A Study Guide for Susan Mitchell's "The Dead"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Susan Mitchell's "The Dead," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Sep 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535826372

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10

The Dead

Susan Mitchell

1983

Introduction

The Dead (1983), by the American poet Susan Mitchell, is a description of an episode in the existence of people who have died on earth but who continue to maintain their ties with loved ones who are still alive. Thematically, the poem recalls the classic work of literature, Inferno, by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), a section of which Mitchell has translated (Versions of the Inferno, edited by Daniel Halpern, Ecco Press, 1993).

Mitchell has gained a significant reputation as a poet, though public recognition of her work, as of 2009, was limited. She is known for her introspection and interest in self-discovery, her freely meandering style, her eclectic range of influences, and her spiritual and esoteric subject matter. The Dead is typical of Mitchell's work in its mystical theme.

The Dead, appeared in Mitchell's first collection of verse, The Water Inside the Water (Wesleyan University Press). It is also available in the HarperPerennial edition of The Water Inside the Water (1994). It is frequently anthologized and studied in schools and colleges.

Author Biography

Susan Mitchell grew up in New York City, where she was born in 1944. She was educated at Wellesley College, Massachusetts, where she gained a BA in English literature. She subsequently gained An MA from Georgetown University and an ABD from Columbia University. She has held teaching positions at Middlebury College, Vermont, and Northeastern Illinois University, where she was poet in residence. As of 2009, she was teaching in the MFA Writing Program at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, where she holds the Mary Blossom Lee Endowed Chair in Creative Writing. She divides her time between Florida and