SOURCE: Galinsky, Hans. “Northern and Southern Aspects of Nineteenth Century American-German Interrelations: Dickinson and Lanier.” In American-German Literary Interrelations in the Nineteenth Century, edited by Christoph Wecker, pp. 124-25, 139-50. Munich: Fink, 1983.

In the following excerpt, Galinsky examines both Emily Dickinson's and Sidney Lanier's understanding of and influence by German literature. Galinsky considers Lanier's knowledge of Germany and German literature, and conversely, Germany's relative disinterest in Lanier's work.

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Why is it that on the one hand we know so surprisingly little about Emily Dickinson's knowledge of Germany and about the creative uses she put that knowledge to, whereas we know a good deal about her reception in Germany and her impact on German poets? Why is it that on the other hand we know a great deal about Sidney Lanier's knowledge of Germany and his creative uses of it, while we know next to nothing about his German...