Rose Mary Crawshay Award [2005] from the British Academy for “The Best Book Written in English by a Woman on a Literary Topic in 2004,” The Gardens of Emily Dickinson

New York Times "Notable Book of the Year" [1992] for The Passion of Emily Dickinson

The Association of American Publishers' Prize for Literary Criticism in 1992 for The Passion of Emily Dickinson

(Runner Up) Best First Novel [1996] Los Angeles Times, I Never Came to You in White

Alpha Sigma Nu Award [1992] for Best Book Written in a Jesuit University for The Passion of Emily Dickinson

First Prize [1990] for “Best Essay in Modern Fiction Studies” for “D.H.Lawrence's Mother as Sleeping Beauty: The 'Still Queen' of His Poems and Fiction”

Doctor of Humane Letters, Marymount Manhattan College, NYC [1992]

Alumnae Award [1990] for Distinction in Arts & Letters, The Mary Louis Academy, Jamaica Estates, New York.

American Council of Learned Societies Grantee [1984; 1986]

American Philosophical Society Grantee [1983]

New York State Research Foundation Grantee [1974]

Georgetown University Center for German Studies Travel Fellowship [1990]

Morgan Porter Fellowship, Yale University [1960]

Listed in Who's Who in America; Who's Who of American Women; and Who's Who in the World