"The Language of Exclusion" is a pioneering feminist critical study of two of the most enigmatic 19th-century women poets--Emily Dickinson and Christina Rossetti. The authors take as their point of departure the spinster/recluse model, which they argue has characterized most biographies of 19th-century women poets written before 1960. Rejecting this model, they build instead on the rich tradition of feminist literary criticism exemplified by the work...