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 of writers like Elaine Showalter, Lillian Robinson, and Martha Vicinus. In The Language of Exclusion they focus on the shared historical experience of these two most private poets to reveal their public significance and demonstrate the inadequacy of the spinster/recluse model.