Poems, Series 2

Poems by Emily Dickinson #2

by Emily Dickinson

The eagerness with which the first volume of Emily Dickinson's poems has been read shows very clearly that all our alleged modern artificiality does not prevent a prompt appre-ciation of the qualities of directness and simplicity in approaching the greatest themes, - life and love and death. That irresistible needle-touch, as one of her best critics has called it, piercing at once the very core of a thought, has found a response as wide and sympathetic as it has been unexpected even to those who knew best her compelling power. This second volume, while open to the same criticism as to form with its predecessor, shows also the same shining beauties.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Ebooks, Fiction, 19th Century

ebook

First published January 1, 1891

About the author

Emily Dickinson was an American poet who, despite the fact that less than a dozen of her nearly eighteen hundred poems were published during her lifetime, is widely considered one of the most original and influential poets of the 19th century.

Dickinson was born to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life. After she studied at the Amherst Academy for seven years in her youth, she spent a short time at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary before returning to her family's house in Amherst. Thought of as an eccentric by the locals, she became known for her penchant for white clothing and her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, even leave her room. Most of her friendships were therefore carried out by correspondence.

Although Dickinson was a prolific private poet, fewer than a dozen of her nearly eighteen hundred poems were published during her lifetime.The work that was published during her lifetime was usually altered significantly by the publishers to fit the conventional poetic rules of the time. Dickinson's poems are unique for the era in which she wrote; they contain short lines, typically lack titles, and often use slant rhyme as well as unconventional capitalization and punctuation.Many of her poems deal with themes of death and immortality, two recurring topics in letters to her friends.

Although most of her acquaintances were probably aware of Dickinson's writing, it was not until after her death in 1886—when Lavinia, Emily's younger sister, discovered her cache of poems—that the breadth of Dickinson's work became apparent. Her first collection of poetry was published in 1890 by personal acquaintances Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd, both of whom heavily edited the content.

A complete and mostly unaltered collection of her poetry became available for the first time in 1955 when The Poems of Emily Dickinson was published by scholar Thomas H. Johnson. Despite unfavorable reviews and skepticism of her literary prowess during the late 19th and early 20th century, critics now consider Dickinson to be a major American poet.

For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/emily-di...

Reviews

[Afkham · Rating 4 out of 5]

“As by the dead we love to sit,
Become so wondrous dear,
As for the lost we grapple,
Though all the rest are here,

In broken mathematics
We estimate our prize,
Vast, in its fading ratio,
To our penurious eyes!”

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dickinson’s flashes of irony don’t really go anywhere. She comes back to a familiar faith with little analysis of if/how the doubt changes it.

[Sterlingcindysu · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short free read for Kindle from Amazon. One advantage to these free books are categories, such as plays and poems that I wouldn't choose for myself.

So everyone knows some of Dickinson's poems, such as "I'm nobody" and "Wild Nights". Online there's a explanation/criticism of each poem, and I'm surprised at how many were just continuations of the letters she wrote to her friends. Helps to dilute all that death, dust, fading sunset talk. I enjoyed her more realistic poems, such as--

Faith is a fine invention
For gentlemen who see
But microscopes are prudent
In an emergency!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a hard time understanding what Emily Dickinson was trying to say in her poems. I could not get into her head as what she was writing about in most of her poems. I don’t know if it was her using word’s spoken at the time of her writing. I don’t read poems that often, but I was on the understanding that poems are supposed to rhyme and there were a lot of poems that she wrote didn’t.

[leo · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Earth would have been too much, I see,
And heaven not enough for me”

[Miles Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Series Two better than the first. The poems are heavily invested in interactions with nature and Dickinson's confrontation with the divine is more muted. One thing I took away from this collection is that Dickinson's post-conversion burnout didn't mean she was an agnostic or deist. Im going to read her as post-Christian Stoic. Could be wrong but this poem has me thinking she's more Aurelius than New England Unitarian.

[Grace, Queen of Crows and Tomes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Series two was just as good as series one! The first section was a little bit harder to get through, but after that, I was quickly flying through the poems. Another great one by Emily Dickinson!

[Matthew Wilder · Rating 5 out of 5]

From a tremendous inwardness, the universe

Emily’s words seem wildly contemporary. Near-twitfeed-terse, intimate, as much the artifacts of deeply internal reflection as the eruptions of a kid falling down a Googling YouTubing rabbit hole. From this tremendous inwardness and solitude Emily touches the secrets of the universe whole; and brings them back to her humble nightstand.

[elinabel ⋆୨୧ ₊ﾟ * · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is so folklore code

[Susi♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5⭐

[abeer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love nature, maybe I would like to read about it, but not in poetry.

[B. P. Rinehart]

"XLVII.

I many times thought peace had come,
When peace was far away;
As wrecked men deem they sight the land
At centre of the sea,

And struggle slacker, but to prove,
As hopelessly as I,
How many the fictitious shores
Before the harbor lie."


Well, I don't know how to go about reviewing this book as historical circumstance has ruined my reading of this book and sabotaged my ability to review it before I was able to. Now Dickinson herself is not to blame, but the era she lived in and the attitudes of that era towards women's literature ruined my reading of this book a little.

Now to explain: we often think of translation and editing and rendering of a work into modern English it is assumed that this only applies to books written in another language. The thing is that this is not true. People don't realize that an editor can "translate" a work of an author if they deem it necessary (especially if it is of an author that wrote long ago). There are good and bad examples of this: William Shakespeare is a good example because as much as people complain about reading his words, if they had to deal with the original spelling and punctuation (and the Original Pronunciation) of Early Modern English it would see a dramatic drop of his work in circulation--the same applies to Geoffrey Chaucer. For me, Emily Dickinson is a bad example of this. I would not of know any of this if I had not gone to the public library and got some modern collections of Dickinson's poems and read the introductions that explained how her poems had been "standardized" from 1891-1954. In 1955 The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson was published and partially "reset" her poems to the way she wrote them in her manuscripts. Further collections by other academic scholars have published her poems in her original format and spelling. She was also fond of writing her New England accent into her poems, which her early editors did not like (in one poem she rhymes "odd" with "road"). I'll save the full explanation of her writing methods for when I review a contemporary collection. I'll just say here she was a proto-modernist that rightly did not trust her current generation to understand her writing-style or the messages she had in them (which were late-transcendentalist; you could say Dickinson's death marks the end of the literary transcendentalist movement).

I guess I'll end this review by presenting the above poem, but in the original format that Emily Dickinson intended:

"I many times thought Peace had come
When Peace was far away -
As Wrecked Men - deem they sight the Land -
At Centre of the Sea -

And struggle slacker - but to prove
As hopelessly as I -
How many the fictitious Shores -
Before the Harbor be - "

[FirnMamaMakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Series Two I found myself connecting more to the poetry in Life than several of the other sections. Like in many poetry collections there was some I loved (XXXI, Hope, Sight, Deed, Love II), some I didn't, and some I'm apathetic about. I am getting to know Emily's kind of distinctive style, and even if it might not be my favorite style of poetry, I do enjoy it.

[Clarissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though Dickinson is an esteemed poet, I couldn't resonate with her poetry. I suppose I am accustom to more airy tug of heart poems.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always return to Emily Dickinson. First read her in junior high school.

[Jaimie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continuing along with my attempt to read and review all of Emily Dickinson’s poems, we’ve completed the second volume of her poetry in 2022. Only took us a year and a month… (yikes). Tackling the volume section by section, and choosing a favourite poem from each series still seems like a logical way to go, so here are some thoughts on a select few.

From Life: I: “I’m nobody! Who are you?”

Starting off the collection is an untitled poem that may be one of Dickinson’s strongest linguistically and stylistically. Taking an almost accusatory tone it declares “I”m nobody!” then asks of the reader: “Who are you?,” broaching us quickly into an unexpected existential dilemma and drama. She quickly draws the reader in with a joking tone that asks towards secrecy, keeping the pair of nobodys together, before culminating the poem in an argument for the freedom of anonymity. Little does Emily want to live her life on the stage of the public eye (questioning even Shakespeare’s adage that “all the world’s a stage”), and she’d much rather be content to sit silent in the life of her choosing. Her symbolic imagery from the outset is supplanted by a more physical metaphor from the natural world, which ends all too abruptly for my liking, even though it is technically effective. The frog has been silenced in his bog, and therefore the poem (re: conversation) is at an end, but I almost wonder if she could have refrained the first stanza for a balanced third to conclude in a more thematic location.

From Love: VII: “Wild nights! Wild nights!”

This is probably one of my favourite Emily Dickinson poems, and the main reason why this collection sits higher in my regard than it would otherwise. Dickinson may seem like a closeted Amherst housewife (less the husband) on the surface, but it’s poems like these that reveal the true fire in her soul. With this poem she deftly casts off the societal expectations to find adventure and romance in a new land to be explored with her lover. And yet, the tone of the poem remains a lament as the narrator carefully turns her language to “should be[s]” and asks permission in the final lines. Hesitating, the poem teeters on the brink of satisfaction, even as it inspires readers to take a leap and venture into uncharted lands. Afterall, what is a relationship (physical or otherwise) if not a journey of exploration and chance?

From Nature: IX: “April”

It was a bit of a challenge finding a poem that I liked from the Nature section, this time around… Not many of the poems spoke to me, with some falling into the trite category and others seeming quite arbitrary. “April” was the most interesting of the lacklustre lot, if only because I’m an April baby and there’s a certain place in my heart for the beginning of Spring. Dickinson must think likewise, as she captures in highly visual language the changing of the seasons at this crucial time of year. Painting the world from sky to earth, she layers colours throughout the poem before moving into the animal kingdom and describing the new life that the end of Winter brings. The poem itself may not be one of her best, since its language and symbolism are not really unique in the lexicon of poetry, but it does serve its purpose to describe April sufficiently through an expected set of tropes. Maybe more of a rote poem set to test her own skills (a “poem a month” type of challenge) than a true Emily-ism, but it was still generally enjoyable in its simplicity.

From Time and Eternity: XXIX: “Ghosts”

A final poem, from a final section, containing a universal truth. In this poem Dickinson asks the reader: what haunts you? She posits that we are all haunted by our pasts, our thoughts, and people, but the common theme throughout is of being haunted by the unwanted. Looking back (and being held by it) seems to be an easy enough pattern to fall into, and through the poem she utilises gothic imagery to describe the act of hiding from oneself and of running from one’s problems. Does Dickinson offer any solutions to the queries she poses? In theory, the final stanzas of the poem give a conclusion, but I am left unsatisfied. Are we still left with a haunted mind, or are we left behind the locked door (of fear)?

[danielle claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

love the themes!
My heart would wish it broke before,..

XXV.

Shipwreck
It tossed and tossed, —
A little brig I knew, —
It spun and spun,
And groped delirious, for morn.

It slipped and slipped,
As one that drunken stepped;
Its white foot tripped,
Then dropped from sight.

Ah, brig, good-night
To crew and you;
The ocean's heart too smooth, too blue,
To break for you.

XXX.

The Wind's Visit
The wind tapped like a tired man,
And like a host, "Come in,"
I boldly answered; entered then
My residence within

A rapid, footless guest,
To offer whom a chair
Were as impossible as hand
A sofa to the air.

No bone had he to bind him,
His speech was like the push
Of numerous humming-birds at once
From a superior bush.

His countenance a billow.
His fingers, if he pass,
Let go a music, as of tune
Blown tremulous in glass.

He visited, still flitting;
Then, like a timid man,
Again he tapped — 't was flurriedly —
And I became alone.

XXXIII.

Simplicity
How happy is the little stone
That rambles in the road alone,
And doesn't care about careers,
And exigencies never fears;
Whose coat of elemental brown
A passing universe put on;
And independent as the sun,
Associates or glows alone,
Fulfilling absolute decree
In casual simplicity.

[Peter Longden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection is divided into four parts: Life, Love, Nature and Time and Eternity. Her sense of irony and wit are scattered throughout with many examples of her skilful observations, play on words and names and the use of partial rhymes, such as here:
THE GOAL.
Each life converges to some centre Expressed or still;
Exists in every human nature
A goal,
There seems few themes yet the range of her poetry is eclectic and full of the characteristics that make Emily Dickinson poetry unique of its time with short lines, few titles, odd capitalisation and using slant rhymes, all of which make the structuring of her poetry interesting alongside the subject matter, with death and immortality once again recurring themes in the poetry.

XXXII. Portraits are to daily faces
As an evening west
To a fine, pedantic sunshine
In a satin vest.

This is also an example of how Emily seemed to often be more interested in the words she uses as being the central point of her art, as opposed to the concept she is trying to put across, that seemed to come clearer to her, and the reader, as the poem concludes, rather than at the start.
Whatever approach she used to her craft her genius (if not her organisational skills in producing high quality manuscripts for publication) is accepted and beyond doubt.
Emily Dickinson should be on any readers list of poets to be read, enjoyed and inspired by.

[Christopher]

I’m not giving a star rating because of the fact this collection was published posthumously without the permission of the author. No one has any idea how many of these are up to Emily’s standard, if she wants them to be seen by the outside world, or even if they are all completed.
Additionally, there is just so much subjectivity with this artform. That being said, I love her poetry so much. She might be my favourite poet.
Full of contradictions and melancholy and fantastic imagery. There is so much to be inspired from. My only critique is that they all share a very similar structure.

[Gede Suprayoga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful poems in this series. Like this one:

“Hope.

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I 've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.”

Excerpt From: Emily Dickinson. “Poems”

[B. Rule · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy Dickinson's tart wittiness, her eye for observing the natural world, and her ironic distance from totalizing theories, even including her own sense of meaning in the world. She's also almost unnervingly comfortable with the proximity of death to living. While I enjoyed the first series more on the whole, there are plenty of gems in this collection too.

[Tawallah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This poetry collection is divided into four parts- Life, Love, Nature and Time and Eternity. There were some gems scattered throughout with a nice play on words and names. But overall this didn’t quite resonate with me, except the nature aspects where the writing was quite vivid. Maybe at another time I’ll give this a go and see how my proficiency with reading poetry improves.

[Doha Al-Sayed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook.
Going to Heaven poem is the one that deserves the 4 stars really.
Nonetheless, all the poems in this collection are so nice, easy, and they hit straight in the heart. For some reason, each poem made me feel a bittersweet melancholy for something I have never seen, something I have never lived.

[Sean Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

More poems from Emily Dickinson in this the second of the three series.
It is what is is and what you would expect from Dickinson, which is not bad, if you ache read her before though you won't be overtly surprised, it will be just like putting on a comfortable sweater.

[Gabrielle Zenin ❤︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fall in love with people that brings you peace or add to it. Fall in love with people that makes you want to be better. That makes you want to get up before the sun and start your day. Fall in love with people who help you through your bad days and remind you that that is all it was. Fall in love with people who love you. That wants you. That needs you. That craves you. That wish for every pillow on their beds was an obstacle of you. Fall in love with people who are all about you.

[Charese · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not feel a single thing. Free copies, anyone?

[M. Ashraf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it was the same as Series One, nothing new, very good verses and rhythms but not that interesting. going to finish the series anyways ... to Series Three.

[Dragon’s Lair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hardcore

[DeterminedStupor]

Status: have not read AT ALL.

[4Mariflor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook-I should’ve known better. ED’s poems are to be read. Reader was bland.