Josephine Dickinson

Josephine Dickinson (born 9 January 1957) is an English poet.[1] When Dickinson was eighteen months old, she contracted meningitis and was hospitalized for two weeks during the acute phase; she lost her hearing after age six.[2] She resides in a remote area of the Pennines, and raises a small flock of sheep along with writing poetry.[3] In her volume of poetry entitled Silence Fell, which became a New York Times editor's choice book in 2007,[4] she wrote about her six-year marriage to her husband, which began when she was 41 and he was in his late 80s.[2] Reviewer James Longenbach in the New York Times described her poetry as not showy, with delicate near-rhymes which feel "inevitable" and that her subject matter showed an "acute relationship to the physical sensation of language" which "distinguishes these humble, deftly made poems."[2] Chicago Tribune reviewer Katie Peterson wrote that Dickinson's poems were about "sheep farming and love" and that she is "at her best when she addresses love directly" with sometimes "complicated conclusions about sex and intimacy" and her "frank ability to bear pleasure and difficulty together".[5] Critic Phoebe Pettingell calls Dickinson's early work "underwritten," but praised Silence Fell as, "emotionally engaging," expressing the hope that Dickinson would "develop from a pleasant, provincial poet to a rich and strange singer of the rural scene." Writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, poet Amy Newman described Dickinson as having "a talent for conveying the inaudible, the aura around us that can't be heard but can be felt."

Josephine Dickinson
Born (1957-01-09) 9 January 1957
London
Occupationpoet
LanguageEnglish
NationalityBritain

Works
  • Scarberry Hill (2001)
  • The Voice (2003)
  • Silence Fell (2007), Houghton Mifflin publisher[6]
  • Night Journey (2008)

References
  1. David Ward, 6 June 2006, The Guardian, People, Retrieved 22 July 2015, "...Other poets lined up include ... Josephine Dickinson, ..."
  2. JAMES LONGENBACH, 22 July 2007, The New York Times, Writing in the Margins, Retrieved 22 July 2015, "...Josephine Dickinson ...When they married, she was 41; he was in his late 80s. Their six years together is the subject of “Silence Fell,” ...deaf since childhood..."
  3. "Josephine Dickinson". poetryfoundation.org. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  4. NYT editors, 29 July 2007, The New York Times, Editor’s Choice, Retrieved 22 July 2015, "...SILENCE FELL, by Josephine Dickinson. (Houghton Mifflin, $22.) The British poet, deaf since childhood, writes about her six-year marriage to a sheep farmer twice her age...."
  5. 25 March 2007, Katie Peterson, Chicago Tribune, New collections showcase: sensuality, directness and the power of thought, Retrieved 22 July 2015, "..."Silence Fell," British poet Josephine Dickinson's American debut, is about sheep farming and love. ... her best when she addresses love directly..."
  6. Newman, Amy (8 April 2007). "A landscape of history, nature and survival (Review of Silence Fell)". Chicago Sun-Times.
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