their unwitting emotional dependence on women.

In the following essay, Kennedy examines Poe's attitude toward women in his fiction; focusing on “Ligeia,” the critic asserts that like his male narrators who recognize their unwitting emotional dependence on women, Poe himself must have resented women.

In the essay below, Haberly outlines the influence of captivity narratives on James Fenimore Cooper's creation of The Last of the Mohicans.

In the essay below, Vanderbeets urges readers to view captivity narratives as a unified genre built upon common rituals.

In the following excerpt, Vendler examines the various influences on Whitman's style in his “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” and stresses his “de-Christianizing” of the elegy form.

In the following essay, Vendler examines the various influences on Whitman's style in his “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd” and stresses his “de-Christianizing” of the elegy form.

Below, Dean explores Whitman's difficulty in coming to a conclusion and facing temporality as evidenced in his poetry, noting that he does finally succeed in accepting endings in his First Annex: Sands at Seventy.

In the following essay, Dean explores Whitman's difficulty in coming to a conclusion and facing temporality as evidenced in his poetry, noting that he does finally succeed in accepting endings in his First Annex: Sands at Seventy.

In the following essay originally published in 1989, Pollak suggests that in his “Calamus Poems,” Whitman uses “death tropes” to both deny and affirm his erotic fulfillment in the context of social and psychological oppression.

In the following excerpt, Pollak suggests that in his “Calamus Poems” “Whitman uses death tropes both to deny the fulfillment of his eroticism and to affirm its vitality in the face of social and psychological oppression.”

In the following essay, Minter considers changes in the purpose and tone of captivity narratives over time, particularly focusing on the narrative of Mary Rowlandson.

In the essay below, Ramsey links captivity narratives with the demonizing of Native Americans during the Puritan era.

In the following excerpt from an essay originally published in 1982, Bassein suggests that Poe's concentration on dead women in his works has negatively influenced later treatments of women in American literature, as well as women's images of themselves.

In the following excerpt from an essay written in 1982, Bessein suggests that Poe's concentration on dead women in his works has negatively influenced later treatments of women in American literature, as well as women's images of themselves.

In the following essay, Harris compares Dickinson's response to death with that of poet Sylvia Plath, finding that Plath tends to be more explicit and Dickinson more transcendent in their attitudes.

”The Naked and the Veiled: Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson in Counterpoint,” Dickinson Studies, No. 45, June, 1983, pp. 23-34. In the following essay, Harris compares Dickinson's response to death with that of poet Sylvia Plath as seen in their poems, finding that Plath tends to be more explicit and Dickinson more transcendent in their attitudes.

In the following excerpt, Cavitch discusses Whitman's attempt to come to terms with his father's death and with his mother's self-centeredness in his “Song of the Broad-Axe.”

In the following essay, Cavitch discusses Whitman's attempt to come to terms with his father's death and with his mother's self-centeredness in his “Song of the Broad-Axe.”

In the following essay, St. Armand discusses Dickinson's stance toward death in her poetry as a mixture of the influences of her Puritan heritage and her Romantic historical context.

”’Looking at Death, is Dying’: Understanding Dickinson's Morbidity” in Approaches to Teaching Dickinson's Poetry, edited by Robin Riley Fast and Christine Mack Gordon, The Modern Language Association of America, 1989, pp. 155-63. In the following excerpt, St. Armand discusses Dickinson's stance toward death in her poetry as a mixture of the influences of her Puritan heritage and her Romantic historical context.

In the following excerpt, Kennedy examines Poe's handling of putrefaction in The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym, suggesting that the use of this taboo subject “afforded him the perfect trope for his own revolting and revolutionary project.”

In the following essay, Kennedy examines Poe's handling of putrefaction in The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym, suggesting that the use of this taboo subject “afforded him the perfect trope for his own revolting and revolutionary project.”

In the following essay, Marriage compares Whitman's treatment of the theme of putrefaction with that of Charles Beaudelaire, concluding that “by dealing with the horror of the images of decay, these poets resurrect before man's eye the activity of life within death.”

Below, Marriage compares Whitman's treatment of the theme of putrefaction with that of Charles Beaudelaire, concluding that “by dealing with the horror of the images of decay, these poets resurrect before man's eye the activity of life within death.”

In the following excerpt, Fiedler discusses the idea of despair in Melville's works, asserting that Melville's style changed from gothic to sentimental as his career progressed.

In the following excerpt, Fiedler discusses the idea of despair in Melville's works, asserting that Melville's style changed from gothic to sentimental as his career progressed.

In the following excerpt, Baguley offers a reading of “The Raven” based on Michael Guiomar's Principes d’une esthétique de la mort. According to Baguley, the raven becomes “a harbinger … of irretrievable, even Diabolical or Infernal, destruction” in Poe's poem.

In the following excerpt, Baguley offers a reading of “The Raven” based on Michael Guiomar's Principes d'une esthétique de la mort. According to Baguley, the raven becomes “a harbinger … of irretrievable, even Diabolical or Infernal, destruction” in Poe's poem.

In the following essay, Hendrickson explores Dickinson's curiosity about the moment of death and demonstrates how her poetry appeals to the senses as a means to understanding the experience of dying.

”Dickinson and the Process of Death,” Dickinson Studies, No. 77, 1st Half, 1991, pp. 33-43. Below, Hendrickson explores Dickinson's curiosity about the moment of death, pointing out how she uses the physical senses in her poems to try to understand the experience of dying.

In the following essay, Winniford offers a detailed reading of “Because I could not stop for Death,” discussing Dickinson's handling of death and praising her intellectual acceptance of the poem's stark conclusion.

”Disengagement from Process in ED's 712,” Dickinson Studies, No. 83, 2nd Half, 1992, pp. 38-48. In the following excerpt, Winniford offers a detailed reading of “Because I could not stop for Death,” discussing Dickinson's handling of death and praising her intellectual acceptance of the poem's stark conclusion.

”Emily Dickinson's ‘The Last Night that She Lived’: Explorations of a Witnessing Spirit,” Concerning Poetry, Vol. 19, 1986, pp. 87-93. In the following excerpt, Stambovsky offers a very detailed reading of “The Last Night that She Lived,” asserting that Dickinson accepts the reality of death through her “intimate confrontation” with it in the poem.

In the following essay, Stambovsky offers a detailed reading of “The Last Night that She Lived,” asserting that Dickinson accepts the reality of death through her “intimate confrontation” with it in the poem.

In the following essay, Bzowski examines Dickinson's “Because I could not stop for Death” in the context of the medieval Dance of Death tradition, which was intended to remind people of the close relationship between life and death.

”A Continuation of the Tradition of the Irony of Death,” Dickinson Studies, No. 54, Bonus 1984, pp. 33-37. In the following excerpt, Bzowski examines Dickinson's “Because I could not stop for Death” in the context of the medieval Dance of Death tradition, which was intended to remind people of the close relationship between life and death.

In the following essay, Bachinger presents a reading of Dickinson's “I heard a Fly Buzz” as a response to John Donne's Sermon 78—in which she equates the fly with God.

”Dickinson's ‘I heard a Fly buzz,’” The Explicator, Vol. 43. No. 3, Spring, 1985, pp. 12-15. In the excerpt below, Bachinger presents a reading of Dickinson's “I heard a Fly Buzz” as a response to John Donne's Sermon 78—in which she equates the fly with God.

”Sentimentality: For and Against” in Angels and Absences: Child Deaths in the Nineteenth Century, Vanderbilt University Press, 1997, 174-212. In the excerpt below, Lerner discusses the reception of the sentimental style used in describing children's deaths and asserts that it has received more favorable attention in recent times because it has been linked with feminism.

In the following excerpt, Cassuto suggests that Death himself is the narrator in Poe's “The Masque of the Red Death” and explores the thematic implications of this discovery.

In the following excerpt, Cassuto suggests that Death himself is the narrator in Poe's “The Masque of the Red Death” and explores the thematic implications of this discovery.

In the following excerpt, Lerner discusses the reception of the sentimental style used in describing children's deaths and asserts that it has received more favorable attention in recent times because it has been linked with feminism.

In the following essay, Staub demonstrates some ways in which Dickinson exposes the sentimentality of mourning conventions in “Because I could not stop for Death.”

”A Look at ‘Because I could not stop for Death,’”Dickinson Studies, No. 54, Bonus 1984, pp. 43-46. In the following essay, Staub demonstrates some ways in which Dickinson exposes the sentimentality of mourning conventions in “Because I could not stop for Death.”

In the following essay, Leonard examines Tommo's attitude toward the Typees in Melville's novel, noting that his escape from Typee Valley signals Tommo's coming to terms with the reality of death.

Below, Leonard examines Tommo's attitude toward the Typees in Melville's Typee, noting that his escape from Typee Valley signals his coming to terms with the reality of death.